They constantly experience various mechanical loads, come into direct contact with road chemicals, and are often found in mud or water. Also, stones hit the discs, there is always a risk of scratching the disc on curbs, etc. As a result, the appearance of discs may noticeably deteriorate.
The solution in this situation is the decision to paint the wheels of the car. On the one hand, powder coating of discs is common today, but the price of such a service is usually not suitable for owners of many cars, especially budget ones.
If you paint the wheels yourself, in the case of casting, not everything is so simple. In other words, painting alloy wheels with your own hands will require certain knowledge and skills. Next, we will look at how alloy wheels are painted, as well as what you need to consider if you need to paint wheels of this type yourself.
Read in this article
When and why to paint alloy wheels
As it may seem, alloy wheels do not require maintenance. In fact, this is far from the case. First of all, you need to regularly remove dirt from them, wash and clean. At the same time, aggressive chemicals should not be used on the sink, so as not to damage the protective lacquer coating.
Further, in winter, varnish and paint are destroyed from the aggressive effects of salt and reagents. Also, flying stones and mechanical damage create microcracks on the protective coating. Then chips and other defects appear. The salt and chemicals that get there from the roads, already under the paintwork, actively destroy the paintwork and the disc material itself. As a result, a large-scale peeling of paint appears.
How to polish car headlights yourself: grinding headlights and polishing plastic and glass optics. How to polish headlights, subtleties and nuances. Recommendations.
As Henry Ford said, 80% of a car's appearance is its wheels. There are both cast and stamped options. Naturally, the first ones look much better. But today we will talk about how to make steel wheels no worse than cast ones. For this we do not need special tools and a special room. Moreover, it can be produced in an ordinary garage. Well, let's see how to do it.
Choosing a paint
The final result will depend on the correct choice. There are several color options:
- Powder. According to reviews, they are the most durable. The composition is created on the basis of dry polymeric material. Often, manufacturers themselves use this technology for painting stamped discs at the factory. This method is rarely used at home, as it requires an airbrush and special skills. The cost of the powder composition is the highest among others. Therefore, the question of its use on budget steel wheels remains open.
- Acrylic. Widespread among car owners. Usually sold in aerosol cans. They have high adhesion and can stay on the surface for more than a year. The cost of one can of acrylic paint averages from 200 to 500 rubles.
- Liquid rubber. This technology came to us from the USA. The method involves applying a rubber compound (rather than paint) to the surface of the disc. What is remarkable about this composition? Unlike powder and acrylic products, this coating can be removed at any time without damaging the previous, factory paint layer. It looks like this:
However, the cost of a can of liquid rubber is 2-3 times higher than acrylic. And the composition lies unevenly on the surface, forming stains. Therefore, the most budgetary and practical option is a can of acrylic paint. You can choose any color - from banal black to pink or purple.
Tools and materials
Having decided on the paint, you should prepare the necessary set of tools and materials. For painting to be successful, we need:
- Primer (if the surface is cleaned to metal).
- Sandpaper.
- Rust converter (in advanced cases).
- Degreaser.
- Protective gloves.
- A piece of clean rag.
As for specialized tools, it can be a drill with an abrasive nozzle and an airbrush. The latter is expensive to use. In addition, working with him requires certain skills and experience. Spray paint is a great alternative to a spray gun. Especially if the operation is performed in non-commercial volumes, once a year or even less often.
Training
The ideal option is to break the rubber. But this requires additional time and money. In addition, not every motorist has a set of spare wheels. Therefore, work is often carried out on site. But painting stamped rims on the car itself is not the right solution. So there will be a lot of leaks. In addition, paint pollen can get on the arches and other body parts.
After removing the wheels from the car, we clean them from the old paint. If you just need to change the color with the full integrity of the paintwork, you can apply the composition without stripping. As practice shows, it keeps well on such a surface. But in this case, it is not worth applying the primer - it simply will not dry out. Priming is carried out only on bare metal. It can be cleaned both with a nozzle with a drill, and manually, coarse-grained. In the presence of rust, the area should be treated with a converter. Next, we degrease the surface. For this, an anti-silicone agent containing white spirit is suitable. The composition perfectly removes dirt, greasy deposits, as well as some acrylic paints.
pasting
If you want to paint the "stamps" quickly, without removing the rubber, you need to properly glue its sidewalls. You can do this in several ways:
- Tritely we paste over them all the places where the presence of paint is undesirable.
