William Ford
Today Ill show how I restored these old corroded crusty wheels and turned them into this. I painted these right here in my garagewith aerosol spray paint and even usedcan of paint and a brush for the accentsstay tuned to see how I achieved professional results with a mix of different products that were never designed to be used together. No compressor or spray gun equipment needed. I picked these up on eBay because my Land Cruiser didnt come with the OEM wheels and Ohio. Winters and road salt are not kind to 3-piece wheels, But these came from New York, so they arent much better than a set from Ohio.
This is the result of many winters. The aluminum is corroding behind the clear coat. Some are worse than others, but they all need stripped down and refinished. All my subscribers out in the south west must be in shock right now, like how does that even happen? Well, these are aluminum alloy wheels with a clear coat from the factory over time.
The clear wears down from road debris usually on the edges and that allows road salt mixed with water to seep in under the clear coat. Then the aluminum starts to corrode and it keeps expanding creeping along the surface under the clear coat and it usually does so in this squiggly line pattern. I have no idea why it happens in squiggly lines, but once it starts it doesnt stop. If you look real close at the polished surface of the wheel, its actually a fine machined surface done by a lathe, Most people dont have a lathe in their garage, and that includes me so well be looking at other DIY paint options to get these looking good. Again Here, the corrosion was so bad that the entire section of clear coat lifted and flaked off They probably had clamp-on wheel weights there at one time to get that started Its so bad.
I can just scrape the clear coat off with my fingernail. This is why we cant have nice things thanks: road, salt, Oh and the back side of the wheels arent any better. This is the result of decades of neglect featuring brake dust and road salt, So the first step is cleaning these wheels, and for that I bought this gallon of acid wheel cleaner, and I poured some into this spray bottle very carefully. I might add This stuff is actually acid made to remove the worst of grime and corrosive, if left on, for too long and, of course, toxic to anything living so follow the instructions, But sometimes you need the strong stuff Ill put a link for this. In the description So heres one last look at the before directions say to spray with water.
First, If theres any breeze make sure youre not down wind, I mean it. Youll know it shortly after you get any of this on your skin, because it will melt it off nah it just burns for a while, but definitely wear eye protection. Alright, let this set for a couple minutes Time to see what comes off, not as much as I hoped. Alright lets not put any water on this one. First, I was just telling you all how dangerous this stuff is, and here I go not following the instructions.
This is for science dont, be like me. Let me ruin my own wheels, so you dont have to experiment on yours. Alright, I gave this one a couple minutes to set. I see some brown, So it worked, but still a long way to go. Ok lets try the wheel, acid, plus a scrub brush.
The acid works great on the outside of the wheel. I literally just sprayed and now rinsed a minute later. Look at that Back to the ones I scrubbed theyve been sitting for, like 5 minutes, not impressed another round of scrubbing and its working just slower than I expected. This is some serious grime. I mean about 25 years worth.
This is also corrosive acid and youre. Not really supposed to be scrubbing with it, I think its time for plan B just have them sand blasted yeah for my health, So the acid wheel, cleaner, worked pretty well cleaning up the faces, but the back of the wheels needed a lot more elbow grease and Then Id still have to sand them down to bare aluminum. Time is money, so I just had them sandblasted instead, well thats, better Huge shout out to Mike from The Shop Spot for blasting these. For me, His fridge is now overstocked with beer. Thanks again, man awesome job.
He hit the insides as well Ill put a link to his channel. The Shop Spot right up here, check it out. Youll actually see my rusty 89 Toyota in one of his vids the frame broke in half when we pulled the bed off good times in Ohio. These are dusty from being blasted its a really fine dust. Im gon na give them a bath with some Dawn.
