10-03-2005, 11:13 PM
ive painted 3 sets of wheels.
2 sets were already old and had no finish or clearcoat, so i used wheel cleaner and naval jelly to get the crap and baked brake dust off. Paint has held great
the other set (the gold 15s on my SM) I just sprayed straight on the clearcoat and it doesnt stay on at all. Chips off when you spray it with water (!) although some of that may be because the gold paint sux (its ceramic engine paint not wheel paint)
moral of the story: yes strip the wheels first.
advice: do 3 coats of color, and at least 2 coats of clearcoat
takes an afternoon the first time. the most time consuming thing is masking off your tires, and waiting in between coats. You will probably go through 2 cans of color and 1 can of clearcoat
2 sets were already old and had no finish or clearcoat, so i used wheel cleaner and naval jelly to get the crap and baked brake dust off. Paint has held great
the other set (the gold 15s on my SM) I just sprayed straight on the clearcoat and it doesnt stay on at all. Chips off when you spray it with water (!) although some of that may be because the gold paint sux (its ceramic engine paint not wheel paint)
moral of the story: yes strip the wheels first.
advice: do 3 coats of color, and at least 2 coats of clearcoat
takes an afternoon the first time. the most time consuming thing is masking off your tires, and waiting in between coats. You will probably go through 2 cans of color and 1 can of clearcoat