What type of Paint to use for an Aluminum Wheel

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  • Ben
    January 13, 2011 at 9:05 pm #27131

    Just picked up a small job to paint a set of 2 Piece BBS RM Aluminum Wheels.

    The faces are semi-polished. I was going to scuff the polish with 600 grit and shoot a few coats of Epoxy Prmer. From there I was going to lay down a Urethane Single Stage to match body color.

    I thought using a base/clear approach may cause problems if the clear is chipped and exposed with the salt/snow/grime in our area.

    What sayith thee old great ones???

    A Pic of a similar wheel below…The lips have already been unlbolted/removed for painting.

    [img]http://www.2002parts.com/BBSrm15x6-5et33top.jpg[/img]

    Richard
    January 13, 2011 at 10:51 pm #27132

    Scuffing polished metals with paper is a PITA, especially chromed parts. :chair
    I’d save myself some time and blast them with a fine media.
    Maybe go with some tinted epoxy, and then single stage them. (Depending on rather they’re going to be a solid color, or metallic.)
    I’d probably go with something along the lines of Imron SS or some other Polyurethane Enamel. (The softer stuff resists chipping well)
    I’ve heard etches work pretty good on aluminum too. That maybe even be a better solution to avoid paint chips.

    ryan brown
    January 13, 2011 at 11:47 pm #27133

    If you do blast it dont spray right over the part without sanding it first. The profile the blasting leaves isn’t great for painting directly over. Take some P120 and hit it or if going directly to paint I would P80 then P180-P220 them and wet on wet.

    I would want a lot more of a tooth in it than P600. You can seal and paint over P180 scratches in bare metal.

    Ben
    January 15, 2011 at 1:02 am #27175

    Thanks for the advice guys!

    darren
    January 15, 2011 at 2:04 am #27177

    leave them alone and don’t wreck them with paint:compsmash :whistle:

    james caruso
    January 15, 2011 at 4:38 pm #27209

    yes, you need a tooth greater than 600. 180 atleast. i agree that blasting will be way easier but you dont want to use a coarse media for the reason ryan mentioned. if you use a finer media and on aluminum you keep the psi low, around 30-40 then you can blast and epoxy them. epoxy and single stage will be the most durable finish you can do.

    Ben Hart
    January 15, 2011 at 9:30 pm #27218

    [quote=”jim c” post=17153]yes, you need a tooth greater than 600. 180 atleast. i agree that blasting will be way easier but you dont want to use a coarse media for the reason ryan mentioned. if you use a finer media and on aluminum you keep the psi low, around 30-40 then you can blast and epoxy them. epoxy and single stage will be the most durable finish you can do.[/quote]

    I agree. Just check with the epoxy you are using. You may need to clean the aluminum with alumi-prep 33 then etch them first

    Nelson Hays
    January 15, 2011 at 10:57 pm #27221

    I did a couple sets of aluminum wheels last year. blasted one set, sanded the other. blasting was a giant pain, since we were pulling off the old peeling chrome on one set….. used GIANT sand, and left some gnarly pits. epoxy, and poly primer :dnc

    worst job of all time…

    but epoxy and SS urethane worked great

    Shawn Goodson
    January 16, 2011 at 6:39 am #27247

    If you could blast them with something like a fine glass bead, I think you would have plenty of “tooth” for the primer to grip. I’ve had lots of luck blasting with glass beads and priming with a 2k DTM primer. Definately agree with the guys on using a urethane single stage. Will definately resist the chips better and you won’t have to worry about the salt and other road yuck peeling the clear of a base clear job. Good luck!

    Ben
    January 17, 2011 at 9:30 pm #27353

    Thanks for the piece of mind guys. Just wanted to make sure I was headed in the right direction. I’ll hopefully have some progress pics soon.

    Jim Clark
    January 24, 2011 at 10:21 pm #27592

    Definetly use your thing on them (LOL)

    Ben
    February 3, 2011 at 4:58 am #28011

    A few follow up pics:

    Epoxy Primed:

    [img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs756.ash1/164724_1861764666712_1318824091_2221012_3145278_n.jpg[/img]

    Single Stage Urethane (Calyso Green)

    [img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs273.snc6/180097_1861765026721_1318824091_2221013_1077290_n.jpg[/img]

    [img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs041.snc6/167126_1861764226701_1318824091_2221009_2259670_n.jpg[/img]

    Ben Hart
    February 3, 2011 at 7:29 am #28020

    Looks great! I am sure the single stage will perform very well for you!

    MoCoke
    February 3, 2011 at 8:56 am #28030

    looks great :cheers i just hacked a set of nissan rims for my mechanic but the tires were still mounted :deadhorse :deadhorse

    Ben
    February 3, 2011 at 3:45 pm #28036

    Thanks for the help guys. A lot of good info on here. The owner was stoked when he saw the wheels.

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