Alloy wheel painting.

[mikeyj79]

Hi all,
Looking for some advice on painting alloys different colour. Bit of a mine field just googling it. Some say bit of sanding then primer and paint. But others say about using a etch primer and then paint. Not sure if anyone has any advice or has painted their own wheels. Thanks for any help.

[Powerforge]

Effort in = Finish out

Painted many a set myself for various things, ranging from a rattle can touch up to more recently full chemical stripping and powdercoat
If your wheels are in good condition, then a quick key with a scotchbright pad will be all the prep you need (take the shine off the previous coat) - personally, I always prime as a thicker paint coat will keep the rust at bay longer. Just a stock grey primer and wheel silver coat and you're done (or if you want to do a better job or the silver requires it, a few coats of clear laquer over that)

If the wheels are in poor condition, rusty and damaged then you need to take those areas back to sound alloy and repair any damage via sanding/filling (I find chemical metal works nicely here as it's as easy to use a filler and much harder when cured). Just remember that any exposed alloy and repaired alloy will need etch priming to ensure the paint sticks. Follow up as above with prime, paint and clearcoat

If you're lucky like me then it's repair, etch, zinc rich primer and then powdercoat in a colour of choice

[cheshired5]

I used Isopon Metalik as the filler, then halfords yellow spray primer and halfords silver spray paint and of course the obligatory shed loads of wet and dry paper in around 4 grades of roughness.
It was my first ever go and the results are in my thread here http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=200533

[Stickybunn]

What about some plasti coat ? This goes straight on. Can take it off very easy, and not much prep needed