Painting Steel Wheels

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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Hey guys, I have a question about painting steel wheels. I want my wheels to match the car but not sure if the wheels should be painted with the tires off or mounted. I will be using a base/clear on the car. I just think mounting the tires will chip the paint so they should be painted with the tires on.

What is the best way to do this?
 
IMO, you'll get better results painting the bare wheels. A competent tire shop should be able to mount the tires without wheel finish damage.
 
You can do it with the tires on. Just tape tape tape tape tape. Rough up the metal with sand paper and give her some paint. Be sure there no rubber exposed
 
...and if you have wheel weights on the outside edge you either have to mask, remove and replace, or paint over them.
 
1/4" fine-line is your best friend when it comes to painting wheels with the rubber still on them... Still, for best results, you should have the rubber off...

If you ever plan to get new wheels, I'd say just bomb them with the rubber on...

If you want to keep body-colored steelies forever (i.e. with some dog-dishes for the factory-fresh look), it would be very worth it to bust the tires, bead/sandblast the wheels down, and paint all surfaces. Further, every time you get the wheels balanced, specifically ask for inner-wheel stick-on weights instead of the clip-ons... Like they put on Corvettes and such.


- CK

P.s. A note about taping off tires: Except for the fine-line, you should NOT use one strip of masking tape to circumnavigate your whole wheel; it should take at LEAST five strips. After a while, the tape just becomes too bent to work with and you gotta start a new strip... Best way to avoid the pinchies (the area where the tape has to be pinched and tamped to create a decent seal, and even then isn't 100%), and thus keep your paint from blasting all over your tire. :)
 
Pop the bead on the face side leave the back side on, tape up and spray! piece of cake! you wont lose your balance and you just have to blow the bead back on.

If you do take the rubber off bring it to a tire place to put it on and you should be okay.
 
I had mine sand blasted and Powder Coated by Les Schwab Tires. The price was VERY reasonable (I don't remember what it was). Obviously, the tires were off. Highly recommended!
 
SirDan said:
Pop the bead on the face side leave the back side on, tape up and spray! piece of cake! you wont lose your balance and you just have to blow the bead back on.

If you do take the rubber off bring it to a tire place to put it on and you should be okay.
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Bingo. No tire machine damage and the paint will have time to fully cure before the next time.
 
straightlinespeed said:
I forgot to say the steelies will not have any rubber. Just the bare rim.
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I found it very easy to spray paint some rims that I had, buy wedging a thin peace of aluminum siding 4 to 6 inches wide and 24 inches long wedged in where the tire bead hits the rim it fits in perfect spray away and then pull it out and move it further around the wheel, works way better than tape. You will be surprised how easy and perfect they turn out.
 
mount the tires on the rims but do not inflate them, keeping the tire beads off the rim. Then you can use sheet of plastic, and wrap the tire and tuck it in all the way around, between the tire and the rim, and your ready to paint. when paint is dry, remove plastic wrap, inflate tires, and they will pop right on to the beads, and your done. This is how I do it in my shop and it works great, with little or no masking of the tires.
 
its all in the prep! if you do it right and take your time, you will not have to worry about your paint coming off during tire installation... i spray bombed mine with fantastic results! everyone thinks they are powder coated gloss black!
 
Because many tire installations involve some type of lubricant, it is very important to degrease the wheel several times to avoid fish eyes when painting.
 
69MOPE said:
Because many tire installations involve some type of lubricant, it is very important to degrease the wheel several times to avoid fish eyes when painting.
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... and don't forget about all that tire wet and Armor-All over the years that leeches in. Silicone based lubricants are one of the main reasons I don't coat most rims.
 
forced 340 said:
yup! i have one at my shop!
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My brother works at a ford dealer they just got all new tire machines, cool stuff.


I have tried painting with a tire on and it's so time consuming I will pay to have tires dismounted so I don't hAve to tape tires off.
 
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