I picked these up fairly cheap and really thought I wanted to go with gold on them. But when they were done, I immediately knew they would not work. The image I had of gold on blue did not work quite as nice in reality. So, even though I swore I would not put myself through that again, I needed to fix it.
wheels as I bought them





After stripping and rough sanding for polish

First painting and polish, came out great if I say so myself

Then the look of them against the car color


I did not like it so..... here we go again. As I apply the stripper, I just keep telling myself "I don't believe I'm doing this!"

Echoing the words I keep telling myself through this whole build, I'm in too deep to turn back now.
Masked and primed Masking takes about 2 hours a wheel. Probably the worst part of the whole job.

Base coat, I went with a dark grey metallic that was the color of my GFX originally.

Cleared

Then, the final product. Excuse the residue from the masking tape. They will be polished to a mirror finish again.



In all, about 12 hours of labor total, stripping, masking, and paint. Still around $300 total in the wheels, even with over $100 in paint materials. Much more satisfied with this look.

 

What shade of gold is that ???

 

Very nice job! They look great!

 

I'm not sure. Was a paint code from a subaru I believe. I could give you the code if you want.

 

Thanks alot! Was alot of tedious work, but well worth it in my opinoin.

 

Its the tedious work that pays off most tho! Ive been re looming wires for over a month now..but it looks better haha. Wish i could repaint my wheels, but im not that skilled in the paint department

 

I just finished the same thing. I don't think I enjoy this type of work but I would do I again and again!! Totally worth it!
Nice wheels btw. Your a pro!

 

HA HA, The paint is the easy part. It's the prep that's the killer.

For those interested in doing this, Advance sells an aviation stripper that melts the old finish right off, even powdercoat. Though for PC it takes more than one application.

 

It's 80% patience. If you drink beer. It's a great time to have a few. I finished 2 rims in about 6hrs.

Paint stripper and rinse. Repeat as needed.

Any time you want to dry out the wheels from water place them on your central air conditioner outside. The warm fast air will dry it in a few mins.

Lots of sanding

Lots of tape

Lots of old clean rags

Clear coat
Paint
Primer
Polish

 

Masking those cross lace wheels would be a breeze, but I imagine the stripping was brutal. Nicely done!

 

What did you use for sanding and stripping

 

Agreed, a lot of labor to get back to the new look, been there done that but only one time. 6 mos after completing I sold and bought Hawks 17x9s the color was never as good..

 

Very nice job on the wheels.