Hey guys Chrisfix here and today. I'm going to show you how to paint your wheels in this video
I'm going to be painting these steel wheels to make them look
Amazing and to transform the look of this car because personally I don't like the look of hubcaps
Especially these hubcaps and under those hubcaps these steelies are all rusty and look horrible :(
So we're going to go from these ugly rusted wheels to this which looks amazing and really transforms the look of the car
The process I'm about to show you will work for any wheel you want to paint whether aluminum alloy chrome or steel
And I'm going to be using common tools
So you could do this at home if you have aluminum wheels that are polished and shiny [I] have a video on
Scratches and curb rash on those and then polish them up in clear coat them
I'll leave a link to that video in the description, but if you want to paint your wheels then this video is for you
So let's begin
Now there are five simple steps to spray paint your wheels the first step is to clean the rim with Soapy water
to remove any grease
Brake dust or Road grime the second step is to smooth down any [rust] scratches or curb rash with a metal wire brush
Sandpaper or a flap wheel
Step three is to wipe [down] the rim with alcohol to clean the surface for paint step four is to paint the wheel with primer
and
Step five is to paint the wheel with any color you want
This will take you about two hours total to do all four wheels so let's get started
The first [step] is to take the wheels off your car
and
Clean them with soapy water you want to remove any brake dust and grease [that] might be on the wheels
It doesn't have to be perfect because the next step we're going to sand down the wheel which will remove most of the brake dust
anyway
so just make sure you get all the grease off now with the wheel clean the next step varies based on the condition of your
Wheel now what we want to do is we want to make this wheel as smooth as possible
Any little rough spots scratches curb rash or any other damage will show up through the paint so you have to smooth those down?
So if you have any deep scratches that Gouge into the metal get one of these
120 grit flat disks and smooth it out just like I showed you in the aluminum wheel repair video
And you could do the same thing with 400 grit sandpaper [it]
Just takes a little bit longer since these wheels are steel wheels and we're dealing with all this rust
Not really scratches are couches or curb brush. I'm going to use a metal wire brush on my angle grinder now
This is a fine metal wire brush compared to a thicker metal wire brush
And we only need fine because this rust [isn't] [bad] at all
And the good thing is both of these could be bought for [less] than 20 bucks
[now] if you don't have a dremel or an angle grinder you can use old fashioned sandpaper to sand down the wheel
just like in the aluminum wheel repair video you go from 400 to
600 to 800 to a thousand grit to smooth down this whole surface
You'll get the same results with the sandpaper as you will with anything else it just takes a lot longer
Which is why I'll be using the angle grinder and remember if your wheels are steel
just like this which you could tell because the magnet sticks to them it takes a lot more pressure and a lot more time the
Sand scratches smooth in steel because steel is harder compared to aluminum aluminum will sand a lot faster now
[let's] get started removing this rust now at this point. We want to use I lung and hearing protection
We don't want this dust to get in our lungs or our eyes and the little metal pieces on the wire brush tend to shoot
out if it hits a rough patch
So you don't want that in your eye?
Now we're going to start by sanding the whole wheel down the goal here is to get the surface
Completely smooth and rust free focus on removing that surface rust
Make sure you get into all the difficult spots like the center of the wheel here
While you do this pay attention to the Tire stem
So you don't damage it and make [sure] you don't forget about the edge of the Rim
But be careful with the tire because you want to do your best to not hit the tire with the wire wheel
Finally get over by the wheel weight now you might want to take the wheel weight off when you paint the rims
That's up to you
I'm not going to because you're going to have to balance the wheels afterwards these are brand new Tires
And I'm not getting [them] balanced again
So I'm keeping the weight on I could always touch up the paint if the wheel weight ever has to get removed
Make sure you get in every crack and crevice you want to make sure you remove all the rust and any
Imperfections because that'll show right through the paint you can see this spot looks clean and free of rust but upon closer inspection it still
Has some roughness to it this roughness will show right through the paint just like this, so make [sure] you get it completely smooth
Now look at that difference make sure you do that for the entire
Wheel even if your wheel is in great shape with no rust or scratches [sand] the whole surface down with
600 Grit so the paint has something that grab onto this will make the paint last a lot longer
And resist chipping and peeling now. I told you to wear eye protection and check this out
This is why these little pieces of metal from the wire wheel come flying off and imagine if this went and hit your eye
So be [smart] and be safe because that's very important all right this looks great
It's completely smooth with no rust or deep scratches [a] little bit of black left over is the original Powder coating and it's not coming
Off that easily so [you] can spray right over it without any problems now on to step [three] the first thing
I like to do is I like to hit the wheel with some compressed air or if you don't have an air compressor a leaf
Blower would work well and just blow all [that] dust that you created from sanding off the wheel
If you don't have some type of pressurized air, then just wipe the wheel off with the towel now [for] step three
We're using rubbing alcohol pour the alcohol onto a paper towel preferably a paper towel
That's low lint and just make sure you rub down the whole wheel to get it clean
Every surface should be touched by the alcohol and paper towel we use alcohol because alcohol is a good solvent plus
It's very volatile
So it evaporates and dries quickly you want to clean the wheel until you can wipe the wheel with a new paper towel
And it's completely clean like this once your towel is clean you are ready for step 4 spraying primer
For step four find a spot away from anything you wouldn't want to get overspray on such as your car
Now the hardest part about painting is not getting any paint on your tire
so I have two tricks that we're going to use to help with that [the] first trick is tire shine gel get a bunch of
