The really poor mans guide to painting your wheels.

[Gabe244]

So, your wheels look absoltely terrible, and you want new ones. BUT you cant really justify spending around $400. So you decide to paint them, but their the only wheels you have. Normally doing this would involve having 4 jackstands, removing the wheels from the car, getting a lift down to the local tyre shop, getting the tyres removed ($$$), getting a lift home, painting your wheels, waiting for them to dry, getting a lift back to the tyre shop, putting the tyres back on (risking skratching your newly painted wheels, and costing money), getting yet another lift back home and FINALLY putting your wheels back on the car.

Thats an awfull lot of work. So I present to you the alternative. Leave the tyres on .

What you'll need:
1 can of heavy duty primer
1 can of heavy duty topcoat (I used white)
1 can of clearcoat
2 packs of cards
1 newspaper
2 days
Assorted wire wheels (for steelies only)

For the paint I went with Rustoleum brand because the wheels were steelies and were pretty rusted, and I wanted something durable. As they were, the wheels looked like this

Not pretty.

Ok, back to the painting. You take the wheel off the car, and if you have steelies, wire wheel the heck out of it to get rid of as much rust as possible. Also get rid of any previous paint. Then give it a wipe with a damp rag and dry it off. Ideally give it a real wash with soap and scrubbing.

Then take your wheel to your painting area, which in my case turned out to be a patch of gravel. Now comes the weird part. Take your playing cards and wedge them between the rim and the tyre, making sure that they overlap slightly, like so.



After your sure that there in there nice and firmly with no gaps, lay newspaper around the rest of the tyre. Try and tuck it in under the cards as best you can, again making sure that there are no gaps.



Once your ready, start spraying the coat of primer on. Once everything is covered, go have lunch. Your wheel should now look something like this.



Now shoot it with a coat of colour. Go easy as the colour is more prone to running, as I found out .



Now wait half an hour and do another coat. Your wheel should new look like this.



If the wheel is matte, then it would be a good idea to add a clearcoat. Mine were pretty glossy, so i didnt bother. If the brake dust decides to stick to the paint, then i might consider it.

Heres the finished product. So far Ive only done the first 2 wheels, so I'll put up more full car pics tomorrow when Im done.



Its a little too pimptastic for my tastes, but its better than before . Not bad for a total sum of $40.

[Rogue242GT]

and you can still use the playing cards later

[mr. babooie]

Dude, that's a great! Lol. Playing cards ftmfw! I have never seen that, but will try soon! Also, clear is just not for a glossy finish, but for protection. If you are to spray clear, make sure that your first 2 coats are thin, following with 1 thick coat. Good on ya for coming up with such an interesting way to mask!

[Gabe244]

Thanks. Believe it or not I got the idea from a civic forum. The cards are really the only option because tape doesnt stick to the tyre. Im putting some clear on today because I have to take the fronts back off again to paint the calipers.

Edit: Got all the wheels on today. Looks AWESOME.

[PRVersion]

remember to not smoke pot, and take the wheel weights off first, kids!

[CFL940]

thats how i did my hydras, but with index cards. Works really well!

[lysolvolvo]

Great thread, fun read. We used vasoline to mask the tires of our bikes in middleschool...maybe if you don't have the $ for a deck of cards? Can also use a flat stove paint, sticks like mad and is very easy to touchup due to flat finish. likes the heat of brakes and steelies too. doesn't seem to care too much about the condition of the base surface, as long as all the gravel is kicked off.