That will help remove any wax or oils as well. My next step is etching primer, which will bond well to the surface texture of the sand, blasted aluminum, but I have to have them clean of dust wax and any oil first Even touching them with my bare hands can leave oils on the surface of the aluminum. Alright, the wheels are all dry and I have them set up in the garage now on whatever I could find Im going to spray them with Self Etching Primer by Duplicolor. This is perfect for bare metal Illl, put a link for this down in the description. So when Im painting or priming primering, I do all the hard to get to areas first, because Ill end up over spraying onto the easy areas, then Ill be able to spray less on those areas or avoid them all together.
If they have enough, If I did it the other way around, it would be easy to end up with a run or sag on the easy to reach parts, and this is just the first coat. So if theres a light area Ill get it on the next coat light coats dry, a lot faster than heavy coats get the barrel. Now. This is the easy part there see: thats not even covered on the first coat but thats fine, more light coats are better than less heavy coats. Ok, the first coat has had about 10 minutes to dry now its ready for the second coat and again im getting into all the recessed areas and crevices first get in all these little spaces and then the barrel last notice the coverage now its almost solid green.
A couple thin spots right here so far, so good its been 10 minutes and its dry now now Im going to rotate the wheel 180 degrees, sometimes its hard to get paint in the recessed areas near the bottom, when youre trying to spray upward theres. Just not much room since the nozzle is at the top of the can. So now I can get these areas covered so ill, just spray, those light areas for the third coat and focus on getting those covered and hit any other areas that look a little thin done with the back side now its time to throw some etching primer on The fronts – and I have these siting on some old gallon paint cans to keep them off of the floor, better mask off the labels, so I can read them after Im done. I sped things up to try to keep this article, Im. Getting the outer edge of the lip, where the tire bead mounts since Ill be painting that area as well.
I dont want to have the bead mounting area, be bare aluminum, since water can get in there between the tire and corrode over time, Just like before. I painted all the difficult areas: first, one light coat to start with: Ok, second coat of etching primer, and this is pretty much a repeat of the method I used on the backside of the wheels. I get all the recessed areas first and you can see as Im getting in those Im also getting paint on the fase of the wheel, get this outer edge. Now I just need a little more on the spokes and get this very outer edge of the lip. Since Ill be painting those too and then make sure this hidden area is covered because Ill be painting there too, where the tire bead seals Heres a close up of how it should look after 2 coats, even smooth, no runs or sags, and then a close up Of the area where the bead mounts alright done with self etching primer, Im gon na let these dry for a while.
They actually look pretty good like this, but the next step is going to be filler primer to fill any minor imperfections and these probably look mint on camera. But if you get in close, really close its rough in the inset areas, which is normal, thats fine, but any imperfections on the flat area will really pop when I paint these silver here, we go right here. This area was very corroded and theres a nick or something in the face. Ive got some imperfections in the inset area as well. Here Lets look at my spare wheel.
I mentioned the machined finish on the face earlier Ive heard this called diamond polished a lot of OEM alloy wheels. Have this finish? Those little lines are done with a lathe and they give the wheel a bright aluminum finish without being polished, and you can see its a little bit reflective but its not actually polished, like a mirror. Finish Id like to try to replicate that finish, but Ill be doing it with paint, because I dont have a lathe check out these beauties. These are hand polished, civic HX, wheels that I did like 15 years ago.
These were in rough shape as well, but I wet sanded them smooth, starting with 220 grit, then worked all the way up to 2000 grit and hand polished them with Mothers, wheel, polish. It took forever – and I didnt put any clear on these – because paint isnt going to bond well to a smooth polished, surface Thats, why you usually see clear coated aluminum wheels with the machined surface. Road salt will really corrode a bare aluminum wheel and I never ran these in winter. I will be using my 80 series wheels year around so polished, aluminum isnt an option there. But I wanted to show you a true polished wheel for comparison.
I bet I had 8 hrs into each wheel winter project. Let me know in the comments, if youd want to see a article on how to create a finish like this, maybe Ill do another set. Some time, But I want to get the closest thing to this finish as I can using paint – and I have a few cans of this back outside guess. I should have put down some newspaper on the floor. Heres, a better look at this chrome paint in the sunlight and, if youve used this before, you know its, not chrome, like the cap, its really more of a highly reflective silver about the same sheen as the silver paper they used for the label, which is still Pretty impressive for an aerosol can Ill put a link to this.
