Painting stock wheels?

[MiniHockey]

Hello all
I am wondering if anyone has painted thier stock r98 wheels? I am thinking about painting mine space blue to match the car and wonder how the paint would hold up on the wheels due to the heat.

I have 1 that is cracked and no longer on the car and will use this one as a test. I plan to leave the outside lip silver and just paint the center.

What primer should I use? Will regular auto paint work?

Any help would be cool.

[Rixter]

I haven't painted any wheels but I believe Octaneguy has (aka Richard). If he doesn't see this thread maybe shoot him a PM

[Nitrominis]

There is a lot of wheel paint on the market. As with anything you paint doing the prep work will net a netter end result.
Read the direction of the paint and use only the primer they recommend. Don't mix brands of paint.
If you are going with a body color paint you may have to go and get it mixed and apply it with a spray gun. There are kits that you can use to apply paint without a gun but the time you buy all this stuff you could have a good Paint?body paint them up for you?

This is one of many helpful sites:

How to refinish wheels using Dupli-Color wheel paint | Video « Wonder How To

[jbewley]

Originally Posted by Nitrominis

There is a lot of wheel paint on the market. As with anything you paint doing the prep work will net a netter end result.
Read the direction of the paint and use only the primer they recommend. Don't mix brands of paint.
If you are going with a body color paint you may have to go and get it mixed and apply it with a spray gun. There are kits that you can use to apply paint without a gun but the time you buy all this stuff you could have a good Paint?body paint them up for you?

This is one of many helpful sites:

How to refinish wheels using Dupli-Color wheel paint | Video « Wonder How To

Good video Lynn.

Jim

[PGT]

R98's can be disassembled and the centers painted.

One thing I will caution you about painting MINI wheels...they use an expoy primer. That's a great base to work from, if you can get them blasted. Rattle-canning them, no matter how well you do it, will never hold up like what a bodyshop uses.







and another repaint to gloss white when I sold them:



I had WheelsAmerica custom paint Nathan's HRE's... (well, he did it on my behalf). When I went to sell them, I stripped and polished the lips.

Before:



After:


I also did a set of Enkei's....came out GREAT (but chipped rather easily):

[Nitrominis]

Rattle canned is an art if applied properly can achieve both the look and durability of a pressure gun. The trick is the thickness and evenness of application. Canned paint needs to be re-coated many times over and wet sanded in between sets. Once finished a rattle can paint job can even be color sanded for finish quality surpassing most all shop paint jobs. You can also get extra protection with a standard clear coat or very durable wheel clear coat.
Polished lips and painted between the spokes rattle can Semi Black or some call it Satin Black shot in Satin Clear Coat for brake dust protection.

[wmwny]

CHKMINI stripped my faded white holeys, repainted them and then clearcoated them. He is a Dupont paint specialist. Maybe you could ask him for info. He's in the MOM Club on here.

[MiniHockey]

I was planning to go to the local auto paint supply shop and have them put the space blue in rattle cans for me. I think one of the main things is heat. It has to be nice and warm for the paint to stick well. I have also heard that putting the rattle cans in warm water before helps also. Any thoughts on that?
Also has anyone seen space blue wheels? The blue is so dark I am wondering if it will even show up?

Sorry.... 1 more question. The r98's are 2 piece wheels? The rivets are real? I thought they were fake?

[Tata Steva]

Painted OEM color by my "usual" body shop:






After one full season, still looking new!...

[agranger]

I took my web-spokes apart and had the centers powder coated... it's a bit sturdier.