Thumper

Hey guys, what you think. I have an old Miata that i picked up a set if used Fittipaldi wheels for years ago. I have no idea how old the wheels are, but they were looking tired and the Clear coat on the edge had dulled and in some places peeled off.

I decided to strip the out clear coat off and repaint the wheels with wheel paint then clear coat the new color and the striped aluminum area with wheel clear coat.

They are not perfect, but i think look much better considering this was done in the garage and using rattle can wheel paint.

Pics as it was before i started stripping clear coat:





Pics after painting 3 coats Graphite wheel paint and 3 coats clear wheel paint:

captainchaos

Those look great! I recently picked up a set of rally II's for my dad's 70 lemans and I'm going to paint them myself as well. Let me ask prior to painting did you have the wheels checked to make sure they're straight? Also what did you use to strip the clear and how well did it work?

Thumper

Wheels were already good, i am in the process of replacing the first set of Proxes 4 i have eaten up. Used the bike tire changer (HF) to dismount them myself.

I have stripped several street wheels on the out section of the wheels that is polished aluminum coated with paint from factory. I use the aerosol Air Craft paint remover that i picked up from Wal-Mart year ago. Can lasts forever. I masking tape up the center section (silver) and spray the stuff on the clear coat. It only takes maybe 1 or 2 minutes and the clear coat bubbles right off. then you can use some never dull for maybe two minutes and you have a mirror finish. I then use a scotch bright pad on the painter area taking care to not scratch the polished aluminum area. After that wash wheel good, let dry. Then prep painted and aluminum areas with Acetone and tape off the polished aluminum with the green painter tape. Primer the back and front, paint one or two coats from rear then clear two coats on rear. Let dry 45 minutes.Tape up rear side so when painting from from you don't get over spray on the newly painted and clear coated backside.

Flip the wheel over use tack cloths to make sure nothing is on surface. Three coats on fornt side with first coats light and progressively more. After three coats on front wait maybe ten minutes and remove the painters tape from the aluminum area, then check for tape residue and clean carefully with Acetone if needed, wait for evaporation 10 to 15 minutes and then shoot aluminum and center painted area with three coats of clear wheel paint.

Let dry and smile!

This is what is under the SuperHawk OEM Paint. That paint comes off in maybe two or three minutes with aircraft paint remover. I have noticed lighter color paints like silver do not come off as easy on bikes. Clear stuff pretty much falls off the wheel.

captainchaos

Well they both look great. Thanks for the info!

CrankenFine

Nice writeup. Thanks!!

E.Marquez

Very nice...

Great work. My front wheel has a nickel sized spot of paint that lifted and flaked off. Otherwise the wheels are in great shape...
What to do.

I think stripping the paint of that outer edge like you show is a great idea... Anodizing a deep gold color is what i really want.. but will save that cost and effort for a different set of wheels.

What brand "clear wheel paint" are you having luck with?