In the description, I think that color will flow nice with the aluminum running boards and the front brush guard sort of tie it all in together notice. Any imperfections in the reflective surface really stand out. Like all these wrinkles in the label, I need a perfectly smooth surface on my wheel, for that paint to look good and filler primer will make that happen. Its a high build formula that can be sanded, smooth and thats going to take care of that pitting. We saw earlier like these little guys right here, perfect candidate for some filler primer.
Now I already have etching primer over the bare metal, so I only need to spray this in the areas that need it. Which are where there could be any imperfections. The paint will bond to either of the primers. So I dont need to bother with the inset areas really just focusing on the faces to fill in any imperfections, and this can be sanded down perfectly smooth, which is important on a highly reflective finish, heres a close up. It goes on pretty thick for an aerosol and Ill be doing multiple coats as well.
If you look in the right light, you can see. The surface is like textured, with these ridges from where the wheel was machined, not the real fine lines. Those came out in sand blasting, but wider, bigger grooves. If I can see it now, Ill, definitely see it after the chrome paint. Alright first coat has had time to dry.
You might have noticed the floor was wet on that last coat. Im keeping the floor wet on these, so that the overspray doesnt stick to the concrete, and I dont end up with more paint rings on the floor. These have had plenty of time to dry this curb mark, and these tire machine marks here are a little to deep to fill with the filler primer, but light pitting like this. Here is perfect for filler primer. It might take a few coats, but they will disappear Ill, put links to all these paints in the description.
Second coat after the first coat, all the imperfections really pop, so you can see what areas need more filler primer like Im, going heavy on that pitted corrosion and filling those ridges on the face of the spokes. This stuff is meant to be built up, so you can sand it down smooth so Im laying it down heavy. Then I sprayed a third coat Im all done with filler primer. This is actually what the label looks like now, that other can. I used was super old.
I let these sit in the hot garage for a day, so theyre all cured. Now that Ive built up the surface with the filler primer. The next step is to go back and sand it down smooth when Im sanding the filler primer, smooth Ill, be knocking down the high areas first, and that will make them level with the lower areas over the pits and nicks that arent as high. The final result should be a smooth flat surface and thats. A must for a highly reflective chrome paint or really any paint will look better over a smooth surface.
I made a article, probably about 5 years ago, where I painted a set of wheels on my truck On two of them. I just used etching primer and silver paint and, on the other two I did what Im doing here with the filler primer and sanding, and the final result was much better. So after that experiment, I always use filler primer if the wheels are beat up. Ill put a link to that article in the description For sanding. Do yourself a favor and use a workbench or table so youre, not hunched over working on the floor, Ive got a temporary work area set up here, Ill use this later, when Im painting the wheels too, you can see what an uneven reflective surface looks like on The label, where theres wrinkles so when Im sanding out those grooves.
If I just push down with my fingers on this sand paper, my fingers arent flat, so I might end up making more low areas that look wavy after paint thats, where a sanding block comes in handy, the bigger ones are for large areas like body work. This smaller one is a good size for the wheel, but its a little too stiff. This one is more of a sanding sponge, its more flexible and its perfect Im gon na start with some 220 grit Just wrap it around the sponge and Im sanding against those grooves to knock them down flush with the rest of the surface. Just watch around the edges, its easy to sand through corners 220 cuts fast. It doesnt take much to knock down the filler primer.
Take a close look see those lighter lines, kind of like rings on a tree. The lighter areas are where the sanding sponge contacted the surface. You cant see on camera, but this already feels more smooth than it did a minute ago. A sponge or block really works down those high points, so Im sanding these grooves. Until all the high points are knocked down and Ill know Im there, when the whole area is the lighter grey from being sanded alright, this is looking pretty good, its all in the prep and attention to detail when it comes to paint Im, normally not OCD.
