I just finished hand-scrubbing and hand-sanding the two front DRW wheels on my truck.

This is the first time being re-painted since the factory painted them in most likely 1984.

My goal is to completely clean, sand, and paint every wheel on every truck on the place, plus all the trailers, plus countless extra sets of wheels.

As just hand-sanding the two I have done so far was almost over-whelming, I am considering possibly sand-blasting the rest of them; which leads me to a few questions :



Should I invest in a Harbor Freight closed-top sand-blaster and do the blasting myself at my leisure ??

Or, should I instead have them blasted by one of the commercial guys ??


About what should I expect to pay per wheel to have them sand-blasted if I take four to six at a time ??

Thanks

 

i have all my steel blasted runs $35- 50 dollars a wheel both sides and some inside stuff depending on how bad the rust is
then primer and paint or primer fill with a high fill primmer and paint
they come out amazing and will not rust

or take them and get them powder coated any color of the rain bow about $75 a rim they sometimes blast as well for that price

the cheapest was finding some one blasting a biulding or overpass and leave with them
about 25. a rim with the rubber on !!!

 

I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to plug youtube videos but I painted the rims on my mom's car using this method and they turned out great, lasted through one winter with absolutely no change. I bet they will be fairly rust proof as well. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oG-1uzLJr0

 

I've got one of those harbor freight ones and they are handy as heck. Once you get used to operating it, you're gonna want to blast and restore everything in sight! Well worth the money. Matter of fact, they didn't have the cheapest model in stock, so they gave me the next model up for the same price. Put about 1300 lbs of sand through it so far. The tips wear out pretty quick, but replacements are available all over for cheap. Definitely go for it, it's a purchase you won't regret, imo.

 

Tell me more.

Does you have the "deadman" nozzle or the cheaper version with the cut-off valve at the nozzle ??

What kind of "sand" do you use ??

I have heard it said that plain old bulk mortar-mixing sand will work so long as it is sifted and dry.


I had already sort of thought of getting carried away with de-rusting everything around if I had some way to do it.


Do you know which SKU-number you have ??


Thanks.

 

i use harbor freight mosel sb9008 (no deadmanon this model).needs about 15 to 18 cfm to operate. i use "oo" sand.keep it in a dry place. buy extra nozzles to keep on the shelf.they seem to only sell replacement nozzles on line.you will use them.works great for small jobs.

 

BK,

I bought one from Northern Tool many years ago.

Most important tip i can give you is... to sift sift, sift.

I use regular play sand that I put through a shaking screen. From there it gets funneled into the jug, and pressurized. Put a water separator before the unit in line somewhere, and you're ready to blast. Amazing how well it works as long as the sand isn't large enough to clog the nozzle. That's why I started sifting.

I just did my two front wheels.

I degreased them with "grease off" or whatever, and while it was still wet, I took a sponge (medium grit) sanding block and scrubbed the hell out of them. Rised the, and they looked new. Once dry, I primed them with a rust coating primer, then top coated them with Hammerized paint. They look sweet. I'll post pix later.

Black on the inside, and a silver outside. Do the black side first, as the overspray goes through the wheel holes.

T.

 

I did mine last fall before putting the winter studs on them.
First I cleaned them good using solvent to get the grease and oil off of them, then used Dawn dish soap and hot water to remove the solvent residue.
Then I used paint stripper and removed all the old paint.
Soap and water again to remove paint stripper residue.
Sand blasted them with a medium grit aluminum oxide.
Soap and water again.
Primed them with a 2 part acid resistant black epoxy paint.
Then painted to the near original gray with good old rustolium.
10 rims took me about a week.

 

I think they came out ok


Considering they're going to just get cap and rings anyway

 

Looking good !!!


I told the wife that it seemed a shame for me to hide all of my hard work and shiny black paint behind the stainless simulators.

Did you paint with the tires on ??


I removed the tires, as I wanted to really concentrate on the bead flanges where rust seems to take hold first.

No rust on my rims yet, but I wire-brushed off at least a 1/4" layer of old tire residue from the bead seats.

The hidden insides got the same treatment as the show sides.


I have a BUNCH of wheels yet to go; I hope I don't run out of enthusiasm before I start the next pair.

 

I Maaco'd them.... with the tires on. These tires are junkers and aren't going to be reused coming next year. That's why I was so interested in your "tire thread".

I used my foam sanding blocks to get what little rust on the rim there was off. Taped off the rim, and sprayed away.

Most important thing is to let the paint cure... so it will be resistant to the hubcaps and trim rings being reinstalled.


T.

 

SKU 95014. We've been getting mason sand. About 10 bucks a hundred around here. Play sand is cheaper, but there WILL be clumps. Have had no clogs through 14 bags of mason sand. I would like to put a gun with a trigger on the end, but the way it came works for now.

 

Cats wouldn't have had anything to do with those "clumps" would they ??