The Spray Painting Thread

[Andrew162]

Ok I've had a look through 66 pages of thread via the search, not much in the way of wheels or rims to be spoken yet. To be clear I'm a bit of a n00b with paint and a bit of a pressure-pack pirate. I don't have a semi-pro setup like some of you do, nor do my jobs encompass anywhere near the detail of some of these projects. I bought a set of wheels for my ride a while back and decided to go black on the spokes after removing the original silver. Three out of these four wheels have turned up a treat after the novice-like attempts I gave them (beginner's luck I say), but the fourth has become a pain in the ass. The black started bubbling in various spots of the wheel after I gave it just two coats. I attribute this to poor weather or some other factor, because the other three had no problem with paint application. The most common area for the bubbling, obviously, is the area that's hardest to get to with human fingers - in between the spokes and the rim. I've tried sandpaper with various pointy implements to remove the problem areas and smooth them out for respraying, all with no success. Do I palm this one off to an apprentice for a 6-pack or something? Or is there a way to try which I haven't thought of yet?

Also I have another problem with a touch of overspray on the polished lip of one of these rims. No matter how well I masked the wheel up, some paint always wants to get in. So I don't damage the finish, what's the best method to remove this overspray? Just hit it with some thinners or is there a better way?

Thanks in advance.

["Z" UTE]

Extreme cleanliness is the key with wheels. Imagine the crap they are exposed to. My procedure is degrease, wash with hot soapy water, do any rub back, and wash with hot soapy water again. You must also clean the inside of the rim, as air pressure from your spray equipment will blow brake dust and worst of all brake fluid back out onto your newly prepped surface. Use lineing tape, and back it up with quality masking tape, the stuff from Suacrap, and Bunnings is nowhere near good enough. You will have to polish off the overspray that you have already got.

cheers Chuck.

[turbocaldina]

depends on what you mean by bubbles? or would they be craters in the paint? if its a bit hard to get into some places you could always use a scotch brite instead. you can use tthinners to get the overspray off the polished rim then when all finished just go over them with a it of autosol.

[Andrew162]

Thanks for the replies.

Chuck, first I don't have any 'spray equipment' to deal with, only aerosol cans/pressure packs. Second I did clean all the wheel surface very well, but the inside didn't need a great big clean because the rims had hardly been used. Maybe 300km travelled total before the previous owner sold them to me, so my job was made a bit easier there. I know it's dodgy, but painting isn't my bag and I guess I got lucky on the other 3 wheels. Before I started I had the wheels so damn clean I could eat off them. So polish to remove overspray.... not thinners....?

turbocaldina, the 'bubbles' I had I'm guessing were caused by a slightly ill-prepped surface in some areas of the wheel. They aren't craters per se, but areas of the paint that look like they've raised off the surface because they hadn't taken to the wheel surface properly. I have tried scotchbrite pads to get in the gaps but I can't get enough pressure to properly rub back and remove the fouled painted areas because the gap is too narrow. I can get my little finger in there but that's all. I'd go harder on these rims if I could to get the newly-painted areas back down to the surface but that's proving a bit of a challenge. I'm thinking someone with sandblasting equipment could make the job a whole lot easier, unless there's a better way to get in the areas between the spoke and the lip.

Here's an example of what I'm dealing with...

This is after the first coat on the first wheel, so the masking and spraying got better... but the gap between the spoke and the lip doesn't change. Now you can see what it's like to get into that gap.

[takai]

Just hit it with lots of light coats to get the coverage, and then one thicker.

Also, whats the vote on doing a 600grit scuff up before the top coat on the race car?

[o_man_ra23]

Amazing... saw my first 2-k paint job yesterday. About 6 years ago my wife bought her mum's Hyundai Excel, and to sell the old Ford Laser, I put a coat of Pro-Tec fast drying 2k in the red of a '92 Laser (hers was an '87). It is fairly obvious that she has copped some neglect over the last 6 years, as the body was straight and scratch free when we sold it, but even with all that neglect, the paint still shines nicely, no crows feet, no fading, no peeling. About $200 worth of paint and some highly secondhand borrowed equipment used in a relatively open and dusty shed, and it's lasted this well. I couldn't be more chuffed with myself on that one Also amazing that the ol' Laser has followed us from Townsville where we sold her to Mackay where we are now... but that's a bit OT.

[Andrew162]

Just hit it with lots of light coats to get the coverage, and then one thicker.

Yeh Chris, I think I went too thick too fast on that one wheel, got a bit cocky.

[takai]

Also amazing that the ol' Laser has followed us from Townsville where we sold her to Mackay where we are now... but that's a bit OT.

Lost puppy?

[o_man_ra23]

Could be... wants the love and attention it previously got...

[takai]

Well i just popped down the topcoat on the race car. Pretty decent, few runs here and there as i was trying to get it down wetter for a nice gloss off the gun.

[Andrew162]

Well I got my troublesome wheel attended to by a sandblaster who was most over-cautious with the lip of the wheel, which I saw as being a good thing, but the masking tape looks like a fluffy quilt on the edge of my wheel. Anyway it blasted up ok, I gave it a smooth back with some 240g fine, brought the surface back to smooth and hit it with some primer and 2 coats of black. Came up a lot better this time, but unfortunately the fine conditions with low humidity didn't last long enough. So now I have to wait a bit longer to give it the coats of clear it needs.

[o_man_ra23]

La Nina sucks the ballzorz when you want to paint an RA28

[hamgatan]

so ive started work on my JZX90 finally after a couple of years..

ive just done the boot which has gone okay. its not speccy, but for my first semi-properly done panel im happy with it.

ive just blasted on the clear without any solvent pop (YAY!), but now i have zebra lines from where the clear has overlapped. at this point ive stopped..

whats the best way to get rid of these? wait a couple of days then sand it back with 1500 then go again? or blast it with very wet clear?

["Z" UTE]

How many coats of clear have you laid on? 2-3 is good, anymore and the orange peel really sets in.
The zebra stripes are an indication of uneven coverage. when laying on colour or clear, you should overlap each pass by 50%. tjis is because the centre of your spray pattern will always be heavier than the extremeties, it is just how the fluid flows from the gun. If you have 2-3 coats, give it a sand with 800 wet, and go again with another coat, followed by a coat of ultra thin clear 10-20% clear and the rest thinners, this will allow the clear to flow out, and give a much glossier finish.

If you have more than 3 coats on, you could try "colour sanding" with 2000 wet, to reduce the surface to an even film.

cheers Chuck.

[hamgatan]

theres about 4 very thin coats done at 1:2 ratio and then a more solid coat done at 1:1.5...still hit it with 800? and wait how long? 2 days before i do that?