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Wheel refinishing


From my reading, watching videos and asking I learned that buying basecoat in rattle cans was 99% as expensive as just buying paint+gun etc and doing it the normal way, but that is like 400% cost by a rough guess.. someone was pullin your leg so they didn't have to mix up 30 cans of paint.
I only needed 2 cans of base, at the time, plus primer and clear. when I'm going to paint the whole truck I'll set up a tent at my friends to use his air compressor and snag a Hobo Freight gun and just do a normal paint job. I now need to do the whole front end and wheel arches so I moved on from the rattle can idea myself for that project.
 
I would also steer you away from the hobo freight guns - quite a few people complain that they break halfway through (and with a 70 minute pot life on clear.... well that doesn't leave you enough time to get to the store and back). I bought a gun off amazon, a cheap gun, a 4.3 star rated free shipping/returns amazon prime gun, but a cheap one.
Surprisingly I am satisfied with it too - I could dial it down to the level a novice can keep up with it instead of hauling ass trying to stay up with the gun.

EDIT:
Since you were so quick to give a like on that I bet you would like to know which one...
 
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I painted my '88 and used three Harbor Freight guns for it - one of the $5 purple HVLP's, an identical one from Menards, and a Black Widow 1.3mm HVLP gun. I have about 10 other HVLP guns from Harbor Freight and use the crap out of them for everything from cheapo Rustoleum enamels, lacquers, urethane 2k base coat/clear coats, and several brands of 2k primers & sealers. They have never let me down and I can blame problems with them on three things only: #1, not cleaning it before the first use. #2, not cleaning & oiling it enough AFTER ever use. #3, my own mistakes with air pressure or fan settings.

None of them have broken and the cheap purple one that I use exclusively for primer has had many gallons run through it. They are seriously good guns. But for what it's worth - if you look at a different brand, really compare it to what HF is selling. There is a factory in Asia somewhere that makes one gun and anodizes them a different color for different stores... HF, Performax, ATD, some Devillbiss, TCP Global, Eastwood, etc... they all sell the EXACT same tool with minor changes.
 
I will totally agree on the one factory in china with 25 different labels on the box.. I buy a lot of stuff on Aliexpress for that reason. If I am gonna get a cheap chinese xyz no matter what store I go to, then why pay $50 for it when I can get the exact same thing on Ali for $15.

I will also throw out that my mom's boyfriend has a hobo freight gun and I did borrow it and kept it on hand as a spare... rather not use his cause if it breaks I get to buy another, so got my own.
The YaeTek gun I used for all 3 stages, seal, base, clear. And I went through a lot of acetone cleaning everything up 4 times - before (get rid of storage oil), and after each step.
I added a hobo freight oil/water separator (which cracked), and set the main pressure regulator only slightly higher than the one at the gun. The clear I used had explicit pressures on it - said "6-10 psi", which is almost un-readably low on the YaeTek pressure regulator... might look for a better pressure regulator / different gun for that reason. Even at the highest pressure the gun is rated for is only 1/5 of the way up the scale on that regulator.
 
EDIT:
Since you were so quick to give a like on that I bet you would like to know which one...
Dang even comes with a case, which for me would be good as I don't use them often enough to keep them out and accessible. I can get it delivered by tomorrow from amazon. lol
 
That's interesting, was that assuming a LVLP gun or something? The clears I have used are in the 35-45psi range in a gravity fed HLVP gun.

My point with the HF purple guns is that you can get a coupon & buy them for $5-10 but everyone else sells them for a fair bit more than that and they are the same thing. Buy 3, drill out the tip on one to 2mm for primers, leave one as-is, & one for spare parts. Another $20 for the disposable cup adapter and some cups. Their regulators have worked fine for me... get a swivel fitting, in-line air filter and you're good to go for maybe $80 at most.
 
That YaeTek gun is the exact same thing as the HF purple gun. Not a bad deal, IF you need the detail sprayer (I almost never use mine.) Those paint cups suck though. If they're full, they will leak out of the vent on top if you tilt them too far.
 
Those paint cups suck though. If they're full, they will leak out of the vent on top if you tilt them too far.

