Have any of you painted wheels before? I've got silver Kosei K1s which I want to be slightly darker with almost a "gun metal" tint. I found some great paint. All I want to do is use one light coat of the paint. Anyone got ideas?

Dave

 

don't paint them...get them powdercoated.
you can sand blast them to get rid of the old paint and then you can powdercoat them and it will last a hell of a lot longer than paint and will look a lot better.
just find a local shop in KC, i'm sure there are a few of them.

 

I haven't found too many styles that looked good and were in my price range in gunmetal or black. I was thinking of maybe just getting someone's 4th gen 16s for cheap and getting 'em powdercoated.

 

Powdercoating is not necessary if the wheels are painted with the same paint that's on the car. The wheels have to be stripped and painted like the body. The paint is very durable. Using regular spray paint would be a bad idea, though.

 

Powercoating would have the toughest finish but I've painted wheels before with good results and durability. It's all in how you prep them. The stock wheel paint(if it's in good condition) makes for a nice base coat. You must clean them very well and sand them very well. If at all possible, the tires should be taken off too. If you can end the paint at the lip so when the tires are mounted, it doesn't scrape off or have the tire mounter use a touchless machine on it. I even used a 1 step metallic paint w/ good results on some M30 wheels about 7 years ago. Spray cans ain't gonna cut it though. You gotta use a good spay gun and automotive paint to do it correctly. If you don't have that equipment, hire someone or paint/powercoat or just leave it the normal color.