Wheel refinishing

[ForgedCrank]

Bgunner, he's talking about the center caps from his 14" deer hoof wheels, which will definitely work...

you might be overthinking it a bit, a wire brush on a drill would leave some machining marks, might not be even enough, but combine that with a lazy suzan spinner and a piece of plywood and I bet you could make things happen...

The newer style HFT Titanium welders are a lot nicer than the older ones, littleblueford had a bad experience with one of the flux 125 Titaniums but I've beat the snot out of my 175...

I've been kicking this around, and since I'm likely not going to ever do this again, I've decided I'm going to invoke the vodka-induced drunken Russian method. I'm going to get the Ranger up on jack stands and use the truck to spin them @ idle. Yes, it's mildly risky, but i'll do my best fake Russian accent every time I nick a knuckle and hopefully the commie deities will protect me from serious injury. I figure even if it falls somehow, the wheels won't get any bite without tires on them and it won't get too far.
However, unfortunately for me, the wife has a LONG task list for the weekend and just handed it off to me, one includes installing a dash cam system in her Corsair. So, the weekend is now shot for me, and this was my last hope for being able to do this in nice weather. I was really hoping to be painting these next week, but now it's not looking very good.
Oh well...
As a side-note, this also has me considering tossing together a DIY powder-coating setup. I see a lot of guys using old, discarded kitchen ovens. This may be a next spring project for me to monkey around with. I just wish I already had done something like that do I could use it now. these wheels or just going to have to be rattle can sprayed with my best efforts.
I am interested in Brian75's method, but i'm questioning the multiple layers. I want the bare-aluminum look like the factory. Should I just prep the things and use clear only on those parts? I'm not a pint guy so I don't know about durability. The "deer print" sections are painted a darker silver color of some sort, but the rest is bare aluminum. I kind-of need a wheel to test with. I don't know how much I can get by with polishing the aluminum surface and still get the clear to stick to it proper.

 

[RobbieD]

I'm going to get the Ranger up on jack stands and use the truck to spin them @ idle. Yes, it's mildly risky,

I considered this, but ruled it out. As too risky, and based on past experience with troubleshooting cruise controls, a concern that the unloaded drivetrain will let the engine idle higher and spin the wheel too fast.

Food for thought. When it comes time to refinish the next set of these wheels, I'm going to look at mounting a drill onto the end of a short board and chucking a shafted pully in the drill. Put the truck on jack stands, and mount the wheel on the front spindle (mine are all 2WDs). Lock the trigger on, on the drill. With a V-belt around the wheel and pulley, I can use my knee pressing on the board to clutch the belt in and out, to spin the wheel as needed. I think that I can make this "rig" work, and by applying sandpaper, or a stiff wire brush, to the spinning wheel's dish face it should leave a uniform brushed-looking finish.

When I did that last set of deer prints I used a stiff wire brush in a drill to smooth the corroded areas, but then needed to hand sand with coarse sand paper to better blend the appearance of the machined lines in the aluminum surface.

Should I just prep the things and use clear only on those parts? I'm not a pint guy so I don't know about durability.

I used the clear only, and cleaned the snot out of the wheels with lacquer thinner before spraying. The clear coat on that second set is holding up very well.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Well, I had a little time today so I put the rear up on jack stands and ran it in first. The wheels run at 115 RPM @ idle. That's a little bit fast for what I'm wanting to do, but it's manageable. I'm hoping to sandblast the things tomorrow (just the back side) and start sanding on them to see how far I can get with it.
I've found that Iron-X is taking off the real bad stuff thats just brake dust, so I think I am going to try to avoid the "hoof print" sections since they are painted a different color, they are in pretty good shape. I'll rough things up so the clear sticks to it, but I'm not going to strip that part.
I would like to paint the backs of the wheels the same color as those "hoof print" sections. Does anyone know what color that is by chance?
the other thing I've been arguing with myself about is the main "spun" surface of the outer wheel, the part that looks like just bare aluminum with clear on it. I'm not sure if I should just clear over the aluminum, or if I should use the "chrome" paint that Brian75 was talking about...

 

[Bgunner]

the other thing I've been arguing with myself about is the main "spun" surface of the outer wheel, the part that looks like just bare aluminum with clear on it. I'm not sure if I should just clear over the aluminum, or if I should use the "chrome" paint that Brian75 was talking about...

I was looking the other night at the clear coats for rims. The brands I looked at all said to use primer on bare metal.

The thing is you can clear coat bare metal and it will hold up but I have no experience with clear coat on bare aluminum. I have painted bare aluminum with Engine paint and Rustoleum. Both had issues without an etching primer. My last attempt was my wiper arms on Beer Fetcher. I used an etching primer and they are holding up great and its been over 6 years with no delamination or oxidizing issues. *truck is not garaged and I live in the northeast.

