The best way to prep steel wheels for paint?

"4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30" (4muddyfeet) 06/08/2015 at 12:41 • Filed to: None

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I have 5 Defender and 6 Discovery wheels all with good tyres on, and would like to prep them for paint. Now they don’t need to be absolutely perfect but I’d still like a relatively good tough finish on them. Rather than pop the tyres off each rim to get them sand blasted, I would rather just get at the wheels with a wire cup/wheel and then finish off the little bits by hand. I know y’all love your plasti-dip, but I’ll be using kurust where necessary, then primer and two coats of spray paint.

Having never done this before, what advice can you give? Should I just get them blasted? (It’ll cost £165 in total for tyres off/blasted/tyres on again).

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 12:44

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Wire wheel, etch primer, paint.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 12:46

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Dunno. Most of our Series wheels are from a stash my dad had blasted and redone in fresh Limestone decades ago, but we did freshen up the old set on my cousin’s for wheel paint instead, since he wanted a slate gray. Wire wheel brushing worked all right for those, would probably do well enough here.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 06/08/2015 at 12:47

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Will this be OK? http://www.plasti-kote.co.uk/Product/pcode—…

CalzoneGolem > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 12:47

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Scotch Brite pads make a pretty good surface for paint to stick to.

Clean and scrub then just paint.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 12:50

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Probably, I’d use the Zinc primer though.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > CalzoneGolem 06/08/2015 at 12:51

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Top tip, thanks. There’s a little bit of rust creeping in, so I’ll have to attack that first.

davedave1111 > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 12:51

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These might help. Or then again, might not, but seems worth a try at that price.

http://www.wheelpaints.co.uk/Sundry-Materia…

CalzoneGolem > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 12:54

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Nothing a little elbow grease can’t fix!

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > davedave1111 06/08/2015 at 12:54

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It’ll save me taping 22 tyre walls. Thanks.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 06/08/2015 at 12:58

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Bollocks. Already bought 3x that ^. Still, it’s better not to do a job half-arsed.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:00

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I used SOS pads to do mine before primer and Tremclad!

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:02

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One would think you could get the same effect with a 4x6 index card too. Probably a lot cheaper to boot.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:02

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It’ll be OK anyway I guess, never used anything made by that company, we don’t have that in Norway.

tromoly > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:05

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Adding to what others have said, I’d suggest using paint stripper first to get a large amount of paint off, then use wire wheel/scuffer/whatever to prep the surface before priming. Just don’t breath too much of the stuff, you’ll get high as a kite before you know it.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 06/08/2015 at 13:09

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I think after 11 wheels they’ll be a bit soggy. I have 12 other wheels which may need doing in the future, so I’ll consider it an investment!

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > tromoly 06/08/2015 at 13:14

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Wait, why shouldn’t I be breathing it again? I didn’t think about paint stripper, it’s probably less mess too in the long run. Thanks.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif 06/08/2015 at 13:15

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SOS pads? Looks good though!

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:20

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They are basically steel wool with a detergent in them. Thanks!

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif 06/08/2015 at 13:22

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I knows thems. Brillo pads.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:26

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Ya, heard them being called those too!

davedave1111 > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 13:33

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I was thinking it ought to protect the tyres from wire-brushing as well. But I’ve never tried.

NWacadia2 > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/08/2015 at 16:26

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Wire wheel on the end of a drill. Clean them up, sand them smooth. Tape off the Valve stem with some painters tape and then cover the wheel in GOJO Hand cleaner. Leave the hand cleaner on the tire and paint. All the over spray sticks to the hand cleaner. Then you just wipe the hand cleaner off and voila! Clean tire and no overspray! Try it, you just might be surprised!

I do it every few years on my Utility trailer Rims!

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > NWacadia2 06/09/2015 at 03:22

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Genius!