- Cards. We install them vertically in the groove between the sidewall of the tire and the disk shelf.
- Large paper A3 (the thicker the better). We arrange the sheets in a circle. We fix them with pieces of tape. It will turn out a kind of "drum", which will not allow the paint to get on the sidewall of the tires.
- Old rubber. We cut out a sidewall from an unnecessary tire of the same diameter and simply apply it to our wheel. So we will exclude pollen from getting to the surface.
Getting Started
After full preparation, we paint stamped discs. Shake the bottle thoroughly. Lay the wheel on a flat surface. If the disc was cleaned to metal, first apply a primer. We make a developing layer at a distance of 40 centimeters.
It should be as thin as possible. After it dries, we walk around the perimeter again. But the layer should be already thicker. We hold the torch at a distance of 25-30 centimeters. Typically, during priming, the composition is applied in three stages.
How to paint wheels next? After the surface has dried (this is about 10 minutes for each layer), acrylic is applied. Similar to the previous case, first make a surface application. After the developing layer, the entire disc is covered with paint. To speed up the drying process, you can use a home hair dryer. But do not bring it close to the surface (30 centimeters or less), otherwise streaks may form. But the answer to the question of how to paint wheels with your own hands does not end there. There is another important point.
The final stage of painting stamped discs is varnishing. The process of applying it is no different from priming or In order for steel wheels to get the desired shine, two layers of varnish are enough. Its drying time is about 10 minutes. After that, we expect the final hardening of the paintwork. Usually it takes 1-2 hours. The disk is now ready for installation.
How to hide defects?
It often happens that the paintwork has chips and scratches. But there is no point in deleting the entire layer. How to hide unwanted defects? To do this, we apply “anti-gravel” to the surface. The composition, thanks to its shagreen, will ideally hide all defects. It's simple and convenient.
So, we found out how stamped discs are painted at home.
Alloy wheels are now installed on every second car, this is a kind of trend. Such details give the car a more attractive appearance and make it look more expensive. But, like any part, during long-term operation, such discs wear out and need to be restored.
There may be several reasons that may prompt a car owner to repair and paint alloy wheels:
- Damaged paint layer of products. This most often produces due to mechanical damage or due to the influence of the external environment and chemical reagents.
- Mechanical damage in the form of large scratches, chips or dents.
- Buying a used car that already had alloy wheels in poor condition.
In this article, we will look at how to restore the appearance of disks with your own hands at home using a handy tool.
Photo examples of disk recovery.
Choice of materials and necessary equipment
The first thing novice car painters start with is choosing the type of paint. For cast rims, three types of paint are most often used:
If we consider a general kit for carrying out work on the restoration of alloy wheels, then the list will be as follows:
- sandpaper, metal brushes and a grinder, or a drill with grinding nozzles. Abrasives will be needed with different grain sizes, from rough cleaning to fine finishing grinding.
- napkins and rags.
- degreaser.
- putty.
- primer.
- finishing paint.
- varnish (if necessary).
- rag.
- solvent.
- personal protective equipment: gloves, respirator, goggles.
When buying primer, paint and varnish, try to choose materials from the same manufacturer to avoid defects based on incompatibility of the compositions.
From additional equipment you will need:
- if you plan to apply the material with a spray gun, then you will need a spray gun and an air compressor.
- as already mentioned above, for better cleaning it is better to use an electric drill.
- disc holders can be made from wire and fixed to the ceiling in the garage.
- The IR heater can speed up the drying process of new paintwork.
In most cases, ordinary motorists who are not professionally engaged in painting, apply primer, paint, varnish from aerosol cans and get a very high-quality result at the end.
The technology of restoration of alloy wheels using acrylic paint
If you decide to do all the work yourself, then try to follow the technology and the sequence of steps to repair your disks from the machine.
Preparatory stage of work
Step 1. Removing the discs from the car, and if desired, you can dismantle the rubber. But if you do not want to do this, then the rubber itself can be pasted over with masking tape and film and thus protect it from paint and varnish materials.
Step 2 Cleaning discs from dirt, dust, tar and other things. To do this, they are washed with auto chemistry.
Step 3 Analysis of the state of these parts. If there are chips or deep parameters, they should be noted so that they can be eliminated during subsequent processing steps. If the discs are bent, then you may even need to take them to a tire fitting and roll them. For cast products, this is no problem and such edits will help restore the geometry of the disks.