Tire shine gel on the applicator and
spread it on [the] outside of your tire being careful not to touch the [rim] at all if you get anything on the wheel or
Even on the outside of the rim make sure you clean it off [with] alcohol right away
Because the paint won't stick and that's the whole purpose of using tire gel if you get any overspray
You're just going to wipe it off because the overspray is going to stick to the gel and the [gel]
Provides a protective coating and to make sure you don't get the tire shine on the rim here
Don't go, so close leave a little gap
that's where trick number two comes in Handy using index cards and
All you're going to do is stick the notecards between the Rim and the tire
All the way around so as we spray we're going to have to go all [the] way across the wheel
so the Index cards will protect the tire from
overspray
And if you happen to get some overspray on the tire the tire shine will make it real easy to remove that
Overspray and the paint won't stick to the tire one more thing to protect the valve stem
[I] like to use the tip of a finger from an old glove and just cut it off then it slides right over the valve
Stem just like that all right. We are ready to spray primer
we use primer first because it bonds well to the metal and fills in small surface blemishes like
Scratches it also gives the colored paint a really good surface to bond to now a helpful trick
I learned for spray paint if the air temperature is less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit
[put] your can of paint in warm water make sure the water is between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit
Which is basically the temperature of the hot water coming out of your sink doing this will give you a better spray pattern and less
Orange peel and this cans nice and warm, so let's go paint now. We're ready to spray our primer
make sure you read the instructions on the back of the paint can to determine what temperature range your good paint in how far to
Hold the can from the wheels and how long you have between coats
Make sure you paint in low humidity and with little to no wind when painting never start or stop spraying with a nozzle pointing directly
At the wheel [you] [always] want to start from the outside
Go across and end on the outside this will help your paint job
Look a lot better for your first coat get a light even coat and don't worry about complete coverage
I start spraying with the can further away from the wheel
And then I move in closer until I find the sweet spot where the paint gets evenly applied to the wheel
Just like that
So now our first light coat looks awesome
Now remember to put the can back in the warm water while we wait two to three minutes between coats
Three minutes later let's do our second coat on a second coat
We want to make sure that we cover all the wheel with primer and make sure you spray at different angles to get complete coverage
You don't want to see any bare metal at the end of this coat and one thing
I like to do is go around the whole outside of the rim to make sure you get coverage between the notecard and the Rim
And now you just have to wait another two minutes
And we could spray the final coat [of] primer all right [onto] the final coat of primer
Now is a good time to put your colored spray paint in the warm water and let it heat up with this last coat
I'm going to slow down the motion of my arm a little bit which will make this last coat just slightly thicker and this will
Help with the orange peel you don't want it too thick though because then you'll get paint that runs and that won't be good
So just finish up this last coat
So there's an even and full coverage
And it's that simple all three coats of primer are on and if you're curious
I used about one-third of the can so you can easily do two to three wheels with one can and that's doing three coats each
And to get a close-up. You can see how good this came out
The finish looks nice and smooth and now we have about ten minutes for the primer to be ready for our black goop
One thing I want to [mention] when you take the spray paint out of the water make sure you wipe it down good
So none of the water drips onto the wheel as you're painting now with the color you're going to do the exact same process
We just did with the primer spray a light even first coat and don't worry about covering up all the gray make sure you stop
And start spraying with the nozzle pointed away from the [surface]. You're painting just like that
After our first coat we wait three minutes and let it dry three minutes later. We [could] hit it with a second coat
Make sure you cover up all the gray primer with this coat and spray it different Angles along the wheel
Now we're done with the second coat, so let's give it three minutes and start our third coat all
Right we're on our final coat for the final coat. I'm slowing down my arms
Just a little bit so that we can get a slightly thicker coat. Just like we did for our third coat of primer [and]
Again, I'll spray the rim at different Angles to get complete coverage
And we are done if you want you could put a layer of clear coat on here for a glossy finish
[but] this black paint I use has a glossy finish without clear coat, so it saves us a step by the way
I highly recommend this paint. [I'll] leave a link in the description to where you can get it
I used it to undercoat my truck and I use it for painting all my suspension parts
It's Durable, and it's just so [easy] to spray to make it
Look good
Now the last thing you want to do is you want to remember to pull the cards off so they don't get stuck or peel?
The paint when the paint dries and don't forget [about] the glove tip covering the valve stem now this looks amazing
It has [a] great deep shine to it the paint is smooth
And I'm really happy with [it]
Now all we have to do is let it dry for two hours and we could put it on the car
It's going to be a long two hours check this out [this] looks so much better than before and to make it [even] better
[I] have this small chrome center. Cap which is going to complete the look
check out the before and the after
Look at that difference
Now you can see at the bottom here and also the side here. We have some overspray
All you have to do get that overspray off is using abrasive sponge
Because we use that tire shine it comes right off
The paint job for these wheels came out awesome
[and] now you know how to paint your wheels so it comes out looking great
Hopefully the video is helpful
And if you try this on your own wheels take a before and after pic and send it to me or tag me in it
On Instagram Facebook and Twitter [I] definitely want to see your painted wheels and maybe I'll even feature it in a future video