At all, until it comes to this stuff here you can see I sanded through the filler primer, on the edge just a little bit as soon as I saw the green self etching primer, starting to show I stopped so I didnt sand all the way back down To bare metal, like I mentioned before its really easy to sand through on edges, so watch out for that next, I sanded the rest of the spokes and flat surfaces of the wheel with the sanding sponge until they were all perfectly smooth. Let me show you this here. This is an example of an imperfection that was a little deeper. I still have a good amount of filler primer in this area because I did some thick coats, so maybe I can sand this all the way out notice how Im changing directions doing a cross hatch pattern. Ive got ta watch.
I dont sand the edge too much its barely starting to show the etching primer underneath theres that nick its almost gone now and thats the magic of filler primer and nap times over hey bud. Alright. That nick is pretty much non existent at this point. Im happy with that. Next I sanded the entire surface more with the 200 grit knocking down the high points of the filler primer for a perfectly level surface notice, I havent sanded any of the inset areas that have the rougher cast surface.
I have another plan for those that well see later in the article time to clean up this dust. This is feeling pretty good notice. I did sand through on this edge as well as soon as you see the color beneath the filler primer, stop dont sand. Any more there same with here here now this could use a little more sanding. The slightly darker areas are slightly lower where the surface hasnt been knocked down level yet, and this here looks like piece of dust or small hair that was on the surface and it got covered with filler primer, knock that down real quick, its gone now here it Is right here now its time to move on to some 400 grit, and this will remove the deeper scratches left from the 200 grit.
The sanding process with the 400 grit paper is the exact same thing as the 200 grit, except that it goes a lot faster because Im not really trying to remove more material. The surface is already level I just need to sand down the rougher scratches from the 200 grit. The finer scratches from the 400 grit are small enough to be filled in when I paint Im making sure to avoid those edges where I sanded all the way down to the etching primer. Alright, this wheel is ready for paint. Now I just have to do this four more times, [ sigh ] After I sanded all 5 wheels.
I took them out in the driveway and gave them a bath to remove all the dust from sanding them down smooth. Then I used dish soap and a sponge to wash each the face and inset area of each wheel. In addition to any leftover dust, the dish, soap and sponge also remove any oils left on the surface from touching the wheels, and then I did the same thing for the inside of each wheel. From now on, when I move the wheels Ill only hold them by the outside of the barrel, so I dont contaminate any of the painting surfaces. Alright, its been about 3 hours wheels are all dry now kids are in bed.
I wan na show you where I goofed, I must have been daydreaming and sanded all the way through the etching primer, all the way down to the bare aluminum. It happened in some other places too. This wheel is really beat up compared to the other four, but just grab the self etching primer and touch up any of those areas where bare metal is showing through there we go just a light. Coat looks like someone beat the shit out of this wheel with a hammer theres all kinds of high points that I sanded through, where the edges are deformed. This will be the spare.
This edge is ok, no metal showing through Now I want a uniform surface for my color coat and thats, where Primer Sealer is useful. This is especially needed for painting a color coat over body work where there might be different colors of primer. That could cause the color coat to look splotchy, Not sure, if thats going to be an issue with silver paint. But why take the chance Ill put a link to all these primers? In the description you can see, the grey is a little darker than the filler primer, so I might as well do the whole thing well Ill.
Just do the face of the wheel, Im, painting the insets black and the inside of the barrels dont really matter here. I saw a hint of green in some areas, so Im hitting those with another light coat of primer, sealer, thats, good nice, uniform surface and all 5 wheels are ready for paint. Finally, hey this is the full how-to Im showing all the steps might seem like overkill, but the final result will speak for itself. So when I paint these faces, there will be overspray and its going to fall down through these holes and end up drying on the inside of the wheel and make some rougher areas on the surface. I never paint the backs last because that overspray will come though, and dry, on the face of the wheel where youll see it.