Step 4 Removal of old damaged paintwork. Paint blistering and other coating defects are ground with a relay and a metal stripping nozzle. If there are traces of corrosion, they must also be cleaned to metal.
Step 5 Degrease the part, for example, using white spirit. We wipe the entire surface with a rag.
Step 6 We close up all the previously identified deep scratches and chips with putty, wait for drying, grind and, if necessary, apply another layer. There can be several such layers of putty, until the surface is completely leveled.
Step 7 We degrease the entire disk and hang it on wire fasteners, which are already installed in advance to the ceiling of the garage.
This completes the preparatory work.
We apply paintwork on an alloy wheel
Here the whole process can be divided into four operations.
Step 1. Primer. It is sprayed in 2 - 3 layers, with a break between layers of 15 - 20 minutes. An IR heater is used to speed up drying. The primer protects the metal from corrosion and provides increased adhesion of the coating to the part itself. The tone of the primer should be selected according to the color of the base paint. For example, if it is light, then the ground should be light.
Step 2 We apply paint. Usually, alloy wheels are painted with a spray can from a distance of 40 - 50 cm. In total, 2 layers are applied, sometimes a third is applied if the second main layer has errors somewhere. The break between layers is also 15 - 20 minutes. Especially carefully paint over all the bends and cavities so as not to leave gaps. The number of such "problem areas" depends on the shape and design of the disk.
Step 3 Lacquer layer. It is also applied in 2 stages. Add this material if you want to give a more intense shine.
Step 4 Polishing.
It will be possible to operate freshly painted discs after 2 to 3 days.
Video instructions for the restoration of paintwork on alloy wheels.
Below we will give you some tips that will help you better restore automotive alloy wheels.
- Do not neglect the preparation stage and qualitatively clean the surface of the old coating and rust, otherwise it is fraught with swelling of a new layer of paint and repeated repairs.
- Maintain time intervals for drying the layers. Otherwise, various defects may occur.
- Work in a garage that is dry, warm, clean and ventilated to avoid dust, small insects, sand, etc. Take care of good lighting so that you do not miss any areas of the product.
- Do not try to spray all the material in one layer, there is a high probability of smudges, and they can be eliminated when the paint dries and removes the sagging with sandpaper, after which it will be necessary to repaint the part again. It is better to divide the application of paint into two stages, the first thin layer and the second thicker and more thorough.
As you can see, if you follow the technology and buy quality materials, you can do everything yourself and get a good result. Have you painted your wheels in your garage, and are you satisfied with the results of such work? We are waiting for answers in the comments.
Hello dear visitors and readers of the blog Autoguid.ru Today in the article it will be possible to find out exactly how to paint alloy wheels with your own hands without outside help. Long-term use of alloy wheels leads to the appearance of numerous scratches, scuffs and other minor damage on their surface.
They spoil the appearance of the alloy wheel and the car as a whole. It is doubly unpleasant when damaged discs are used on an expensive well-maintained car. Minor damage brings peeling paint and the appearance of pockets of rust. The appearance of the vehicle suffers, as often the overall impression of the appearance of the car is reduced and deteriorated.
Active use of the car throughout the year causes alloy wheels to experience temperature changes, negative temperatures, heat and exposure to salt reagents in the winter. The paint of alloy wheels becomes unusable and loses its quality characteristics. After a long period of use, alloy wheels need to be put in order. Painting alloy wheels with your own hands is actually not a very simple task, but doable. The most important desire and proper preparation and success will be on your side.
Why paint alloy wheels?
Alloy wheels of the machine are in constant contact with the external environment. Often it is very aggressive to the coating of alloy wheels. Very often, the paint begins to peel off and fall off along with the primer, exposing the metal base. The appearance of the casting becomes terrible and it is impossible to look at the wheels of the car without pity.
The following main reasons for the need to paint alloy wheels can be distinguished:
Salt reagents in winter.
Road services in winter to protect the road from icing abundantly sprinkle the road surface with salt reagents. A very aggressive mixture of sand, mud, snow and salt is created. The alloy wheels are the first to take the hit.
Very often, one winter season is enough to start the process of paint deterioration on alloy wheels. Effective protection of the surface of discs from salt simply does not exist. Often the base of the wheel element begins to be destroyed by salt reagents, slowly collapsing.
