I am going to paint factory rims flat back this weekend, w/tire on, and use rattle cans. But I never painting aluminum rims before. anything special I need to know. My plan is to clean rims and scuff up rims with scotch brite pad mask off tire and paint both side

 

I would think all you'd need to do is sand them with 400-600 grit sandpaper by hand, then paint them. You could prime them first but I wouldn't imagine that you'd need to do that unless they are beat up a bit. I'm sure someone with more experience could chime in here. Sand them just enough to get the clear off of them.

 

I just did an old set of aftermarket wheels. They were chromed aluminum wheels, w/ the chrome coming off. I know paint doesn't really like to stick to aluminum, and we have plenty of salt up here, so I kinda went overboard. I gave them a light sandblast, then self-etching primer, then a flat black enamel. So far, so good. (kinda hard to get clean, tho)

 

No salt problems over here. think I will use some 600 / 800 grit sand paper after a good scrub and some degreaser and finish it with some 000 steel wool. Decided to go with satin black to match unpainted bushwacker fender flares. Going for that khaki/black look

 

Post pictures when you're done. We'd like to see it.

 

yah pics! I don't know anyone who owns a wheel shop and refuse to pay retail for cool looking blacked out rim!

 

Better go to a paint shop and get some aluminum prep. They make a liquid that you rub on the aluminum before painting. It ensures that the paint sticks. I had a body shop for a year and did a lot of semis. As long as I treated the aluminum before painting I never had a problem. It's not expensive, and it's not hard to apply.

 

Here are the photos. cant decide to leave caps chrome or paint em black

 

I should of bought loto ticket, instead of painting my rims. Anybody have a comment on how they look, Truck is now 18 months old

 

You did a good job. The rims look real clean!

 

I'd go on and do the all black, but you have those chrome sidesteps and that gives the truck nice balance. Looks real good.


Chris

 

what kind of rattle can did you use? i would have guessed you had them powdercoated. looks great!!

 

I used krylon satin black, gonna paint the caps the same and maybe change out side steps to heavy duty pipe. But powder coating would have been the answer

 

how long did these take you to do and what is the exact procedure? thanks a lot

 

It took all day friday only cus it was raining, used degreaser and mother ball w drill on back side of rim, washed rim and used steel wool on back side and the front, seeing how front face of rims had clear coat on them I used 1000 grit sandpaper on the face to take out steelwool scuff marks, washed em, dried em, masked off tire and painted inside with 4 coats of paint then flipped over and put 4 coats on the face making sure each coat became tacky before applying next coat, didnt want any runners here.