what paint to use on old school mags?

[Ben Wilson]

If you get them powdercoated, make sure you mask the wheel nut holes. If the're shank type they probably won't fit, if the're taper the powder coat can flake off and the wheel will come lose.

[fester]

Jamie, can't remember the original manufacturer of Hotwires but both Cheviot and Performance did a set that looked very similar, just can't remember who was first.

If they are 'real' hotwires they will have flat faced spokes that have been machined like the rim lip so they are polished. They will also have a lip around the centre that seperates the spokes from the hub of the wheel if you understand what I mean.

There have been some others like Deltas that people might call hotwires but they aren't. They have cast spokes that have a rounded front edge and are painted so only the rim lip is polished/machined. They also don't have the seperating lip in the centre so the spokes just protrude into the centre hub section and stop near the bolt holes.

If they are the real thing and you have the patience get an orbital sander with fine paper and sand the face of the spokes smooth and clean again and then polish. You can get masking tape close enough to the spoke width and mask then all up and paint the rest of the wheel. They look really good with polished spokes and rim especially when painted a dark colour. I'd go for the gun metal or dark charcoal if it were me.

When you paint them go very lightly with many coats and do them from both sides to get proper coverage of the spokes. You will struggle to get good coverage from one side only without runs. Also on each side run the paint direction both clockwise and anticlockwise at about 45 degrees to the wheel , this will also help get good coverage in the small gaps within the spokes. Wheels also look much better if you paint the inside of the rim (by inside I mean opposite to face not where tyre sits) as well instead of having some crappy dirty alloy. The etch priming also helps stop the raw alloy from oxidising further which old alloys tend to do.

Gavin