philpoe

iTrader: (4)

Well, I finally gave up on my project of polished 300ZX rims.
I just couldn't get the finish I wanted. I also gave up (for the moment at least) the idea of having summer/winter sets.
So I sold off all but 4 of the 300ZX rims and decided on trying to color them grey metallic. I ended up trying Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Coating in Graphite and the same product in Clear.

pics can be seen at http://photos.yahoo.com/philp0e in the 300ZX rims album, showing the wheels polished and painted and a chrome rim for comparison. Various centercaps are on the pics to show color differences. The silver Z cap is "normal" 300ZX rim color.

The project will be complete when another set of "Nissan" centercaps arrive and are painted the same color.

teejnut

iTrader: (8)

Can I just get this spray paint at Pep Boys? Also, how did you prepare your rims before you painted them? How many coats of paint did you use? How's the quality/feel of the paint?

I have a set of 300ZX rims that are chrome (all messed up though) that are just sitting there. I think I'll try this.

95emeraldgxe

hey that actually doesnt look too bad

philpoe

iTrader: (4)

Some things I learned through the process...

Don't go nuts on the sanding, the paint will smooth out most minor imperfections. DO worry about large gouges and nicks. The dremel followed by 100 and 220 grit worked well.

Don't spray too thickly. I tested the spray on something else earlier, and it gummed up the nozzle. When it wouldn't spray, I panicked a little bit so that when I cleared the nozzle, I proceeded to empty the can. In the deep corners of the rims, you can see where the paint pooled a bit, and wrinkled. Take the time to come back for several thin coats.

Read how laquers and enamels dry/cure.
http://www.duplicolor.com/solutions/faq.html
http://www.plastikote.com/plastikote/faqs/index.jsp

Masking is a necessary evil. It took a bit of time, but worth the effort. I masked so that the outside edge of the tire would sit on the new paint, and just behind the spokes on the inside. I cut out the valve stems and taped behind there and the lug nut holes so that the paint would get all the way down.

The lug nut wells present a problem in that you want to spray them, but you have to fog the whole area to get down there, possibly causing too think of a coat on the face of the wheel. I opted for thinner coats in the well instead of risking wrinkling.

Though it may seem like "just one can" and it seems like it's a "well ventilated area", get a paint mask. I thought I didn't need it until I was done. I blew my nose and found silver paint on the tissue(!).

I'll add more as I remember...

philpoe

iTrader: (4)

I bought the paint at AutoZone, though I imagine that Pep Boys carries it.

Wheel Prep:
Remember, I had the wheels stripped and polished already, and added 3 light coats of clear coat. I imagine that the factory paint is thicker and may be baked.

I used a foaming paint stripper to take off the existing clearcoat. It was called "Aircraft Stripper" or the like. It says that it takes 15-30 minutes. I came back after 2 hours. It may be worhtless anyway depending on the type of paint you use. Enamels don't have to go to the metal. I'm not sure about laquers.

Scrape off the foam residue with a putty knife or the like. I can't imagine paint stripping residue will do good things below a coat of paint. Again, this may be unnecessary if you're going to do extensive sanding. In the case of "normal" 300ZX wheels, pay close attention. The silver paint is almost identical in color to the aluminum, so you may have loose paint that you might overlook.

Get a dremel:
Cutting wheel - I used it to cut the valve stems. They're probably good, but I couldn't sand/clean under them, and I didn't know how to remove them otherwise.

Grinding belts/tips - smooth out the dings/knicks in the wheels. It will look rough, but don't worry, you'll sand it smoother later.

Wire brush - there may be some areas of detail that collect dust/grime. On 300ZX wheels, there are letters stamped into the wheel, and in the wheel well and the valve stem hole. I used the brush to knock out any "loose" stuff. It can't do good things coming loose under paint.

Get sandpaper and use coarser grit (I used 100) to smooth out any dremel work, then higher grit (I used 220) to make that "smooth enough" to paint. Also, I jammed a screwdriver into a balled up paper towel into the sandpaper to get the really sharp corners, like the inner lip of the wheel face, where there was bound to be dirt or paint stripper residue. Also use the finer paper (220 in my case) to scuff the face surface of the wheel.

I washed the wheels to get aluminum dust off (I used the laundry sink in my basement), and I went through the probably unnecessary step of using steel wool and wet sanding to find/remove loose paint from the stripping foam.

I dried the face and tire mounting surface as best I could, and dabbed at the backface. The rear of a wheel is so porous with crud, it's hopeless to dry it by hand. I guess that you could use a hair dryer.

I masked the back of the centercap, lugnut, and valve stem holes with masking tape. I then used newspaper to mask the outside and inside of the wheels. I masked the outside so that the outer lip of the tire would rest on paint, and the inside just behind the spokes.

I then painted the wheels. I put the coats on a little too thick, IMHO, but it looks great. I also think that the thick coats mean that it will take a long time to cure/dry. I'm going to leave them for days actually.

96shogunmax

iTrader: (9)

I did this with the same paint to my SE rims last week.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

Looks really good. I want to do the same to my MM-11 rims, but I lack spare rims to run while I paint these properly...