I have one spot on my roof because of that, thank god I am 5'8" not 6'0" - I'd see it every day I drove it and it would piss me off.
 
...IF you need the detail sprayer (I almost never use mine.) ...

I dialed the fan down to a circle and cut the paint flow way down to do the door jambs and was happy with the results - did not even use the detail sprayer. Basically held it in reserve the entire time. I might use it to do the wheels here in a few days when I get to that stage, just to try the gun out.
 
I'm on another quest with the money pit. I need new tires, and options are slim for 14" stuff now. So I found a set of the alloys that people call "deer print" (I have the same thing on the Ranger now, but they are 14's). they are at a boneyard on a '94 Ranger but are 15x7, just what I need. Problem is the finish is just terrible. So I wanted to ask if anyone here knows how the professional shops refinish these things. Are they painted then sprayed with clear? If so, does anyone have any info they can point me to on the process? I don't know if these things are aluminum or some weird cheap alloy. I can spray pretty decent, but I want to put something on here that will last the test of time and road salt. I'd like for them to just look the same as OEM when i'm done. looking for some general thoughts from you guys. I have the equipment, a good spray gun and proper compressor/dryer setup.
things that are most important to me is durability. I wouldn't want to use a standard clear that is normally sprayed on cars, the stuff is simply too dang soft, but I don't know what options are out there really.
Any thoughts on the proper way to do this and what materials are ideal?

This is another one of those things Iv'e never done before, but am interested in trying to DIY it, so as always, I appreciate any input or advice you all might have on this before I dive in head-first.

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I would call Eastwood which probably makes a durable epoxy clear coat for wheels
 
Eastwood was another choice I seriously considered.. I only chose Restoration Shop over Eastwood because I liked the color "Daytona Blue Metallic" better than what Eastwood offered without doing custom mix. Good paint.
 
Well, got the sandblasting part done today at least. I'm struggling getting paint ordered. Looks like I'm going to be using the gun, rattle can stuff is about 2-3x the cost unfortunately... and leaves me no room for screw-ups. I get twice as much material for less money which gives me at least one do-over just in case, or it leaves me with 50% scrap if i'm real lucky and get it right on the first try.
Was on a quest today trying to find some flap wheels for the drill and one stop was at Home Depot... rotten SOB's got me with the Milwaukee buy one get one free sale. Left with zero flap wheels and spent 300 bucks. No one seems to sell these things anymore, geez. gonna have to Amazon the things.
I did hit Hobo Freight and they had these drill mount Scotch Brite "balls" in various grits, so I grabbed a half dozen of them to see how well they work.
The back side of the wheels were in pretty rough shape, lots of pitting from corrosion patches. I'm not going to sweat it too much, I'll do a couple primer coats and whatever doesn't sand out is just gonna be what it is.

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I would also steer you away from the hobo freight guns - quite a few people complain that they break halfway through (and with a 70 minute pot life on clear.... well that doesn't leave you enough time to get to the store and back). I bought a gun off amazon, a cheap gun, a 4.3 star rated free shipping/returns amazon prime gun, but a cheap one.
Surprisingly I am satisfied with it too - I could dial it down to the level a novice can keep up with it instead of hauling ass trying to stay up with the gun.

EDIT:
Since you were so quick to give a like on that I bet you would like to know which one...

some years ago I wasn't really doing my homework and I bought an Eastwood "Concourse" gun kit. Since then, i've realized I could have gotten better for the same money, but it does spray really well and I've been happy with it. It has real solid pattern to it. I also have an OLD hand-me-down Bing spray gun from the 70's or 80's. It sprays really well, but it's a suction type so it only works well when you are spraying level with it.
Another thing I'm struggling with right now is how to hang all 4 of these to spray them at once. I have nothing I can do that with. I'm gonna have to get some broom handles or something and try to rig something up.
 
Spray em flat and put em 5 gallon buckets. ? That was my plan right now.
 
I put all the wheels on saw horses to spray, I think I just used two cans of clear to do all 4 wheels... for the saw horses I put them over the ends so they were at like a 45 degree angle to paint...
 

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