So I always paint the insides of wheels first and then the faces last since you see the faces and not the backs when theyre on a vehicle, thats really important, Ok, its the next day and Im going to be painting the inside of this wheel. With this DupliColor Silver wheel paint Its not as shiny as the chrome, but I dont really care how the inside of the wheel looks. I just want to protect it from the elements, So I like to focus on all of the recessed areas. First, since theyre tougher to cover then Ill spray, the barrel and the edge, These are old cans. By the way, the labels are different, now Ill put a link in the description Im trying to use up all my old paint.
I do the harder recessed areas first, because, as I get in those, I usually get paint on the easy to spray areas around them. If I did those easy areas, first Id have too much paint on them. After I did the recessed parts, I want light coats. No runs or sags on this first color coat Im, not even going to cover the primer completely and thats fine Id rather have more light coats than less heavy coats, except for the wet coat Ill get to that in a bit now the outer edge and thats A good first coat dont forget to do the bead area too. This is where the tire seals, so it should be primed and painted too not just bare aluminum.
I let that dry about 10 minutes and rotated the wheel 180 degrees. Now I can get the rest of the bead area and then Ill do another coat on the back of the wheel, just like the first one. Other thing about rotating the wheel 180 is that it helps to spray in places where theres not room, for the can like this. When that part is facing up, you can hold the can in the wheel and reach that spot better. This third coat is the wet coat so Im, laying it down a little heavier than the first two, but not enough to have it run or sag.
The back side of the wheel is a good spot to test the limit on how heavy you can go, because you wont see it but doing a little heavier on the wet coat helps to fill in any of the lighter overspray areas from the first two coats And make a more smooth surface. Alright, I have 3 coats of silver down now its time for some clear coat to protect the back of the wheel. There isnt a ball in the clear because theres no pigment to mix this is WHP103 gloss clear by Duplicolor and Il have a link in the description Notice. The instructions say, 2 light coats, followed by one medium wet coat, apply all coats within an hour 10 minutes between coats for additional coats. After one hour you have to wait 7 days.
This is an enamel paint. Lacquer paint has no recoat window. Enamels, do enamels are resistant to chemicals like oils and gas, whereas lacquers are not. This paint is also formulated to withstand more heat than a lacquer up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. You shouldnt use lacquer on top of enamels, because that can make the paint lift and wrinkle up.
Then you get to start all over same as last time with the color coat Im. Getting all the hard to reach areas. First, fingers starting to get tired, then Ill cover the easy areas and then the barrel, then the very outer edge and dont forget the bead area and Ill rotate. It 180 in about 10 minutes that coat dried, and I just rotated the wheel and now its time for the second coat of clear. I busted out this hand trigger nozzle it snaps onto the can give my finger a break.
This is a lot easier. Its a little harder to aim into these recessed parts, but my pointer finger has called it quits for the day and the barrels its hard to get these perfectly even with a spray can its just a lot of surface area so just doing the best. I can a paint gun would be awesome, but not everyone has a paint, gun and compressor in their garage. So Im keeping this tutorial simple, maybe Ill. Do another wheel, article with a paint gun some time.
Let me know if you want to see that ah crap, I just hit the wheel with the can touch that up good thing, its on the back side and the bead area get a little extra on there. The nozzle does make the can a little bulkier to use in tight areas like a wheel, but Im happy with this. So far I like to let the cans sit in the sun for a while to warm em up and when these get warm, they have more pressure inside. So they spray out a little better. Third and final coat of clear.
Alright, that wraps up the wet coat for the gloss clear lets go test some paints for the front of the wheel. While I let these cure for 7 days, so first, I painted the entire panel with the chrome paint by Duplicolor. Now I want the inset areas of the wheel to be darker. This is Duplicolors graphite, wheel, paint. The same thing I used for the inset areas of the polished Civic HX, wheels, theres.
