BAND-AID

thats a good idea I think I will be doing this in the next few weeks thanks

BAND-AID

oh also did you bother to pain the backside/inside of the wheels?

Mudflap

Nah, I just taped off the tires, removed the center cap, and prepped the front and sprayed away. The inside isn't visible at all (and that part is usually filthy anyway).

BAND-AID

cool thanks for the info

Croce

Sorry to ask you more questions about it Have a new JK and I'm going to try this this weekend and wanted to know before i started, exactly how you prepped it.
Did you just use the 320 grit sandpaper then the acetone afterwards to clean it before spraying it with the rustoleum a few times?

Mudflap

No problem, I used a couple of the sanding sponges you can get at Home Depot in the paint area. I don't recall the grit, but it was fairly fine. They were yellow (I believe they are color coded). I just scuffed everything up that I wanted to paint until it didn't feel glossy smooth anymore and visibly looked dull, then cleaned it up with Simple Green after. I did not use a primer, but it wouldn't hurt.

The one thing I'd probably do if I had to do it over, is possibly put a few coats of clear coat over the paint. I got a small chip on one of them from taking a rock at speed, but I don't think the clear coat would have prevented that. I've had numerous sets of aftermarket wheels over the years and they chip too. I touched it up by spraying a bit of the can stuff I had left over onto a piece of paper, then using a small brush. Otherwise, so far so good...


The one thing I bought that saved a ton of time to help tape off the tires was one of the combination dropcloth/tape roll thingies. You'll find these in the paint aisle as well, its just a clear dropcloth with a roll of tape pre-stuck to it.

Post some pics when you are finished! If you prep the wheel carefully and apply multiple coats of paint, my experience is self-painted wheels can hold up just as well as any painted aftermarket wheel. The ones coming off the assembly line in the factory aren't going through a process that is a hell of a lot different. And besides if you screw up, you can always just sand em back down and try again.

I found my receipt and verified that Discount Tire only charged $40 for the re-balance and removing the stock weights in favor of weights on the inside of the wheels instead. This is worth the money as opposed to painting over the weights IMHO...

So_Cal_Tay_12

Powdercoated mine matte black and have 1.5" spidertrax as well, Ive had them for some time now, no problems at all.







Having some fun

Croce

Thanks for quick response!
Not very good at painting so wasnt sure if the sandpaper was to take off the clearcoat or not.

Gunna try it this weekend on the spare tire (can hide with a tire cover incase i mess it up) and see how it comes out. Hopefully it will come out somewhat as professional as yours. i'll try and get some pics posted on this thread if i can too

Was probally going to be lazy and just paint over them, but for only $40 i might as well have the weights moved since i only have 4k miles and don't plan on new tire/rims anytime soon

Mudflap

Yeah I would. If you ever get them rebalanced later and leave the weights on, you'll have unpainted spots... It took them like 30 minutes.

Croce

So i finished my spare...
Sanded it down (320 Grit) primed it using Rustoleum Metal White Primer and added four coats of paint. I've been letting it dry for about 36 hours now but i can easily scrape the paint and primer off with my fingernail..
Do you think the primer is possibly still drying and did this issue happen to you?



(BTW the rustoleum Metallic Black night paint looks amazing and almost professionally done, Good choice on paint!)