DIY Painted Wheels (with Pics)
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 13,151
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From: Washington DC
Rep Power: 424 
DIY Painted Wheels (with Pics) By request... here you go. This is real simple, and you can make it look really hot, or really shitty in a big hurry. Give yourself a ton of time and take as much as you need to do it right.
Start off by either getting the tires pulled off, or stuffing index cards in between the tire and rim, then masking the tire off. If you've got external wheel weights (the hammer on kind), you're gonna have to pull them off (get them re-balanced afterwards).
You need the following:
Aircraft Stripper (recommend the spray can)
Rubber Gloves
Primer (I used clear, but any will do)
Dupli-color Wheel Enamel (You pick Graphite, White, Black or Silver)
Dupli-color Wheel Clearcoat
600 Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper and a Sanding Block
Denatured Alcohol
Lint-Free Applicator pads
Lots of Water
1. Put the gloves on and apply aircraft stripper to the entire face of the rim. Follow the directions on the can for working time. Use a plastic scraper to remove old paint and/or clearcoat. You may have to do this a couple of times before you get it all off.
Take your time, make sure it's all off... it took me over 2 hours to strip all the clear coat off. Spray the junk off with water.
2. Wet sand the surface to roughen it up a little so the paint sticks. Add a little soap to the water you soak the paper in, it helps it slide a little better, and adds some cleaning while you sand. If the wheel face has machining lines in it (Like the 99-00 Si rims) then make sure you sand in the same direction, or you'll scratch the hell out of them. Spray them clean with water.
3. Dry the wheels real well. I towel dried them, then left them out to air dry for about 45 minutes. When they're dry, take them to some place out of direct sun to spray them.
4. Once you put the wheels where you want them to be when you paint, DON'T TOUCH THEM WITH YOUR HANDS! Apply denatured alcohol to a lint free applicator and wipe the wheels down with it. This takes all the oil and junk from your hands, the sandpaper, etc... off and gives you a clean surface to paint on.
5. Spray on 2 thin coats of primer. Follow the directions on the can for drying time.
6. Spray as many coats of Wheel Enamel as you need to determine the color you want. Heres what you get after each coat of graphite paint...
1 coat:
2 coats:
3 coats:
4 coats:
I put 4 on. Make sure you put light, even coats on. Thick spraying will give you runs and they'll look horrible. Vary the position you're spraying from to make sure you don't miss any crevaces (Like between the spokes). Easiest way is to just walk around the wheel while you spray.
7. Spray on 2 or 3 light coats of Clearcoat. Make sure you cover the whole wheel. Let them sit to dry.
Done. It took me about 4.5 hours start to finish, but thats counting the setting time between coats. Do a coat every 15-20 minutes.
Thats all there is to it....
Now don't everyone go out and copy me now...
Start off by either getting the tires pulled off, or stuffing index cards in between the tire and rim, then masking the tire off. If you've got external wheel weights (the hammer on kind), you're gonna have to pull them off (get them re-balanced afterwards).
You need the following:
Aircraft Stripper (recommend the spray can)
Rubber Gloves
Primer (I used clear, but any will do)
Dupli-color Wheel Enamel (You pick Graphite, White, Black or Silver)
Dupli-color Wheel Clearcoat
600 Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper and a Sanding Block
Denatured Alcohol
Lint-Free Applicator pads
Lots of Water
1. Put the gloves on and apply aircraft stripper to the entire face of the rim. Follow the directions on the can for working time. Use a plastic scraper to remove old paint and/or clearcoat. You may have to do this a couple of times before you get it all off.
Take your time, make sure it's all off... it took me over 2 hours to strip all the clear coat off. Spray the junk off with water.
2. Wet sand the surface to roughen it up a little so the paint sticks. Add a little soap to the water you soak the paper in, it helps it slide a little better, and adds some cleaning while you sand. If the wheel face has machining lines in it (Like the 99-00 Si rims) then make sure you sand in the same direction, or you'll scratch the hell out of them. Spray them clean with water.
3. Dry the wheels real well. I towel dried them, then left them out to air dry for about 45 minutes. When they're dry, take them to some place out of direct sun to spray them.
4. Once you put the wheels where you want them to be when you paint, DON'T TOUCH THEM WITH YOUR HANDS! Apply denatured alcohol to a lint free applicator and wipe the wheels down with it. This takes all the oil and junk from your hands, the sandpaper, etc... off and gives you a clean surface to paint on.
