snow tires and rim painting fun times

[GrimmSpeed]

so i picked up another set of wrx stockers a few months back and finally got around to getting them cleaned up and painted. i had to do ALOT of sanding with a die grinder because the stockers were beat to hell aka MAJOR curb rash. i got them alot smoother than they were but you can still tell in some areas.

also thanks to mike wray from David Wray Automotive for putting on the nokia RSi winter tire group buy! picked up a set and they look awesome. got them mounted up at his shop as well for a great price. he was able to get them balanced as well which i thought would have been impossible with how beat up the rims were.
as for the painting...
1. clean rims with something
2. sand rims
3. one coat primer
4. 3-4 coats gold engine enamel.(used this 2 years ago on an old set of tires and lasted through two winters and still looks nice)
5. 2 coats of clear coat made for rims(can pick up at any auto store)
oh, and 2 decks of cards to make your life easier.

http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/nokian_gold_rim_0.jpg

http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/nokian_gold_rim_1.jpg

http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/nokian_gold_rim_2.jpg

http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/nokian_gold_rim_3.jpg

these puppies should do great this winter

next project will be to stud my other set of winters(wrx stockers w/ blizzak ws-50s) for the ice races.

Justin

[409industries]

Justin,

thats sick. "the card trick"! In the past i have always painted wheels black so i didnt even cover the tire since a good wire brush will scrape the paint right off. Gold on the other hand...

I'm hoping youll show how you stud your snow tires, id be interested in seeing how thats done!

[martinus]

I'm hoping youll show how you stud your snow tires, id be interested in seeing how thats done!




With a stud-gun, FTW . :mrgreen:

[Not All There]

nice, im taking note on the card trick

[I Like It Sideways]

Good call on the cards. We used note cards when we painted my room mates RX-8 wheels. Worked great!
Those look amazing. Wonderful work. I'll be doing the same with my RS wheels.

[martinus]

Looks good ... prolly go with the "stick-on" wheel weighs next time . Doh !

Anyone else think the Nokian RSi's and the Hancook I-pikes, look really similar ?

[Blix666]

definitely interested in the "studding tires" process

[martinus]

definitely interested in the "studding tires" process

http://images.google.com/images?q=tire+stud+gun&ndsp=18&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&start=0&sa=N

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&q=tire+studs&btnG=Search+Images

:waving:

Kinda like a staple gun ...

Donno if you guys ever owned a set of studed tires ... the fun starts, when the tire wears down to the "shoulder" or " base "of the stud ... :D

[BlackParis]

With a stud-gun, FTW . :mrgreen:


we have a stud gun @ work that is broken... You have to feed the studs in one @ a time... Took me 2 hours to stud 4 tyres for my mom... :machinegunleft::machinegunleft:

I never want to do that again...

[DR1665]

oh, and 2 decks of cards to make your life easier.

http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/nokian_gold_rim_1.jpg


You, sir, are the freaking man. That's totally brill. I've got a set of spare wheels in the garage for just this purpose (only I'll be running some old Silverstones or something like that) and this little trick is a godsend!

Thank you. Hope my wheels turn out as schweet as yours!

[bergdh]

studding is basicaly the worst proccess ever invented, We at discount tire / americas tire can stud your tires for something like 12 bucks a wheel, maybe less for some brewskie tradin? One thing I would recomend for a set of rally or ice race spec tires we have 3 different lengths of studs depending on tread depth of the tire go with the longest (this is not dot approved so you will have to get them to do it some how) they will stick out of the tire about 1/4 inch and I think they should act like the nokian studded downhill tires. It looks mean at least. I just got this idea the other day when one of my techs studded 4 tires this way before I made him pull them all out and do it right. ( as we cant send normal people out like that) I still have one completely studded on a i pike ill take a picture monday of the tire and the aparatus for studding.

[GrimmSpeed]

thanks guys!

i'm not totally sure how the studding process works but i guess i'll find out lol

[MetalNeverDies]

just wondering but wouldnt be easier to do it with out tires on and ballanced? or would that affect how well the tire stayed on with the whole paint an clear coat being on the part that the tire lip is on?

