Painting Wheels

[Doowstados]

So -

When I bought my 17" Scion tC wheels, they were painted by the PO a flat matte black. The paint job wasn't too bad, but I want something a bit different.

I'm not quite sure what I want to do. I'm thinking a glossy gunmetal gray/black mostly or MAYBE darker bronze color, along these lines but significantly darker, or I may just go back to the stock powder coated finish by trying to strip the paint and see what I get.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s308/serrano_gdesigner/DaveTC_bronze_32707.jpg

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8505/closeupmeatyja7.jpg

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii371/xd_kidd91/photoshoot033.jpg



Admittedly, I'm horrible with color coordination. Here's a decent picture of the color of my car and the current state of the wheels for you guys who haven't seen it:



http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/269516_10150722363670019_809925018_19976509_163975 4_n.jpg


Old wheels:

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/73532_10150307178405019_809925018_15867616_7326730 _n.jpg


It's a pretty dark metallic green. Hard to pick a color to match, but these wheels definitely need a touch up. The pictures make them look better than they do up close.


I'll be using a compressor/touch up gun to do the paint so I'm not limited to spray cans. Thanks again everyone.

[celica9303]

Ever thought of dismounting the tires and having the mediablasted and then powdercoated? It will last longer and hold up to the abuse better than paint.

You said the car is dark green? If so I say powdercoat a bronze shade.

[alltracNyx]

^I agree with Tom on a dark bronze with the color of your car. Gunmetal or black would also work, but I think that a dark bronze would contrast nicely.

[Doowstados]

I would powdercoat them if I could afford it, but it is very expensive. You need to pay for dismounting/remounting the tires, I don't own a sandblaster or know anyone that does so I would need to pay for that, plus the cost of having them powdercoated is just a bit too much for me- I could buy new wheels for that cost.

If I had the equipment to do it myself then I would definitely powder coat them though.

[85gtsblackman]

your car is the same color my 91 was, i loved that color. ive been debating painting the nissan that color. anyhooo painting wheels to hold up is a bitch. my powedercoating guy quoted me 35-50 dollars a wheel so as soon as i score center caps and spare money im going that route

also that color bronze is what i plan on doing, or copper

[Doowstados]

your car is the same color my 91 was, i loved that color. ive been debating painting the nissan that color. anyhooo painting wheels to hold up is a bitch. my powedercoating guy quoted me 35-50 dollars a wheel so as soon as i score center caps and spare money im going that route

also that color bronze is what i plan on doing, or copper

Yeah, when I was at Maaco choosing the color I kept coming back to this. Looks nice with the lines of the 5th gen.

It's only going to cost me the $35 for paint to do the job because I have a couple of guns and everything else necessary.

Super excited to do this, I'll update when I buy my decide on the color/buy the paint.

Thanks guys :)

[Doowstados]

Working on painting my wheels... got color coat on two of them today. Using a spray gun/compressor. Custom paint from Matrix Systems.



http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/doowstados/aac3dc59.jpg

Excuse my crappy camera. No clear on it yet, but they looks awesome. Despite what it looks like in the picture, there is VERY little orange peel. This was only the first color coat. Maybe I should go take some more pictures...

I'll be finishing up the other two and clearing them tomorrow. I'll post some pics when they're on the car.


EDIT: Here's some more pics. These were after the final coat of color. They're dry and have been sitting for about 4 hours here.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/doowstados/5e01f5ca.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/doowstados/a7c4ff25.jpg

[Car_Barn_Bandit]

You baking these with a light?

[Doowstados]

You baking these with a light?

No, should I? I don't think I should because they won't be clear coated until tomorrow and it will accelerate them curing, which should happen after they're cleared, right?

[Hookecho]

Looking good.

[Doowstados]

Thanks man!

Anyway, here's some pics of the first two wheels after clear coat:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/doowstados/2156c8f8.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/doowstados/10f98269.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/doowstados/b5776ad8.jpg

EDIT: Wow, Tapatalk hosting really killed the quality of these pics. Let me upload to photo bucket really quick.

EDIT 2: Fixed.