***Updated with whole cars pics on post 19***

I had some free time, but not extra money, so I went out on a limb and painted my wheels. They had some discoloration around the outsdie of them, like the previous owner had some curb rash repaired, but didnt use the best paint. So I went to Autozone picked up some paint and went to work.

I painted the outside edge silver with 3 coats of paint and waited about 45min to dry. I then taped out off the outside edges, that took about 15 min each wheel. I painted the wheels graphite/gunmetal with 5 coats. I waited again about 45 min and took the tape off and clear coated the whole wheel in 3 coats and waited to dry.

There are not 100% perfect but unless you are really close I think they pretty good. Especially for $15 I spent. Hopefully they will get through until I can buy a decent set of new wheels.

Anyway blah, blah, blah here are a couple of pics





Fat

 

uhhhh, maybe 5.5 gen 17's would have looked better. looks better in silver IMO, but good work with the paiting.

 

Looks very nice!

 

Man, from the looks of things they look nice

 

looks nice but i bet the paint starts flacking off soon

 

I agree, unless you prepped the wheels real well

 

well the wheel will also get warm and make the paint chip

 

the wheels look good....imo

 

i like it...

 

even if properly preped and cleared afterwards?

 

Time will tell but nice work for the $$$

 

pics of whole car with wheels on?

 

Yeah they will start to flake eventually, but the problem would be chipping. I could see it start to flake real fast if a chip went through the all the layers of paint. Thats why I did so many coats of paint and clearcoat. Maybe I should edit this to a poll and see what the vote is on how long it will take to start to chip/flake. Hmmmmm

I will take some tomorrow, when I took these the sun was washing everything out. Check back tomorrow.

Fat

 

Hard to tell how they look on the ride.

 

i like it...nice work for the $$$

 

Those are slick. I'd rock out with those too, but I'd be too afraid of chipping afterward. Good work, though! Something innovative at last

 

That is the best looking set of rims I have ever seen on a Maxima!

Honestly, the paint will not chip unless you smack it with something...

The rim paint he got (Ithink it is the same stuff I used) is designed for high heat so heat will not chip them.

 

it looks ok, need to see the whole car. post some more pics.

 

Ok here are some pics as wanted:






Fat

 

YouR S$%t looks like the Bat mobile. Except its not black? Does that make any sense, never mind they look hot on your whip man. For 15 bucks mod well done!

 

rims look good, time for a drop, and smoked headlights....

J

 

That looks really good!

 

I cannot decide if I like the sliver lip or not...

 

Sitting on Vogtland springs already, dropped abot 1.4f 1.6r

Fat

 

that looks pretty sweet

 

nice job. I was also thinking the same but with gloss black.

Did you paint the aluminum around the windows also?

 

ok after seeing pics...i like them a whole lot more

great job for the $$$!

 

So what kind of prepping did you do? Did you just clean the wheels? Also, did you use spray paint?

 

I must say i was skeptical at first , but all i can tell you is it looks pretty good...not my thing tho..but pretty good. as long as you like it.

 

Yeah it is a rattle can. Not sure what prep he did but I can tell you what I did...

First was to clean the rim with a strong degreaser and cleaner. Then I taped it all off and started to sand down the rims. Dont really remeber the grits now but took off all the old paint. I had curbrash so I fixed that and then sprayed a couple of coats of primer. Let the primer dry then I put down two coats of color (go light and even). once that dried I put on two coats of clear and let it dry overnight. Installed on car and drove away...

With all the pitts on the factory rims I think the primer was important since it gave the paint a nice smooth surface to be applied to. Without it I think you would have seen the pitts much more in the final product.

For everything; tape, cleaner, sandpaper, primer, color and clear it cost about $40.

 

I don't think the "lip" matches the lines of the rims. I say paint it all.

 

I agree, it also does not seem to flow well with his "blacked out" car...

Everything else is black them a random silver lip.

 

Does a color exist that is closer to the AE wheels? Or is gunmetal the closest?

BTW, thanks, upstate.

 

I cleaned them with some degreaser and wiped clean. I then used 320 grit sandpaper and sanded everything down real good. It didnt take all the oem paint off but roughed it up and took off the clear coat. Rather than tape the wheels I just used index cards, just push tthem inbetween the rim and tire. They stay still and are much easier than tape.

I used Duplicolor wheel paint, it is spray and you can get it at autozone or pretty much any car part store. It is specifically made for wheels.

Not really that close, Here is the complete colors from duplicolor

Fat

 

Thanks!

How do you guys fix curb rash?

 

that definately looks sweet....if I had regular stock wheels I'd consider it but I dont wanna ruin my AEs....

 

The silver paint used on the "lip," is that like the stock finish? I wonder what the wheel would look like with it painted entirely like that?

 

In a few months I should know... I am going back to a silver color.

 

The silver paint duplicolor makes is extremely close, if not the same,as the OEM color. When I was painting the outside edge silver to cover up some of the discoloration I had, it was tough to tell the difference between the two. I say if you had your front one OEM and the rear silver you could not tell they were different.

Fat

 

black max's represent!!! wheels look very nice in my opinion! i painted my stockers black for the winter and i used the duplicolor wheel enamel which i hope is what you used....the stuff covered amazing!!!!