talontsi92
03-31-2010, 10:32 PM
A while back I picked up a set of wheels off a 1995 Eclipse GSX for $40 off of craigslist. I did not expect them to be in the greatest shape, but hell, they came with good tires, so it wouldn't be that bad of a deal even if the wheels were junk.
Turns out they are in pretty decent shape, one has some decent curb rash on it, but its acceptable as far as i am concerned. The biggest problem is the idiot before me painted them flat black, and this person apparently is not the best with a rattle can of paint as there were lots of runs, and they apparently didn't prime the wheels at all, as I saw no primer under the garbage looking paint. They didn't mask the wheels off at all, painting over the wheel weights and the TIRES too.
Sadly I have no pics of the condition these were in when I first bought them, but I had something to work with. I bought some 15 minute paint stripper stuff at Wal-Mart and decided to try it out. This stuff is crazy potent and after 2 applications of the stuff, mind you, this is 15 minutes per application the wheels looked something like this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/talontsi92/SANY0004-1.jpg
And before anyone asks, yes, that is PINK overspray on the tires... some people. Anyways after this step I took some small wire wheels (1.5 and 3 inch) and a red 3M "Paint and varnish" stripping wheel and went to town, because I didn't want any crappy looking, uneven paint on them. When I do the next wheel (ran out of sunlight today) I will take a pic of what it looked like at this stage.
At this point I used some index cards to "mask" off the outer lip (as i like the polished lip look) and protect the tire from more paint. 2 coats of primer, 2 of paint and 2 of clear and I came up with this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/talontsi92/SANY0003-1.jpg
When I do the rest of them I will take more pics and make a "how to" article to add to the forum.
Comments, questions, opinions?
Turns out they are in pretty decent shape, one has some decent curb rash on it, but its acceptable as far as i am concerned. The biggest problem is the idiot before me painted them flat black, and this person apparently is not the best with a rattle can of paint as there were lots of runs, and they apparently didn't prime the wheels at all, as I saw no primer under the garbage looking paint. They didn't mask the wheels off at all, painting over the wheel weights and the TIRES too.
Sadly I have no pics of the condition these were in when I first bought them, but I had something to work with. I bought some 15 minute paint stripper stuff at Wal-Mart and decided to try it out. This stuff is crazy potent and after 2 applications of the stuff, mind you, this is 15 minutes per application the wheels looked something like this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/talontsi92/SANY0004-1.jpg
And before anyone asks, yes, that is PINK overspray on the tires... some people. Anyways after this step I took some small wire wheels (1.5 and 3 inch) and a red 3M "Paint and varnish" stripping wheel and went to town, because I didn't want any crappy looking, uneven paint on them. When I do the next wheel (ran out of sunlight today) I will take a pic of what it looked like at this stage.
At this point I used some index cards to "mask" off the outer lip (as i like the polished lip look) and protect the tire from more paint. 2 coats of primer, 2 of paint and 2 of clear and I came up with this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/talontsi92/SANY0003-1.jpg
When I do the rest of them I will take more pics and make a "how to" article to add to the forum.
Comments, questions, opinions?