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I've got a question...

I need to get my mag wheels back to their original white. It seems easy enough to just sand 'em and do a thorough rattlecan job, but is there something I should know? A better method or a different paint more suitable for wheels?





You are lucky if you want to restore your white rims... and I think the answer rest with the appliance white enamel paint. It's positive feature is that it goes on super hard and can resist all the road chemicals that might try to adhere to it and ut can withstand most washing detergents that you might throw at it to keep it clean. The only weak point to the appliance white enamel paint is that because it is so hard - it tends to chip when directly hit.

In most cases a wheel rim isn't exposed to many direct rock or chip hits. And if a rock hits it and chips it.. you can usually dab the spot with white enamel appliance touch up paint.

Oddly enough one of the killers of paint on rims is the heat that is generated from its proximity to the brakes. The appliance enamel is strong enough to withstand most heat ranges ( after all they use that enamel paint on stoves )

One type of paint that might be considered is a high gloss - high heat spray paint. Normally you can find it in two flavors... there are high heat - high gloss paints for engine painting ( and usually it is an enamel ) and also there are the specialized high heat paints sold for painting barbeques (bar-b-q's )). The barbeque paints usually don't have much of a color range ( black ) and usually don't have much of a surface appearance selection ( flat only usually ). But it would give a nice 'flat black' surface and we know it can adhere quite well to even cast iron.

I know several guys with TR6's who sanded their 'metal' rims down and then rattle can bombed their rims with paint to match their car. They went through a procedure something like what we do with surface preparation, even laying multiple layers of paint with 1500 grit wet sanding only at each step. They used the final sprayed layer as the 'shiny' layer and did not put any kind of clear coat on the finished painted surface. Apparently the clear coats tended to scratch up with microscopic scratches like a pair of eye or safety glasses that were constantly rubbed with paper instead of a soft cloth.

One guy.. Carl... with a 1976 mint condition MGG ( and metal rims ) took his rims off for the winter and did a multiple layer spraybomb job on his rims in his basement. In the spring when he revealed his winter project the results were nothing less then spectacular. But in Carls situation.. he was insano and meticulous to the nineth degree. But his efforts showed me just how amazing a rsult you could get with steel rims IF YOU take your time and methodically go about the painting, wet sanding and final polishing and waxing stages.

I guess the real trick to having success with wheel rims depends on what the rims are made of... with steel rims being fairly straightforward working with and with some of the aluminum or other alloy rims requiring surface preparation that is specific to those type of metal surfaces.

My GTA has aluminum honeycomb / snowflake style rims with a 3 inch deep chrome lip. They were looking pretty battle weary and I looked into getting them freshened up. In the end I was fortunate to find a company whose only job is refinishing rims. I got really lucky because when I phoned them they thought I was a 'garage' and they quoted to me the price they charge 'companies'. I think it was about $50 a wheel - and they picked up the rims and returned them ( pick up and delivery included wow ). The reason I mention that story is that those rims would never have accepted any paint job from me. As that type of rim ages it gives off a whitish powder on the wheel surface. Any paint I might have put on would have flaked off within 6 months. So sometimes there are rims that just shouldn't be 'hand painted' or rolled.

I have blathered... but hopefully something in this blathering points you in the right direction..

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