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Painting Wheels


Kermit

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Good Morning Panel,

What's the best paint to use for wheels please?

I'm looking at some spare wheels for the Laverda and the rims have been polished, but I want to paint them orange. What primer will I need and any other things I need to take into account?

I don't really want to go to the hassle of having them powder coated as the bike's only used on track so I don't need a showroom finish. If they're painted and get chiped I can touch them up.

Thanks as always

Kermit.

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Acid etch primer first of all, helps the paint stick to the metal. Then normal paint and lacquer, or hammerite smooth? If you get them lacquered with 2 pack paint then they last just as well as powdercoating.

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If you are not going to strip all of the existing paint off the wheel, you'll have to ensure any paint you do use is compatible with what is already there. If it is not, then the solvents in the paint will attack the old paint and all your work will be ruinated.

If the paint is not going to be on there long, and you want easy touch up and application, then get some Dulux gloss made up, and spray it on. I did a whole Range Rover with Dulux, and it looked good.

From this:

th_Onthedunesreduced.jpg

Using this:

P6270068.jpg

To this:

P6300077.jpg

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Whatever you do make sure you laquer them.

Otherwise first time you use any petrol/parafin/brake cleaner to remove blobs of tyre you'll remove the paint/smear the ming into the remaining paint turning your nice dayglo wheels brown. :lol:

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Not all laquers are petrol, brake cleaner resistant. Its only 2k paint thats quite resistant. Powder coating is probably the best overall but i've just recently done some wheels in plastikote. Easy to use, goes on really well, painted straight to the wheel, no primer. Available in an Orange. Probably wont last as long as 2k or powder coat but there again race wheels take some abuse. You can easy give them a blow over again at end of season. I've had petrol and brake cleaner on mine and neither caused damage.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Acid etch primer first of all, helps the paint stick to the metal. Then normal paint and lacquer, or hammerite smooth? If you get them lacquered with 2 pack paint then they last just as well as powdercoating.

err.... no they won't

powder coating is much tougher than paint

powder coating is resistant to brake fluid, unlike paint

Never again shall I have wheels painted

There's no hassle in having them powder coated

Drop them off / send them here, wait a week, and them pick them up again / receive them n the post

What could be easier?

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err.... no they won't

powder coating is much tougher than paint

powder coating is resistant to brake fluid, unlike paint

Never again shall I have wheels painted

There's no hassle in having them powder coated

Drop them off / send them here, wait a week, and them pick them up again / receive them n the post

What could be easier?

+1

:icon_blackeye:

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I used to just rub the wheels down until matt, using a fine wet and dry, and then use a couple of coats of Hammerite Smoothrite. I never had any problems with my wheels, but then I don't spray them with brake fluid or other dodgy fluids, they cleaned up with Gunk and a hose ok as well.

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err.... no they won't

powder coating is much tougher than paint

powder coating is resistant to brake fluid, unlike paint

Never again shall I have wheels painted

There's no hassle in having them powder coated

Drop them off / send them here, wait a week, and them pick them up again / receive them n the post

What could be easier?

when you have wheels powder coated, don't you have to remove the bearings etc first?

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when you have wheels powder coated, don't you have to remove the bearings etc first?

Yep powdercoat is cured at 200c for about 10 minutes so its best to remove them, and don't be tempted to use normal masking tape to cover up parts you don't want coated its a right pain to remove afterwards, a decent coater will have some heatproof tape.

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when you have wheels powder coated, don't you have to remove the bearings etc first?

yep - remove bearings and spacers etc

Reddtich Shotblasting (see link above) will mask off your bearing recesses and disk mounting faces, so you don't have to fuck about scraping off powder coating

The finish is like glass - they sure don't skimp on the powder!

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