As a suggestion on the color of the deer prints if no one knows here, You could take one of your clean wheels to a paint and body supply/Auto paint shop and see if you can match it as close as possible with swatches they have to get a paint code. They too could also help point you in the correct direction on what clear coat to use on bare aluminum at the same time.

 

[Brain75]

just a status update (since you said you wanted to see how mine turned out)... I finished 3 layers of blue today, tomorrow I will paint the clear, after that I can hit the wheels (did not want to spray a rattle can of black in the same room as my unfinished truck) so still looking at being able to report back within a week (weather holding just a little - if it gets really cold I wont make much progress)

 

[Brain75]

FWIW, not sales pitching Restoration Shop/TCP but before I purchased I called and asked what clear to put on bare wheels (did not specify alu now that I think of it), and even though the description said "basecoat systems" their tech support line recommended their European Clear direct to wheels - verbal, no written etc etc. the EC2100 product:

Restoration Shop 1.5 Quart Ultra Flow Premium European Clearcoat Auto Paint Kit, 2.1 VOC - 1 Quart Urethane Clear, 1 Pint Hardener, 2:1 Ratio, Coating

Restoration Shop 1.5 Quart Ultra Flow Premium European Clearcoat Auto Paint Kit, 2.1 VOC - 1 Quart Urethane Clear, 1 Pint Hardener, 2:1 Ratio, Coating

tcpglobal.com

 

[ForgedCrank]

Well I did a quick test run on the hillbilly polishing method and it works pretty well.
So now I have to collect materials and prepare to spend a day doing this. I completely sandblasted the back, but the front I'm just going to take it down as far as necessary to remove the spots with the corrosion. then I'll use the MC00 chrome, then clear. I just need to get some various grits of proper paper, probably going to go to 320 or so before I spray. This one is nowhere near done, I was just testing out the method with some 100 grit

 

[ForgedCrank]

FWIW, not sales pitching Restoration Shop/TCP but before I purchased I called and asked what clear to put on bare wheels (did not specify alu now that I think of it), and even though the description said "basecoat systems" their tech support line recommended their European Clear direct to wheels - verbal, no written etc etc. the EC2100 product:

Restoration Shop 1.5 Quart Ultra Flow Premium European Clearcoat Auto Paint Kit, 2.1 VOC - 1 Quart Urethane Clear, 1 Pint Hardener, 2:1 Ratio, Coating

Restoration Shop 1.5 Quart Ultra Flow Premium European Clearcoat Auto Paint Kit, 2.1 VOC - 1 Quart Urethane Clear, 1 Pint Hardener, 2:1 Ratio, Coating

tcpglobal.com

I did call them today based on your rec. I've decided I'm going to do it with rattle cans though, I don't want the hassles with the gun and all the cleanup and change-overs, etc. Problem is, they don't do spray cans. but they did give me a number to call... one of their re-sellers who does so I'm going to call them tomorrow and order.
How many cans do you think it'll take to do 1 coat, inside and out for 4 wheels? you think two cans per coat is enough?

 

[Brain75]

based on sq footage figures from the black and the "chrome" I bought 1 can (doing front only, the backside will just be a plain paint). I have not shot em yet. Today I did 3 coats of clear on the truck, made dinner, then dropped like a log.

edit: just for clarity, I bought one 11 oz rattle can of gloss black, one 10.5 oz rattle can of chrome, and 1 qt 2k spray gun kit of clear (makes 1.5 qt) - the clear I bought enough to do all 3 sets (12 wheels), and hoped I had enough from the main truck job to stretch, which I obviously did - see next comment. For anyone reading out of context, I only got enough rattle to do the first set and see how it turns out.

 

[Brain75]

I got 3 coats of clear on the truck using way way way less paint than they sent in their kit. I bought the "1 gallon complete kit" which had a gallon of basecoat, hardener, gallon of clear, hardener, etc etc - so a full gallon of clear (mixed 2 to 1 makes a gallon and a half) I easily have well over 50% left.

 

[Bgunner]

When I inquired at my paint supply shop they said that 1 rattle can of 2k covers about 3 sq. feet. I can not tell you exactly how much you will need but maybe this info will get you close to how many cans you would need.

 

[Brain75]

good gawd I hope that was a typo... the back of the black can says 24 sq ft, even the vinyl paint said 12-14 sq ft... is that a full size "12" oz can (anything shrinkflated to 10.5 oz-12oz)...

 

[ForgedCrank]

good gawd I hope that was a typo... the back of the black can says 24 sq ft, even the vinyl paint said 12-14 sq ft... is that a full size "12" oz can (anything shrinkflated to 10.5 oz-12oz)...

I was just thinking the same thing... this is gonna seriously cut into the beer budget

 

[Bgunner]

This was a 11oz can. When I questioned about it, it was for base coat for Beer Fetcher.

It could be because it is a base coat as when I 2k primed 2 Toyota doors, exterior only, 1 can covered both doors in 1 coat. I did 2 cans on the doors, 2 total coats and had some left.

 

[Brain75]

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.