5. Spray on 2 thin coats of primer. Follow the directions on the can for drying time.
6. Spray as many coats of Wheel Enamel as you need to determine the color you want. Heres what you get after each coat of graphite paint...
1 coat:
2 coats:
3 coats:
4 coats:
I put 4 on. Make sure you put light, even coats on. Thick spraying will give you runs and they'll look horrible. Vary the position you're spraying from to make sure you don't miss any crevaces (Like between the spokes). Easiest way is to just walk around the wheel while you spray.
7. Spray on 2 or 3 light coats of Clearcoat. Make sure you cover the whole wheel. Let them sit to dry.
Done. It took me about 4.5 hours start to finish, but thats counting the setting time between coats. Do a coat every 15-20 minutes.
Thats all there is to it....
Now don't everyone go out and copy me now...
It's also good for fixing damaged rims. I posted this about 2 months ago.
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...threadid=85651
And I love that color too! I'm probably gonna do that with my autox wheels (95 GSR's) eventually.
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...threadid=85651
And I love that color too! I'm probably gonna do that with my autox wheels (95 GSR's) eventually.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 13,151
Likes: 3
From: Washington DC
Rep Power: 424 I forgot one step...
After the faces have dried over night, take some scotchbrite and rough up the backs. I say scotchbrite instead of sand paper because no one is gonna see the backs and there tends to be tar and stuff stuck to it... so the scotchbrite does a better job cleaning it off.. Wipe them with alcohol and clear coat the backs...
Then you're done.
Total usage of paint was 1 small can of primer, 1 can of wheel enamel and 1 of clear coat. Which means you're out the door for less than $20.
After the faces have dried over night, take some scotchbrite and rough up the backs. I say scotchbrite instead of sand paper because no one is gonna see the backs and there tends to be tar and stuff stuck to it... so the scotchbrite does a better job cleaning it off.. Wipe them with alcohol and clear coat the backs...
Then you're done.
Total usage of paint was 1 small can of primer, 1 can of wheel enamel and 1 of clear coat. Which means you're out the door for less than $20.
Autocross Junky
Hey! Look At Me!! I'm a Supporting Member!!
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 7,211
Likes: 0
From: Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Rep Power: 380 Make sure you dont get any of the aircraft stripper on your skin. I've had a couple of bad experiances with it while working at my dads shop. It trys to do the same thing to your skin that it does to the paint. 
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 13,151
Likes: 3
From: Washington DC
Rep Power: 424 Originally posted by civicvtec1ps
powercoating is the way to go
powercoating is the way to go
Yeah, no ****... I had them powdercoated since the paint came off with a garden hose. This paint stuff is apparently pure crap. I'm fairly certain I did it all right, stripped and cleaned, sanded cleaned again, alcoholed and painted... so this stuff is just crap. Thankfully, I only wasted $10 on it.
Registered!!
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 273
Likes: 0
From: TEXAS
Rep Power: 0 what the hell! YOu painted them and even wrote a DIY and then it turned out shitty.. so you don't think the DIY is a good idea anymore? Is that what hes saying.. Dupli Color Wheel enamel is shitt- A? What about Dragoon who painted his wheels with it.. no bad comments from him?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 13,151
Likes: 3
From: Washington DC
Rep Power: 424 The DIY works. It the same method that's posted on H-T, H-A.net, etc....
The PAINT is what sucks. A lot of them just used plain old Duplicolor paint.. not the wheel enamel. I think thats what the problem was. You can try it if you want, I'm not making any guarantees about it coming out right... but these guys on other forums are finding out that the paint doesn't last long if you actually have a winter. The salt and sand does a pretty good job of removing it. Painting is cheap, but if you want it to last and look real good, then powder coat them.
The PAINT is what sucks. A lot of them just used plain old Duplicolor paint.. not the wheel enamel. I think thats what the problem was. You can try it if you want, I'm not making any guarantees about it coming out right... but these guys on other forums are finding out that the paint doesn't last long if you actually have a winter. The salt and sand does a pretty good job of removing it. Painting is cheap, but if you want it to last and look real good, then powder coat them.
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,225
Likes: 0
From: Oklahoma
Rep Power: 305 I was thinking it might be nice to do a gunmetal job to my mr7s. But I was going to take them out for stripping by a professional. I found a few shops that would strip them for a small fee. I just didnt want to risk f-ing up my rims to get them painted... i guess id ont have the *****.
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