Topic: Painting your wheels with the tires on

[UnCrash]

Thanks to 78CB750CAFE in his project shop thread

Prep:brillo, scotchbrite then clean your wheels with spray type paint prep, clean water rinse and dry with CLEAN cloth, then tack cloth. I used all DupliColor brand paints. 2 coats self etching primer (greenish) then light fine scotchbrite before a 3rd light coat of the self etching primer. Cured the primer for a day or two, then came color (DupliColor engine paint black, same as the jugs), and 4 or 5 light coats over 2 days, being careful to get it in all the nooks and crannies, the spokes are hard to do evenly. The next day I did the spray paint prep, rinse and dry, followed by a compressor blow off around the nipples and spoke holes especially. Top coat is DupliColor wheel clear coat which I have found to be TOUGH and I like the slightly matted finish it gives.

Oh yeah..... all done with the tires mounted COMPLETELY covered in masking tape (the good green 3m stuff) which made them easy to handle, every other rim I have painted didn't have the tire mounted and all had blems from touching the wheel or it tipping over or rolling away or something equally as stupid.

2,000 + miles since and they still look good, a few small rock marks and 1 scratch but that is to be expected.

good luck, have fun

[78CB750CAFE]

UnCrash

Thanks for popping this into "tips and tricks", hopefully it will help someone.
To start with, let out most of the pressure and break the tire bead so you can start taping the tires off from the bead all the way around. When they are all masked off, toss 10 or so psi in them to keep them nice and round. I was able to lay the wheels on their sides on a few layers of cardboard and just spin them on the axles while I painted. This trick also helps prevent the inevitable first scratch when you mount the tires the first time.

[UnCrash]

Excellent!  I'm going to do this, and a lot of other painting soon so wanted to aggregate all great painting tips to this section.

Thanks for your advice.

[JAG]

I wish there was a way to do this w/o getting paint on the wheels, i.e. painting just the rim and not the spokes...

[ColinMc]

The duplicolor engine paint works great for a lot of you guys that use it for stuff like this...but that paint really doesn't truly "cure" until it gets up to a decent temperature. You'd get just as good of results if not better just using regular duplicolor gloss black or semi gloss black but with the wheel clear coat on top for a little added protection. Unless you bake your wheels in the oven at a couple hundred degrees for 5 or 10 minutes to help get a better bond...then of course use the engine paint by all means.