Painting rims

I just purchased my 07 Tacoma TRD Sport... it comes with the stock rims.
I know a lot of people paint them or have them Dip Dyed... I have painted rims before on both my Honda Civic and Isuzu Rodeo.
The rodeo I used painters tape to get the lines... has anyone done anything more custom than just black...

 

Not mine but this can give you an idea. You can use a different color like takata green.

 

I was also thinking a charcoal grey I like the black wheel on white truck look. But I dont like how the tires disappear. I always just use tape, and cheap paint... is there a particular paint that holds up better?

 

Not a fan of the black wheel look but I do like the Dark Met. Gray.

Painted my stock 03 wheels with Duplicolor Wheel paint. Did 4 coats of paint and one light coat of clear just to keep things clean.

Wheels have been on for a little over a year and have no chips and they clean up really easy so I'm happy with it.

On a side note I did the wheels on my buddies old Avenger about 4 yrs ago with the same product and they still look perfect. Actually they lookbetter than the rest of the car.

 

Thanks Jager. Been looking for a decent wheel paint. What prep did you do for the alloys?

 

I've always done wheels the same way.

Total time invested will be about 5 -6 hours depending on how fast you work spread out over 2 or 3 days.

First requirment is a nice warm sunny day. Mid to upper 80's and beating down sun. I typically do a complete set over a weekend.

Supplies.

4 cans of Duplicolor Metallic Gray Wheel paint. (1 per wheel) Don't worry if you bought too much. It's an awesome color that you'll use on everything else around the house.

2 Cans of Duplicolor Clear Wheel paint but the 500F Engine paint Clear works just as well. Buy more if you want really shiny.

3 Can of Duplicolor etching primer. Get the puke green one. (again this will get used in other daily life duties as metal always needs priming.).

1 gray scotch bright pad.

1 small bottle of Dawn dish soap.

1 sheet of 220 grit sand paper.

Access to a garden hose.

1 roll of blue painters tape.

1 large bottle of 91% alchole.

Patients and more patients. Rushing and not letting things dry will screw up you entire project so paint and wait, paint and wait.

- 220 grit sand paper on any chips or flaking paint to smooth it out.

- Use a Gray Scotch Brite Pad on the rest of the wheel to knock off the shine
and give the new primer/paint something to stick to.

- Wash the wheels using the same gray scothch bright pad and hot water with
a fairly large amount of good dish soap in it. I like Dawn.

- Rinse ridiculously well with a garden hose both front and back and let dry in the
sun.

- Wipe the wheel down with a lint free towel soaked in 91% alchole and again let
dry in the sun.

- Spot prime any areas that you sanded through to bare metal. My wheels looked
like they had a bunch of green spots on them after this process.

- Start on the back side of the wheel with and lay down two coats of etching primer
about 10 mins apart. I've had very good luck with the duplicolior stuff. Its the
green etching stuff. Let it dry in the sun for at least an hour.

- Flip the wheel over and do two coats of primer on the front of the wheel again
about 10 min apart and let it sit for a day to dry.

- Warm all of the paints you are going to use. I typically just sit all of the cans out
in the sun in the same spot and let them heat up while I get everything setup
and ready. Give them at least 30 mins in the sun.

This is where yours might be different than mine. I decided that I wanted the front of my wheels to be the gun metal gray and the backs to be black to give them some depth. If you are painting your wheels all one color then reverse the next two steps and paint the rear of the wheels first.

- If you are using metallic paint like the duplicolr gray wheel paint tthen you MUST
shake the crap out of the can for at least two minutes to get everything mixed
well.

- Paint the front of the wheels with three coats of Paint. The first should be a light
coat with just enough paint to see some color. I started around the holes in the
wheels then did the faces and the outter edge and lip. The next two coats should
be alittle heavier but no to the point of creating runs. 10 mins between coats is
good but remember to shake the crap out of the can before you start each coat.
Let the last coat dry in the hot sun for at least an hour. If you have the time and
the sun will be up for a while then 4-5 hrs is better.

- Shake the clear coat and spray on as many coats as you like. The more you add
the shinier it will be. I only did one coat as I liked the shine of just the paint but
wanted something to protect the paint with. So that said put on one light to
medium coat and let it dry over night. It worth mentioning that the clear coat
sometimes looks milky white when sprayed on. This is where the sun becomes
important but you can accomplish the same thig with a heat gun. The milky color
will go away as the paint cures and letting it sit in the sun and bake gives you a
crystal clear finish.

-Flip the wheel over and do the back side. Mask off all the holes in the wheels so the black doesn't get on your fresh gray on
the front of the wheel. Be sure that you paint all the way over the bead so the
paint gets into the area where the tire seats. Doing this will prevent the paint from
having a point to start peeling and flaking. I did two coats of the gloss black about
10 mins apart then let it sit for a couple of hours.

- Next I did two heavy coats of clear on the inside as I was looking more for paint
protection and easy clean up than cosmetics.

- Now comes the hard part. Let the wheels sit and cure for AT LEAST a week before
you even consider having tires mounted. The paint will seem dry but it's far from
cured and the force of rubbing a tire over it will peel it right off. After a week you
couldn't get that paint off with a hammer.

Following this method I've done wheels on my Tacoma in Gray (1 yr ago), 09 Forester in Gray (3 yrs ago), STI in White (3 yrs ago), WRX in bronze (4 or 5 yrs ago), 72 Vette Rallys in gray (8 yrs ago at least), old Avenger in gray (4 yrs ago) and so far none have failed or peeled. The WRX is rally raced weekends so it sees a lot of abuse. There's some chips but no peeling.