Wheel respray DIY

**Mrk_Mickey** · 01-08-2009, 06:50 PM

Hey lads

I've been contemplating respraying my wheels for quite some time now. Seeing as I finally kicked the mini project off and bought some paint during the week, I thought I would make this thread documenting all the steps I will take to do it so it could be of use to others

.

This thread is basically going to show you how to respray wheels by first paint stripping them down to bare metal, and then using 2pac paints (primer, colour and clear) and body filler to get a (close to

) perfect finish.

I hated the colour of my wheels because they weren't metallic and lacked a lot of shine..so after trying to get a shadow-chrome like paint and being unsuccessful, I decided on the Audi colour ''Atlas Grey''. Bought it at VG auto's for $38:

**Mrk_Mickey** · 01-08-2009, 07:15 PM

This is what my wheels looked like:

Here's last night's work:
Firstly, have the wheel mildly clean (thanks Dan

) so the paint stripper can get right to work on the surface

Paint stripper is available at hardware stores and auto stores, usually around $40-50 per 4ltr tin. You tend to go through a fair bit (average about 600-800ml per wheel depending on design) so tell your wallet to be generous!

Grab an old can to pour the stripper into (fruit tins ftw) and a paint brush, and apply the paint stripper VERY generously (you're not even painting it on, more patting it on so it creates a ~3mm thick coat over everything). Give the whole wheel a nice coat and make sure to get into every little nook and cranny because it only works if there's lots there. Remember all your safety stuff: crappy clothing (long sleeves/covered clothes are best, cos this stuff stings your skin), gloves, mask (definitely if you're in a poorly ventilated area)

Do all of the wheels and let them sit for about 10 minutes or so

After this, the paint will literally have bubbled off the alloy surface. It looks pretty gross, but pretty cool

Here's what it should look like after soaking in a bit:

The best way to clean it off is to agitate the paint with a wire brush/wool pad (remember your gloves!) and hose it off with a karcher or similar. Unfortunately it was too late to use the karcher last night so we only had normal hose pressure. They were also left a little TOO long, as the paint started to stick back onto the alloy again. Here's the result of the first strip:

**Mrk_Mickey** · 01-08-2009, 07:17 PM

We stripped them again and got about 85-90% of it off, but that was all for last night. Tomorrow morning we're going to finish stripping the wheels, and prep them for primer. Wheels should be primed and ready for colour by tomorrow arvo

**Silver dub** · 01-08-2009, 08:10 PM

looking good mate can't wait to see more pics, keep us posted

**Treza360** · 01-08-2009, 10:23 PM

Good to see you're still getting in there mickey with the hands on stuff.
What about the paint that's still under the wheel balance weight there?
Cheers,
Trent