Dirt roads.
Frequent driving on dirt roads leaves its mark on the surface of the alloy wheel. The presence of a huge number of small-sized stones on the primer negatively affects the integrity of the disc surface.
Over time, it begins to become covered with a large number of scratches and chips. This is the first stage of the beginning of peeling and destruction of the disc paint. Cracks and chips on the disc begin to fill with dust and dirt, worsening the appearance of the cast disc.
Temperature fluctuations.
The change of winter, summer, autumn and spring brings with it changes in temperature. Very often, the negative effects of temperature fluctuations appear in winter when the scorching sun can shine on the surface of a cast disk surrounded by air with a minus value. The strength and resistance of the paintwork to damage is reduced.
Painting alloy wheels with your own hands makes it possible to save on the purchase of new products. Self-repair will keep the family budget safe and sound and will be a reason for pride in front of familiar motorists.
Proper preparation is the key to high-quality and fast performance of work related to painting the surface of an alloy wheel. Materials must be purchased, and most tools can be rented for the duration of the job.
To paint alloy wheels with your own hands, you need to prepare the following materials and tools:
- Automotive powder paint;
- Primer;
- Sandpaper of small grain size;
- Solvent;
- Putty;
- Rags;
- Respirator;
- Protective glasses;
- Gloves;
- Compressor with spray gun;
- Drill with a grinding wheel;
It is resistant to scratches, chips, salt reagents, temperature changes and physical impact. The average period of use of polymer paints is, subject to the application technology, up to 5 years.
Preparing alloy wheels for painting
It is very important to properly prepare alloy wheels for painting with your own hands. In many ways, this is 90% success and high-quality work.
The procedure is as follows:
- It is necessary to remove car tires from alloy wheels;
- The surface of the discs is most thoroughly cleaned of various kinds of contaminants;
- Alloy wheels must be washed and dried;
- Inspection of places of paint damage on their surface is carried out;
- Using a drill with a grinding wheel, it is necessary to completely remove all paintwork from the alloy wheels;
- The surface of the cleaned disc is degreased;
- Deep damage must be puttied and cleaned with sandpaper;
- Once prepared, the disc is hung indoors to allow access from all sides.
After carrying out the preparatory work, you can start applying paint to the surface of the cast disk.
The procedure is as follows:
- The surface of the disc is primed. For high-quality priming, it is necessary to apply two or three layers of primer. Each layer must be completely dry. Use a hair dryer to speed up the process.
- Using an airbrush, it is necessary to evenly apply polymer paint to the surface of the cast disk. The optimal distance for applying paint from a cast disc is 20-30 centimeters. As practice shows, it is enough to apply two layers of coloring matter. Each layer must be dried in the most thorough way.
- After the paint has dried, you can apply varnish to enhance the protective effect. For greater reliability, it is necessary to apply varnish in two layers.
It must be remembered that it is possible to use alloy wheels after painting only after two or three days. This period is sufficient to strengthen the paint and varnish on the surface of the disc.
If an airbrush is not available, spray paint can be used to paint the surface of a cast disc. On average, one disc takes from 1 to 2 cans of paint, depending on their volume.
Conclusion
If all the preparatory measures were carried out in the right way, the quality of painting alloy wheels will turn out to be very high and durable. The most important thing is not to rush, as the quality of applying the coloring matter to the surface of the wheel element suffers.
Every car owner sooner or later faces the problem of aging car rims - after endless kilometers on domestic roads, they scratch, and if the paint does not peel off, then it definitely loses its original appearance. And it also happens when, after buying a new car, you want something more original and, most importantly, unique, so that no one else has it. Therefore, the question often arises of how and with what to paint cast or stamped wheels on a car yourself, so as not to blunder with the result.
You can, of course, buy new wheels or take the car to the service so that the masters provide first-class service, but all this costs a lot of money. And if you doubt whether the discs are painted on their own, look at the attached photos and see for yourself. In this article, we will analyze the whole process step by step in order to understand how to properly paint alloy and stamped wheels on a car. Moreover, the process will not take you much time or money.
What paint to paint car wheels
First of all, you need to decide on what paint to paint the wheels of the car, and, of course, what color. For this purpose, there are two types of paints: powder and acrylic; Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, which you should pay attention to before choosing.