[UP2MTNS]

maybe your 'used parts market' is different from mine, but I'm wondering why you picked up OEM rims in such crappy condition? I can get a set of nicely used oem rims for around $125....but that just might be NorCal, where people baby their cars more.

either way, nice work, they look sweet. :)

[GrimmSpeed]

just wondering but wouldnt be easier to do it with out tires on and ballanced? or would that affect how well the tire stayed on with the whole paint an clear coat being on the part that the tire lip is on?

yeah it would be easier to do without the tire on. tire should stay on fine.

[GrimmSpeed]

maybe your 'used parts market' is different from mine, but I'm wondering why you picked up OEM rims in such crappy condition? I can get a set of nicely used oem rims for around $125....but that just might be NorCal, where people baby their cars more.

either way, nice work, they look sweet. :)


didnt know they were ****ty and they were in bags when i bought them and i never looked at them. seller failed to inform me of their nastyness.

[anaonbd]

ilikeitsideways:

i was there helping paint those wheels (the textured dark gunmetal colour) and i had the green VW jetta. i also brought over the sander that litterally died that night.

[litre]

any pix of them on the car? im thinking black with my wrx wheels

[JacksonRally]

Those look sweet. I'm thinking this may be a good way to re-paint my Team Dynamics wheels. I'm sure most rally wheels get pretty thrashed and I've only been using mine for a year of rallyx but they are pretty dull and have some chips.

[GrimmSpeed]

any pix of them on the car? im thinking black with my wrx wheels


no but i should get some. the car is actually rolling now!!!..bought freakin time. doesnt start though, argh.

[litre]

u dont need a engine to work :-P thats just dead weight

[RS-ti_Andy]

u dont need a engine to work :-P thats just dead weight


maybe to you honda boys! lol jk

[litre]

lol both my hondas engines were stock and slow!

[MetalNeverDies]

looking at doing this with same rims. i want more of a bornzey goldish color though what paint should i use and how hard is it to do this? any tricks i should know about? can i just sand it down with paper or what?

[avawrx]

do you have any more pictures? i have been through a few paint jobs on my wheels, and i think i am finally going to settle on gold. :D What brand did engine enamel did you use? i cant seem to find the right color gold that i like.

[GrimmSpeed]

do you have any more pictures? i have been through a few paint jobs on my wheels, and i think i am finally going to settle on gold. :D What brand did engine enamel did you use? i cant seem to find the right color gold that i like.

no other real close ups of the tires. i forgot the brand as i'm not at the shop right now but its a very common brand.



looking at doing this with same rims. i want more of a bornzey goldish color though what paint should i use and how hard is it to do this? any tricks i should know about? can i just sand it down with paper or what?

its very easy. the only trick is putting on multiple coats of light spraying. oh..and the cards trick is also nivce.

you can definitely sand it down with some sandpaper too..dont have to go to nuts.

this is what i did...

sand
1 coat primer
3 coats gold paint
2 coats clear coat

Justin

[MetalNeverDies]

what if i take wheels and sand blast them my self to get out imperfections then sand it to make it perfect will it weaken the wheels to much?

[JolleyXR]

thats some good stuff with the deck of cards...

[GrimmSpeed]

what if i take wheels and sand blast them my self to get out imperfections then sand it to make it perfect will it weaken the wheels to much?


sand blasting would be much better than sandpaper. just blast them up then put some primer on and then youare good to go with the rattle can.

[MetalNeverDies]

how much do you think i should sand blast off. just enough for a clean surface? or enough so it gets to like a new layer of the metal on the wheel? i wasnt shure if sanding it was so it had a rougher surface for the paint to stick to or if it was to smooth it out.

[The Keith]

looks good

[MetalNeverDies]

what color of paint and primer do i use to get a really nice color of gold?

[brd360sk8]

Can I has rims? lol

[GrimmSpeed]

woot..they got beat on at the ice races this weekend and beat on with an ice scraper to get ice chunks off...and they still look beautiful!

[smitch]

Never thought of using playing cards. I have used note cards/receipe cards and they worked really well. Might be a little cheaper.