What that looks like then. I have some Rustoleum gloss black. These are all enamel paints, so they should work together Masking takes forever. So for the first time Im going to try brushing on the inset areas, and if you look here, you can see the graphite is kind of thin and streaky. Its really meant to be sprayed on so Im going with the rustoleum gloss black, its a lot thicker and it self levels pretty nice.
I used this on the bucket. When I restored my sons, vintage Tonka front, end loader. I got him for his birthday and was surprised how smooth and glossy it turned out for just brushing it on and, of course, Ill be covering it all. With the Duplicolor gloss clear, however theres a slight issue, I just discovered you can see the chrome paints reflective here in the middle, like I expected, but then, when I sprayed the clear coat on top of it, it completely clouded up its not really reflective. Any more.
Look theres, the chrome paint pretty impressive right, and then this happens. When I put the clear over it, it looses almost all of the reflection. It just looks like plain old silver paint now, so I found another option. Look at this Im really surprised. This came from an aerosol can this is the closest thing Ive seen to an actual chrome finish from a spray?
Can this is VHT plate finish lets do a comparison, thats, the Duplicolor chrome, without the clear coat and heres the VHT plate. Finish impressive huh Ill put a link to this in the description Im going to let this dry for a couple more minutes and see how it does with the clear coat cmon Lindor. How are you not impressed with that ONE WEEK LATER, Iwell, unfortunately? Well, first, I labeled this to make it easier to see heres the Duplicolor clear that made the chrome cloudy, and it also did the same thing to the half that I painted with the VHT plate finish its instant fail here. Watch this theres the clear coat and look at that.
It immediately ruins the reflective finish. I even let the VHT plate cure for 7 days before I just cleared it a minute ago, and the exact same thing still happens This plate finish, scratches really easy too. I need clear coat on these wheels for protection, especially in the winter, so time to find a plan B. I have a few cans of this old VHT caliper paint in my cabinet cast aluminum color and its a pretty bright silver heres, the Duplicolor silver, its a little darker a little more grey. So I think I like this its nothing reflective like the plate finish, but I can put clear over it so its a winner.
This is why you always do a test spay. I would not be a happy camper if I learned about the clear coat clouding the chrome paint after it was on the wheel, alright, its time to get these faces painted now these were sitting in the garage, so there is some dust on them um. A lot of this actually looks like silver overspray that came through the holes when I painted the backs and thats why I paint the backs first and the faces last. So I have a tack cloth here and just ball it up and it will remove dust from the surface because its a little sticky get in these inset areas too, and around the lugs real, quick, any dust in there could become airborne and land on the face. Once I start spraying and dont forget about the outer bead area Ill be painting that as well.
Then I like to use compressed air to get off any remaining dust. Ok, first coat with the VHT silver. This is just going to be a light coat. Remember the first coat doesnt even need to cover all of the primer shit. The nozzle keeps clogging thats, not good.
Ok, I cleaned the nozzle with some Duplicolor prep spray lets try this again. I dont know whats going on the nozzle keeps getting clogged. This is really old paint lets try the nozzle from the can of Prep Spray wow. This works its a lot faster Im moving as fast as I can, and its covering the whole surface. The opening on the old nozzle was smaller.
Now its just hosing out paint its almost splotchy in some areas. It comes out so fast, Im not concerned with the inset areas, mainly just want the faces to look good well, Im already started might as well keep going. I do like how bright the silver is. Itll be a nice contrast with the black rustoleum over there Ill, let this dry for ten minutes alright time for coat. Two here.
Look at this see how much comes out. If I paint it like a normal, can all the flake is just running so be quick. Being further away definitely helps outer edge, thats plenty Im a little light there for the second coat thats, better Heres a can of Prep Spray. I grabbed the nozzle from and some caliper cleaner notice. The hole is bigger on the prep spray tip than the silver VHT.
