The wheels on your vehicle see some of the most heat and abuse as any other par of your car but they’re also one of the most visual parts of your vehicle. This means you will obviously want your wheels to look as good as possible to keep your vehicle looking great. But what is worse than wheels that are faded or beat up? Improperly refinished wheels that are peeling or chipping! You need to take care that you prep and paint your wheels with care so that the finish lasts! If you follow our tips below you can be sure that you will have a wheels that look good for the life of your car!
- Remove Old Wheel Coatings Completely- The OE knows as well that wheels see a lot of abuse during driving and they usually apply coatings that are more durable than other parts of the car. For this reason it can take a lot more work to remove the factory finish off your wheels. The best option is to media blast or mechanically remove the old paint and get your wheels down to bare metal. If your wheels have multiple coats of paint it is best to media blast as it is the least labor intensive method. The other benefit is that media blasting will leave a good surface texture for paint or powder adhesion.
- Use a Quality Primer- A good base is important with good paint adhesion. If you’re applying a liquid coating we suggest using a 2K primer like Epoxy Primer to seal up the bare metal. Epoxy Primer plays well with all liquid coatings and won’t give issues with lifting or peeling due to incompatibilities. If you’re planning to powder coat your wheels a powder coat primer will bake onto the surface leaving an extremely durable base for the powder top coat to adhere to.
- Durable Top Coat- Painting or Powder Coating your wheels will give you the best finish. Powder Coating is by far the most popular for wheel coatings but it does require additional supplies than a normal spray paint. If you want a factory like finish our Silver Argent Paint matches most factory wheels and applies in a 1K aerosol paint. We also offer a sparkle silver wheel powder as well that will offer the best durability. If you’d like to clear coat over a 1K coating you can also use our 2K Aerospray clearcoat to seal up the surface and give the ultimate durability with a spray can.