Durable paint for wheels

Hey guys, I have a set of steel smoothies for my 49 chevy sedan, and I want to paint them a pretty wild color of green. My problem is I dont have the funds to powdercoat (also I dont think anybody has this color). So I have the spray paint which is a kind of safety paint, but I would like to make it last for a few years. Has anybody had any luck with a finish clear that wont chip and stands up to driving and brake dust? If you have found some, how was it applied? thanks -- Dustin

 

Honestly man powder coating isn't all that expensive and you'd be surprized at some of the weird shades of green I've done. You can buy most of the stuff yourself - a buddy and I each put up about $50 to get started - check out columbiacoatings.com lots of info.

Otherwise just use a lot of coats of paint.

 

If you can't afford powder, you should at least use auto grade 2 component clear over an auto grade basecoat sprayed with a spray gun and compressor. The next cheapest would be to use a solid color finish coat with no clear, but still using catalyst (also sprayed with a spray gun and compressor). No spray can paint is gonna give ya what ya want, except for being cheap and it sounds like you might have some sort of rustoleum-like oil base paint available (which may or may not be compatible with any other clear). Good luck.

 

I've looked into getting my own powder coating stuff before, and the website has some pretty good deals on it, I just cant do it right now. I am pretty familiar with how to coat wheels correctly, what I am looking for is the best results with half ass cheap materials I spent all of my money on some cheap tires, and I want the car to look good for the Day of the Drags. I expect them to chip and fade with time, but if someone has found something decent I would like to try that out. Thanks for the input so far.

 

You can't do "cheap" and " good" at the same time. Especially with paint.
Get someone else who needs their wheels painted, and do the labor for the price of the materials for both. Real paint, like Redline said! Do it RIGHT!

 

Like they said do the work. I cleaned, sanded and prep my wheels then just bought regular spray paint and put several coats of paint on over a couple of days. So far i have not had any problems and they wash up just fine also

 

It is not the paint. Its all in the preparation. Degrease, degrease.

 

buy a case of cans of paint, then touch them up on a regular basis

 

cans can look ok, but prep the sHIT outta them... sand, degrease, sand, degrease...

i had a friend sandblast mine, then hit em a lil when i got em home with sand paper, degreased em well, and did 2 light coats of primer, 3 coats of black gloss (use GOOD spray paint)...

now taht i look back., and my friend coulda powder coated em for probably $20, i shoulda went that way hahha...

i bet $50 gets all 4 powder coated at a local place if you take em in blasted... its WORTH IT

 

safety paint?? Is it a real paint or some kind of marking paint? I ask because I sprayed some stuff flourescent pink in the 80's and after awhile it turned chalky. If you can't get the color you want in powdercoat,just go to a good automotive paint store and have them mix the right color. They can even put it in spray cans if you need. A good single stage should be fine for wheels and you can do all 4 with 2 cans max. Like the other guys said...prep,prep prep and use a good primer (whatever the paint store guys reccommend is probably gonna be best)

 

i've not had great success with either way yet. I sanded, degreased but the matt black paint I tried just rubbed off with my finger. I didnt clear them. Then i took them to be powder coated ($50/wheel incl sandblasting) and even then the tire fitter took the coating off when fitting the tires. And then I noticed bare metal way deep in the 10" wide wheel.

So i removed the tires and took them back to the powder coater and had them redone, but still i had to touch up the rim when the tire was fitted. I really though powder-coating was HARD, but apparently not...

 

Buy the correct clear for the paint your using or it will crinkle up on you.

 

I have done a couple sets with epoxy primer then Krylon rattle cans. It sticks better to the good primer and I run full caps so all I want is the contrasting bead line.

 

I used a Duplicolor self-etching primer and Duplicolor engine enamel on mine with no clear coat. So far so good. I've had a couple of small chips, but they are easily hidden with some touch up paint.

Todd

 

You can do a much nicer job with them on the car than off.

I jack up the car, put the wheels on a front corner with one lug nut and spin the wheel while painting.
Work from the inside near the hub towards the outside rim.

Krylon, no clear:

 

Duplicolor Grabber Green engine paint is probably what you want. Durable, heat resistant, and it's the color a lot of rat rods are using on their wheels for some reason

 

And nothing wrong with the spray cans really, especially a good name brand. Just not as durable as the other options. Prep em real good and shoot em!

Regarding the paint or powder getting knocked off by the tire mounting, I think this is the fault of the tire machine or install guy, not the paint... The newer machines are called "touchless" for a reason. No way would I let a tire machine part touch my polished or chrome wheels any more than painted or powdercoated.

Good luck!

 

thanks for the input guys, I ended up getting a two stage enamel from a friend of a coworker who gave me primer, paint, reducer, hardener all for less than $30 Kind of an under the table deal- wasnt really expecting to be able to get all that for almost the same price as rattle cans. As for powdercoating it locally, its at least $50 a wheel, and when my wheels run $52 new, your doubling the cost-not an option. I will post pics later, or just see you guys at the day of the drags!!

 

Grizz... How did it turn out? and what is your input on what you did, and what you learned.
Thanks,
Jay