One then look at the caliper cleaner, its huge that would just squirt the wheel with paint time for color coat. Three, the wet coat get the bead area again, you dont want that to be bare aluminum, especially with road salt, because it can corrode around the bead and cause the tire to lose air pressure. Now, Im getting the very outer edge of the lip and now the spokes I cant go any lighter and get the whole area and the outer edge of the face. Thats, a pretty good, wet coat Im a little light around the center of the wheel, thats better nice gloss smooth, I better quit while Im ahead, no runs Now for the experimental part. Ive never used this over aerosols before, but it worked in the test.
Its all enamel paints Its been about five or so minutes, since I did the wet coat and its a little tacky, but I should get started in case this takes a while. The warm weather makes it dry faster, just like that kind of dabbing it on nice and thick. So this took a little bit longer than expected. I was using a pretty fine brush for the area I was painting. A slightly larger brush would have sped things up.
I had to go slow and be careful around the edges, but I think it was still better than waiting 7 days for the silver to cure, then masking off all the faces on 5 wheels and then spraying 3 coats on the inset areas and then slowly peeling Off the tape, hoping that all my edges were masked well and none of the silver peeled off in the process, Alright, I have one done its really glossy and thick too see how it self levels. I did get a little sloppy around the edges in a few spots, but that wont be too obvious when theyre on the 80 and Im not 8 inches from the wheel. This one was my warm up now, its time to do 4 more and then 20 more after that, but Im glad to have found a new way to do something. What do you think? Would you rather use a brush or mask off the face and spray?
The insets, alright one wheel, is done well, I still need clear coat but heres how it looks its a little rougher than I hoped once the paint completely leveled. It looks like a rough cast surface underneath, but its actually build up of overspray that went through the holes. When I painted the back of the wheel, some are worse than others, but thats nit picking close up. There was a spot where I went too far with the brush and got black paint on the face of the spoke. It was right here.
You can barely see where it was. I just took my finger and wiped it back away from the face, and it was all good and I wiped it as soon as it happened before it had any time to dry. When I dip the brush in the paint, I hold it over my hand, just in case it drips over the face that would be devastating, but yeah no bad accidents. Time for the clear coat before my hour, recoat window expires, and I have to wait 7 days for this to cure. Ive got the clear cans out in the sun.
Beside the Legend, clear, coat repair article coming soon on that right now its time to clear this wheel. This is the old label. They dont look like this anymore, so Im getting the bead area first, because some of this overspray is bound to land on the face, and I want that to happen before I paint the face with the clear its nice to use a regular speed, nozzle again now Ill use the new cans for the face, just in case that old can of clear is a slightly different formula or a little yellow from age. Never had it happen with these, but better safe than sorry, always a good idea to read the instructions yep. It has.
The same recoat window, so it is an enamel ohh thats, a nice spray pattern Just like before Im trying to get in here and spray all the hard to reach areas first, starting with the center of the wheel, because Ill get some paint on the face as Well, then, the inset areas are next, its just the first coat so Im, keeping it light. I know clear looks so good when you lay it on thick, but save that for the wet coat right now, Im just building up the clear with light coats start off heavy and its more likely youll get a run or a sag and thats a good first Coat Its been 10 minutes and Im using the old can on the bead area, it has a more narrow spray pattern compared to the new cans so its perfect. For this, Then, I did another light coat of clear on the face of the wheel. The third coat of clear was the wet coated. I layed it down.
Heavy. Alright one wheel is complete. It was a pretty heavy wet coat. I could have used a little less orange peel when its hot out like this. The paint can atomize in the air and start to dry before it gets the chance to level on the surface, and that gives it that rough texture, but its not terrible.
But I think it will look good on the vehicle Im being picky right now, because Im only a few inches away. I put it out in the sun and it looks really good. You might see a few sort of hazy or cloudy areas, thats from a really thick clear coat and that will go away as the clear dries theres, a better look at the hazy areas, but thats nothing to worry about now that this is dry Im. A little unhappy with how rough the texture is in these inset areas feels like sand paper in some parts. Looking at the wheels I havent finished yet its silver overspray from the back side, so Im scraping it off with a scuff pad and that feels better.
