I'm getting some new 18's soon for use with my summer tires and I plan to use my stockers for my winter tires. So, I decided to try painting them. Went to the autopaint supply place yesterday and had them mix up this gunmetal type color. It sucked masking off the lip but overall is wasn't too bad. They aren't perfect but they came out ok I think.

2 coats of base, 4 coats clear.

Now I'm working on some hotchkis springs, and blacked out heads and tails.

 

wow..that looks really nice man! I painted my wheels too, just about the same gunmetal color, did you use dupicolor wheel paint?

 

No I used some custom mixed Dupont two stage.

 

Did you remove the tire from the wheel? You should've typed up a DIY thread.

 

Nope, left the tire on the rim.

Here's a quick How to.

1: jack up the vehicle
2: remove wheels from vehicle
3: clean wheels thoroughly. I wiped off the brake dust, washed with hot soapy water and cleaned them with some degreaser.
4: Light pass with a scotchbrite pad.
5: one more pass with the cleaner/degreaser.
6: masked the lip/tire.
6: removed the centercaps.
7: two coats of high quality primer.
8: 2 coats of paint
9: 3-4 coats of good clear coat.


The hardest part is masking the curve around the lip especially where the spokes meet the lip. Those are the areas that it's not perfect on mine.

 

Nice job. I am going to do the same but I am going to have the lip polished first and then have the wheel powdercoated

 

I'm too nervous to try... Think I'll just get them powder coated one day.

 

does anyone know where to get wheel paint? i need a silver... which i think i could find at any old pep boys or whatever but i'm not sure... i needa pain some areas of my 5zigen gn+ wheels. any ideaS?