- Powder paint - stable, wear-resistant, able to last a long time. The coating does not warp or scratch. This is a production paint, since it is on new, freshly made alloy wheels that are covered with it. The negative side is a complex application technology that requires special equipment; the inability to paint part of the disc, for example, a scratched area.
- Acrylic paint gives more room for imagination due to the variety of color palettes. It is easier to apply and distribute it over the disk; moreover, you can open a small piece of the surface. However, such a coating is less resistant to damage, and if you drive carelessly over bumps, pieces of paint can quickly chip off.
When choosing which paint to paint stamped, cast or forged wheel rims, it is better to give preference to powder, as it will last much longer, but if you still want brightness and variety, and you are ready for thorough care of the rims, then try acrylic - then for sure you can make your car the most original.
Preparing to paint wheels on a car
If when deciding how to paint the car wheels yourself, it doesn’t really matter what they are “from birth”, then for the process of preparing for painting this is an essential nuance.
For example, how to properly paint alloy wheels. To begin with, they must be carefully prepared - primed with a special primer designed for non-ferrous metals, otherwise the paint will peel off quickly. Steel and forged wheels do not necessarily require this, but the primer provides a base for the paint, then it lays down and holds better.
The first stage of preparation is the removal of old paint. To do this, use a stiff brush and a special detergent that will help you easily remove layers of old paint from discs. If it remains in small areas that cannot be reached with a brush, use an awl or a thin screwdriver. Remember, in order to properly paint cast or stamped discs yourself, when removing old paint, it is better not to damage the disc.
Next, go over the entire surface with coarse sandpaper - this process will take a little longer, as you need to carefully sand the rim if you want to paint it properly. Gradually move to finer and finer sandpaper until you sand the entire surface. Tip: periodically water the disc with water - then it will be better polished, and the sanded material will be removed without traces.
If the disc is not new, then you will need a finishing putty, which needs to be treated with a surface and putty all the chips, scratches and other defects that appear on the disc. After that, sand again with fine sandpaper, not forgetting to pour water.
- Dry the surface after the last step and degrease it with a solvent.
- Start priming from the inside of the car rim, only then cover the outside.
- Shake the primer bottle periodically while spraying to ensure it applies evenly; keep it about 30 centimeters from the disk.
- Apply two or three layers, letting each dry thoroughly - to speed up the process, use a hair dryer, building or regular cosmetic, available in almost every apartment.
Allow all layers of primer to dry - for this, it is better to start painting the next day.
How to paint car rims? Step-by-step instruction
After all the preparatory measures carried out, you can also paint the car wheels. To do this, you will need the following inventory:
- paint and varnish (we advise you to choose from one manufacturer - they will interact better with each other);
- a piece of cloth or polyethylene on which you will lay the disc;
- protective film and masking tape to cover the wheel;
- sandpaper or abrasive paste;
- polish and silicone grease (optional).
Step 1. Spread a clean cloth or polyethylene on a free area - this will protect the surface from dust. Then cover the tire with a protective film and secure with the prepared masking tape. Try not to get it on the surface of the discs themselves.
Step 2. Carefully read the instructions for the selected paint and apply it following the manufacturer's recommendations. In this case, act as carefully as with a primer - car rims are painted in several layers, allowing each to dry. The exact holding time depends on the paint, as a rule, you need to wait about 10 minutes. Next, apply 2 coats of clear lacquer, following the instructions as well. Layers should be thin, drying time before applying the next - from 3 to 5 minutes.
Step 3. After the process is over, let the disc dry well, and on this, in general, you can finish. But to give a gloss, after about a week, go over the surface with a polish - after that, the car rims will shine like new. And rubber can be updated with silicone grease.
If necessary, you can paint the discs again if the first coloring did not bring the desired result or a certain defect remains. Now you already have the necessary experience, and things will go faster, and the result will be better.
You have to work hard to paint chrome wheels - you can’t just clean off the old coating with either sandpaper or a grinder. We advise you to try sandblasting, it cleans the surface more thoroughly. From above, you can cover with chrome (if, for example, a separate section is damaged and needs restoration) or, according to the above description, paint the disc with paint.
So, you can paint car rims yourself. To do this, you only need special paint, varnish, time and a little skill. Knowing certain subtleties, you can get a result no worse than when contacting professionals in a car repair shop, but at the same time much cheaper. Look at the photos, videos that clearly demonstrate the process, and proceed.