Don't wanna spend the money on new wheels but wanna new look? *Or want something to hold you over until you save up enough for new wheels? *Here's a few tips on how to paint your wheels and your lip on your current wheels.

You'll need spray paint. *I've found dupli-color engine enamel to hold up very well. *I used the low gloss black for my wheels and gloss red for my lip. *It turned out very well and has held up well. *I did them almost a year ago.




First, take your wheels off. *Use a jack and jack stands or whatever you have so you can take them all off at the same time (this will make things a lot faster).


I didn't have a picture of my wheels before I painted them black but it's pretty self explanatory. *I didn't sand/wet sand or do anything to the wheels except clean them really good. *Since I used a low gloss black I didn't even bother taping off the tires while doing the black. *You'll never even notice. *If you're doing a glossy black I would probably tape the tires off.

To tape off the lip, I used a narrow masking tape (actually used to paint the inside of a house). *It worked pretty good though. *Just run it around with your thumbs and kind of stretch it to make it curve with the wheel.



Next, you'll wanna put some thicker masking tape on top of that. *Also tape off the tires.



Then get some newspapers, magazines, plastic, or whatever you have to fill the inside of the wheel and the side wall of the tire.



Then start painting. *I put two or three coats. *(I would tape off the next wheel while I was waiting on each coat to dry for time's sake).



When you are content with the amount of coats, wait until the paint is tacky, not all the way dry, and start peeling off all the tape.



Give it at least a couple of hours to dry and then pop your wheels back on.




The painted lip may not seem like much but it'll make all the difference in the world.

 

you forgot to Sand them down

 

You don't even need to. Like I said in the post I just cleaned them up really good and started spraying. That engine enamel sticks and doesn't let go.

 

Thinking you should have taken the time to sand the original paint. You always need a slightly roughened surface for paint to stick. It looks like you were in way too much of a rush to get the wheels painted.

 

He doesn't need to sand the damn wheels if he doesn't want to? Obviously it's working for him and has worked for him for the past year or so, and if it chips it takes what, a day to redo it and make it last for a year+?

 

 

op pass your nail through the painted surface see if the paint stays on your nail or the wheels

 

You can dig at it with your nail and it doesn't come off. I've got nothing against sanding them down. All I'm saying is if you use this type of paint you won't need to. Not to mention if you do get a chip (which you can even if you sand them down) all you have to do is lightly wet sand where the chip is and touch it up. Blends right in. You don't have to redo the whole wheel.

 

not bad for the time and money spent on painting oem wheels

 

why would you mess them up by painting when you could have just bought motorcycle rim tape that's REMOVABLE anytime you feel like it.... and also if you get the reflective safety kind your ride will look like fckin Tron at night !

 

Looks good

 

Not bad as long as the paint holds up.

 

Where can you get Motorcycle tape from? Jc

 

Rattle can sucks.

 

i did mine too with engine enamel but i have a couple notes to add.

1.)if you do not sand then use a primer, when you have new tires put on the rims, the machine is going to take the paint off the rim the shop should tell you this before they change your tires.
2.) sand before you paint. if you have any damage on the wheel if you sand it down you will hide most of the previous damage.
3.) make sure you get the engine enamel rattle can that sprays from any angle it will prevent a ruined paint job due to tilting can to far and no paint being sprayed.
4.) buy some wet sand paper (1500 or 2000) and sand the paint before you spray clear or final coat. this will remove any of the mistakes you made and leave you with a nice flat surface to apply your final coat.
5.) wait about 24 hours before putting your wheels back on or driving. if you try to put the wheels on before you will remove paint when you tighten the lug nuts, its going to happen if you dont wait. (use electrical tape around your lug nut wrench to prevent damage to the painted wheels)
6.) the more coats while using progressively higher wet sand paper in between the deeper and smoother the color will look on your wheels.
7.) if you are scared to change the color remember the silver your stock rims were painted is just a rattle can away, or if you like hitting curbs... sanding and silver paint will make your wheels look brand new.
8.) these paints usually require 7 days to fully cure so be easy on them for the first week.

its amazing what can be done with a rattle can of black paint.

 

anywhere, either google it but Ebay is your best bet its where i got mine, go on ebay and do a title search for "motorcycle rim tape"
you will get hundreds of results

 

You're right. I worked at a tire shop or 2 years and it would come off a little bit when people would have painted wheels. I just didn't prime them and all because I figured I would only need tires every two or three years and it's cheap enough to redo them. Sanding, I guess you could say, is a personal preference but your wheels are glossy so it probably made a difference sanding for a glossy finish. The low gloss I used is very forgiving, I guess that's why I'm not having any issues. Your car looks good by the way. Silver on the black looks awesome.

 

Hah that's crazy! I like it.

 

Hell yeah I'm down to put motorcycle safety tape on my rpf1's! It'll cover some of the curb rash. I'm pretty excited in all seriousness haha. It'll be fun.

 

Can you use plastidip on wheels? I'm Onna do it on my emblems and would like it to match perfectly