Painted Wheels

[H3slate]

I painted my wheels this week a graphite gray. The paint is from Duplicolor and is part of their wheel coating line of spray paints. I really like the no chrome look and this color with my truck. I also painted the grill and the "H" of my H3 emblems.

[Dave92270]

nice!

[timgco]

Very nice!!! I like that better than the black!!!!!

[Tex_h2]

Good job, looks fantastic

[H3slate]

Originally Posted by timgco

Very nice!!! I like that better than the black!!!!!

Thanks Tim, that means a lot coming from the owner of the best looking H3 I've seen.

[Tex_h2]

What were the steps you took to paint. Did you remove the rim from the tires...or did you just mask everything around the area?? What did you use for your prep work??

[H3slate]

Originally Posted by Tex_h2

What were the steps you took to paint. Did you remove the rim from the tires...or did you just mask everything around the area?? What did you use for your prep work??

I left the tires on the wheels. I took the wheels off the vehicle to make it easier to paint.

I prepped by cleaning each wheel and then lightly sanding with 320 grit sandpaper.

I had some rock rash on a couple of the wheels which I tried to smooth out before painting.

I used gorilla tape (duct tape) and taped around the edge of the rim. Then I used a garbage bag and cut out the middle and taped it around the wheel.

I cleaned the wheel once more to make sure all the dust was cleaned up.

I sprayed each wheel with 3 coats of paint as recommended on the can. I waited 10 minuted between each coat and sprayed 2 light coats and then a heavy coat. I paid extra attention to the inside of the spokes and the edge of the wheel to make sure I got even coverage.

I also sprayed the lugnuts while the wheels were off the vehicle. Those I cleaned up and put then in a large box and hit them with 3 coats of paint.

For the ends of the axles and wheel bolts, I used the back center of the wheel as a template to cut out a piece of cardboard to protect the brake rotor from overspray. The axles had to be cleaned with a wire brush and steel wool before I could paint them. I also sprayed a coat of primer to help the paint stick to the rough metal. Then 3 coats for the axles and wheel bolts.

I used about 4 cans of spray for 5 wheels, lugnuts, grill, and H3 emblems. The wheels and emblems turned out exactly how I wanted them. The grill is a slightly different color gray and doesn't have the gloss that the wheels do. The lugnuts will obviously lose some paint as I change and rotate tires, but should be easy to touch up too.

[ChiHummer3]

Looks cool!

[nugget]

I like it!

[wpage]

Looks cool...

What did you do with the caps?

[H3slate]

I still have the center caps. I painted one all gray and put it on the spare. I also painted an extra I had and left the arm part black to see how it looked. I am saving the center caps for my Boulder Acc beadlocks that I am putting on when I get new tires.

[LordLang]

I think this looks awesome. And for such a low cost.

Would you say this is do-able for an average person? I'd probably have to take off 1 wheel at a time and do it.

This can be done in an afternoon, right?

[H3slate]

Originally Posted by LordLang

I think this looks awesome. And for such a low cost.

Would you say this is do-able for an average person? I'd probably have to take off 1 wheel at a time and do it.

This can be done in an afternoon, right?

This is definitely do-able by an average person. I would definitely not consider myself a professional at this. It takes a good amount of time, most of it prepping the tires. Cleaning, sanding, cleaning again, and taping off the tires took a lot of time. I did all 5 tires in 8 hours. That is the prep work, 3 coats of paint, and I painted the axle hubs and lug nuts. You have to let the paint set for 10 min. between coats. I did 3 wheels and then the other two, mainly because I only had room to do 3 at once.

Spend the most amount of time prepping, sanding, and masking off the tires. If you shortcut here it will show in the finished product. When spraying, pay extra attention to in between the spokes. Spray the more difficult areas to reach first, then the flatter areas, this ensures a nice even coat.