Paint Your Wheels Black
One of the best ways to give your vehicle a custom look is to paint the wheels black. While calling upon a professional to powdercoat your wheels will give your wheels a long-lasting durable finish, the labor involved as well as the materials needed can cost significantly more than doing a simple paint job yourself. Painting your wheels with a sleek and solid black color will take a day to achieve and will give you the ability to hide any surface blemishes currently plaguing your wheel surfaces.
Instructions
1. Jack your vehicle up one side at a time, remove each wheel with an appropriate-size lug wrench, and place jack stands under the vehicle for proper support while the wheels are off your vehicle. Check with the owner’s manual that came with your vehicle for the correct jack stand placement and jacking instructions. You'll need to place each jack stand underneath the vehicle’s frame, near the wheel axle locations (alternatively, you can change out your wheels with a donor set that will fit your vehicle in order to avoid using jack stands).
2. Remove any center caps you may have installed on the wheels. Wash your wheels thoroughly with degreasing car wash. Use the scratch pad to remove stubborn debris and residual brake dust. Rinse your wheels with a liberal amount of water.
3. Dry off your wheels with a dry rag, shake out any remaining water by carefully bouncing the tires on the ground, and set the wheels out in the sun for an hour to make sure the wheels are completely dried. Use compressed air from an air compressor if you have one available to blast off any small water droplets to reduce the drying time.
4. Use a fresh scratch pad to scuff the wheel surfaces you intend to paint. You may wish to wear latex gloves to reduce irritation to your hands while using the scratch pad. This task will allow the new paint to adhere properly the wheels.
5. Clean off any residual dust caused by using the scratch pad to scuff the wheels using microfiber cloths and mineral spirits. After removing all the residual dust and oils from your wheels, use a hair dryer or compressed air to ensure that no water droplets remain on the wheel surfaces. Do not apply excessive amounts of heat to tires, as doing so can cause damage to them.
6. Cover the sidewall section of your tires with masking tape. If your tires have a high profile, you may wish to use old newspaper to cover the outside portions of the tire’s sidewall while reserving the tape application for where the inside portion of the tire meets the outer lip of the rim. Masking off your tire sidewalls will ensure that you do not get any unwanted paint on your tires.
7. Shake the black paint cans vigorously with an up-and-down motion for two minutes each. You may also want to set your cans in the sun for a short period or run them under warm tap water to increase the paint temperature. Warming the paint slightly will allow for a smoother finish.
8. Place the wheels on the drop cloth or flattened cardboard and apply thin coats of paint to the inside portions of the wheels--the side of the wheel that doesn't face outward when mounted on the car--waiting 20 minutes between each application. Make sure that you angle the spray nozzle so that it is parallel to the surface you are painting while keeping the spray can 8 to 10 inches away from the surface for an even finish. After applying a couple of coats to the insides of the wheels, flip them over to paint the front portion--the part that is exposed when the wheel is mounted.
9. Spray the fronts of the wheels with several thin coats, waiting 20 minutes between coats. If there are any rough spots in the paint, use 1000-grit sandpaper and water to carefully remove any blemishes. Wipe the area clean with a microfiber cloth dampened with mineral spirits before adding another coat (apply only six thin coats of paint to the fronts of the wheels in total). Let them dry completely.
10. Apply four thin coats of clear coat to both the inside and outside portions of the wheels (waiting 20 minutes between coats).
11. Wait an hour for the wheel finish to dry before removing the masking tape from the wheels and tires. Reinstall the wheels on your vehicle using a lug wrench (including the center caps), jack the vehicle up on each side, remove the jack stands individually and lower the vehicle to the ground.
Tags: paint, your, wheels, black, your vehicle, your wheels, wheels with, thin coats, your wheels with, jack stands, minutes between, wheel surfaces, your tires
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