Yeah. Look at this difference Im going to do this to the other four wheels, and that should give a more smooth finish in those inset areas On the next wheel. I perfected the brushing technique for the inset areas, making the top outer edge. The last thing I painted also, instead of dabbing the paint on I loaded up the brush and painted along with the edge for a much smoother line. I had a total of 25 of these holes to paint, so I was pretty efficient by the time I got to the last wheel.
I just finished another wheel and check out how smooth the inset areas are on this one. Getting that rough, overspray off makes all the difference. Let me show you an easy and effective way to clean the brush for an enamel paint like rustoleum. You need paint thinner for oil based paints with mineral spirits, get a cap from one of the spray cans. These Duplicolor ones are perfect because they have these 4 little dividers inside get some of the thinner into each divider and some on the middle clean, the brush in one of the dividers, then the next one and next each one is less contaminated, because the brush is Cleaner, then, after the last outside divider give the brush a good wipe down.
Then one more dip in the clean, thinner in the middle and another wipe one more dip in the clean, thiner and thats nice and clean, and it didnt even use a lot of the thinner to clean it. Up. Hey guys, Im down in the parts warehouse the wheels have had almost 2 weeks to cure now, Im loving how they turned out. There were a few oops that happened like right. Here I hit the wheel with the bottom of the can, when I was painting it theres a little bit of corrosion that I missed when I was doing the filler primer heres that one wheel that looked like someone beat it with a hammer right here.
I also hit it with the bottom edge of the can. When I was painting, I got ta be more careful. The nozzle was slowly leaking and a drop of silver paint dripped right here, but Im happy overall theyre looking good, and I want to keep them looking good with a coat of wax. Just some old school, yellow, carnauba wax like youd use on a cars paint any time I put a new set of wheels on a vehicle or after I take the time to detail wheels. I always apply a coat of wax.
This will help seal the surface and not only make them a lot easier to clean, but also help protect them from tar or grease and, most importantly, road salt For the face. I just wax on and wipe off just like waxing a car Im doing the bead area. Just like I did the face of the wheel now for the inside of the wheel. That wont really be visible. I apply the wax, but instead of wiping it off, I just leave it on for an extra layer of protection against brake dust, tar and salt Hey, I just got back from getting these mounted and there were some issues.
The tire shops machine did some damage to the paint. I expected a couple small nicks around the edges, theres a scratch. This is bad. It scraped the paint part way off big scratch up front. This one had a pretty big chip on the edge first, I need to clean the surface of any wax or grease just spraying, a paper towel with some prep spray.
I need to wipe all these down. Look at that I sprayed a little of the VHT silver into the cap and now, with a small brush, just dab some paint on the chip like that. Coming back for a second coat and look at that can barely tell it was chipped Thanks for watching how to refinish wheels with professional results from aerosol paint that anyone can spray in their garage. I made sure to leave all the bloopers in, because mistakes are the best way to learn so heres how they look on the 80. What do you think I always liked how the LX450s had painted insets, so I thought Id try it on these and my goal was for the black on the wheels to match all the black trim on the body and before you ask yes, I did get oem center caps theyre in Pretty rough shape as well, some of the steps are different for plastic caps compared to aluminum wheels and Ill be showing how to restore those in an upcoming article.
I finally have larger spare to match the rest of my tires. It fits no problem on the oem JDM tire carrier Theres, my old spare, with the factory tire size, So theres, one more thing crossed off the list on restoring the cheapest imported 80 series. Land cruiser in the US subscribe if youre not already cause theres more to come. Thanks for watching The acid, cleaner worked great on the corroded wheels that came on my 80. These may be in a future restoration article.
I thought they were 3-piece wheels, no manufacturer markings anywhere, but upon closer inspection after cleaning them theyre, actually a 2-piece wheel. The barrel is one piece and the face is separate. If anybody has a guess as to who made these wheels Id love to know.
