what paint to use on old school mags?

[weapon x]

hey guys

just bought shelldrake's hotwire mags to replace my peanut mags...

however both sets arent exactly looking good cosmetically and need some of that black paint to make the chrome parts stand out nicely.

what paint does one use?
what prepwork would you recommend?
any clear coats required?
anything else you can think of?

cheers
jamie

[Supra-Jim]

Powdercoat is the best way to go for wheels.

[Ben Wilson]

I painted my wheels using a spraycan of wheel paint, I'm very happy with the way they came out. I'm not sure if they do it in black though.

[Supra-Jim]

Nice job, they look good on the MR

[1983supra]

If you are doing it yourself, try and wire brush off all of the old paint, spray with an etch primer then spray the final coat with enamal or whatever, clear coat is optional. But I agree powder coat is the best finish.

[Classique71]

ive giot a set of hotwires inm playing with atm as well

ive stripped them back ( removced clearcoar and old paint ) then masked the center off to etch prime and spray

ive used spray enamel ( deep metallic charcoal ) to do the center , and polished up the lip using a drill mounted buffer

Got 2 done - 2 to go

[progkamol]

My suggestion would be go to the sandblaster and get it sand blasted. Then you get the panel beater to spray primer on for you 2-3 coats. Then it is up to you now, either you'll get spray can paint for wheel and paint them yourself or get the wheels paint job people to do it. It is just how much will you want to spend.

When my workmate did his DC2, he got 17" chrome but chrome are peeling off, he go and get them sandblasted for $50 a wheel so its $200 all up. Then the panel beater charged him $80 for primer coats on all 4 rims (depends how close you are to them). Then he bought the small spray cans (I believe the spraying head is better than the big can eg. wont make paint drops and droplet and spray very equaly). The he got his friend who did spray job with spray can very good coz he study something related to that. He got it done with a coat of night hawk black and 2 coats of ford purple on top of that and 4 coats of clear coat. Its really look nice when finished and cost him around $400 all up.

[weapon x]

thanks fellas... very helpful... i might go the way of 1983supra... i don't really wanna spend any cash on then, they're not my dragway mags on the other celica.

however instead of using a spraycan i'll go a touchup gun, i used to be an airbrush artist (i say used to cos i haven't done it in 5 years)... so i still know how to spray evenly and consistently...

thanks for the info everyone

cheers
jamie

[weapon x]

PROGKAMOL:... how the f*** does one get - 24 rep points???

[ace]

Check out his posts/threads. Something about creating stupid threads and liking hektik AE93 Corollas and entering FWD burnout competitions at autosalon.

[weapon x]

ah ic... yeah, i guess that would do it...

[Beserker99]

I went the cheapskate's way out. I just bought me some random paint for mine.

The way i did it was to thouroughly get as much existing paint off as possible with some paint stripper. Then sand the mofo down till its all smooth. Then use some wax and grease remover to get rid of any impurities and such. Then paint

Here's a before and after pic.

**click on images for larger version**


I also used some metal polish to finish off the whole look of the wheels.

Not bad for like $30 woth of supplies

[thomasbl]

Hey mate. You are getting some good suggestions on this topic, its something im looking at doing too. Maybe to help get clearer ideas of the best options, you could give a rough budget you are working with to get these rims in tip top shape? ie. Is powdercoating viable or are you more likely to hit them with some primer and a spray can?
Good luck, ill keep watching to get some ssuggestions.

Classique71- On the topic of using drill mounted buffers, what type did you use? Compunds etc?

[fester]

Personally I don't like powdercoating for things like mags. There are a lot of ordinary powdercoaters out there so I would stay away unless you know a good one.

Even then it's not all it cracked up to be. Still chips fairly easily and when it does you can't easily touch it up yourself without getting the wheel redone. At least with painting yourself it's not a big deal to touch up or redo a wheel later on.

Use whatever you are comfortable with applying. I've usually used enamel with a hardner through a compressor for pretty good results. However recently I helped a mate restore some Hurricanes for his Landrover and he bought spray cans of acrilic including etch primer, colour coat and clear top coat. Wasn't that dear and no clean up after ( I did offer to use spray gun for him). Result was still quite good.

What ever paint (if you go that way) you use make sure you use an etch primer to start with rather than just an undercoat.

Oh and if they are genuine Hot Wires try sanding the spokes with an orbital sander and fine(ish) paper to bring them up, polish them, then mask off each one and then paint.

That's what I did for a set and tehy came up very nice and like new, mind you I'd never do a set again.

[weapon x]

thanks for the continued advice... alot to think about... still think i'll go the way of etch priming, & enamel paint... with a touch up gun....

i'm not really thinking that powdercoating is the way to go... i want the outer rim to remain a chrome finish, black in the centre, or perhaps a dark charcoal grey colour... duno.

how does one know if they are a genuine set of hotwires? not that i'm fussed, i got them at a good price...

cheers
jamie