Painting wheels?

[zique]

Hey all,

Anyone ever painted their own wheels? I was considering using caliper paint since it seems tough enough and easy enough. Could there be any problems with that?

[bcsean]

paint won't generally stand up the best, but it can be done. Prep it well first. If you can afford to, have them powdercoated as it'll last much longer.

[BlackKatnWV]

Duplicolor rim paint works great, especially if you clear it. Of course it doesnt stand up to brake fluid...neither do most other paints lol...ive used it it works fine.

from silver and polished:


to universal gold by duplicolor:


I would show you better closeups but i deleted alot of the pictures

[zique]

Do you think caliper paint would hold up? That would resist brake fluid for sure (obviously)

[BlackKatnWV]

Yeah but it wont be as smooth as using a spray type paint like the duplicolor

[MadKatter]

Spend just a little more and have them powder coated. It will be worth it in the long run. You can even save some $$$ by doing the prep work yourself.

[Sizzler]

I agree that powder coating is the better choice but just wanted to let you know that I painted my wheels with a regular ol rattle can earlier this summer and it has held up very well, not a single blemish or chip that I've noticed And, it's cheap and easy to touch up when needed I went with a cheap can of black and it looks fine to me

[DreKat]

on my old bike I painted the rims and clear coated them and they turned out great and last through the test of time.

[BlackKatnWV]

The difference's in powder coating vs painting are two things:

Cost
Durability


You can either pay $25-50 per wheel (depends on the place) PLUS you have to pay to have your tires unmounted, then remounted and balanced (most places charge $25 for the front and $35-45 for the rear) and have a long lasting tough finish for around.....150-200

OR

for $6 in tape and $20 in paint you can have wheels that will look great and hold up pretty well, plus you can always touch up any area since you will have left over paint.

When I did mine I had no chips or anything from riding, just some knicks from where I wasnt careful putting the wheel back on the bike (downside of doing it by yourself). I would paint the wheels again if I wanted to change the color. Only way I would powder coat them is if I had money to burn or the wheels had no tires on them.

[zique]

cool guys. thanks for the tips!