Painting Wire Wheels?

Hey Guys,

My Buffalo wire wheels are chipping and I would like to have them painted. Two of them appear to be chromed under the paint. What is the best way to prepare these wheels for paint? Would some type of media blasting be a good way?

ricosan

Do not blast them. Remove ALL the paint with paint stripper, then LIGHTLY dust them with sand, then send them to a chrome shop to have the plating removed. It ran me 100 per wheel 6 months ago. If you do not remove the chrome they will rust. I powder coated my wheels on my 32 Pierce coupe. It's a driver and while I was not a fan of powder coating, I am now. The wire wheels came out PERFECT, and it was MUCH less expensive than prime / paint would run. And it's a better finish for chips. If you need to fill pits you need to use LAB METAL for filler. I will try and post a photo later today.

I would suggest the powder coating as well.

What kind of car?Some wires were chromed.Big bucks.edinmass is spot on as far as powdercoat.We restore are vacuum tanks with powdercoat,even the new gas will not touch it.

Thanks guys,

1932 Marmon

Sounds like a huge job and a pita (paint remover & elbow grease). What is about media blasting that makes it a bad choice? I have 6 wheels to do. Four of my wheels are steel spokes and two are chrome (with paint on them). I had planned to powder coat after removing the old paint.

Do any of you have pictures of your painted wheels?

ricosan

Before and after. Color and white walls change the entire look of the car. This car had chrome wires from the factory. The body color and fenders are stock, it would have been quite flashy when new. I made the beauty rings as they were missing and no longer available. They are stainless.

Ed

Stunning! You are right about the white sidewalls as they transform the car. Great lines as well as good proportion. The stainless beauty rings set the wheels off nicely too.

I was actually looking for a Pierce Arrow or Packard coupe when I came across this Marmon Roadster. I'm not a big roadster fan but this one really grabbed me the instant I saw it.

Ed, I've been puzzling ever since your first post when you said to use chemical paint stripper to remove the paint. I'm trying to wrap my head around this but I'm having trouble. I see myself bending (ouch) over six wheels for hours and hours breathing noxious fumes and working my old arthritic fingers to the bone. I like the idea of having them media blasted since this would not only remove paint quickly but rust as well and I could then immediately transport them to the powder coater. What is the down side to blasting?

ricosan

The powder coaters around here will blast and coat.

Just to inform....

I had a fairly crappy experience with the powder coated wire wheels on my '31 DH. The previous owner had powder coated the wheels. I kept on getting flat tires and could not for the life of me figure out why. No nails in the tires or anything that would puncture the tube. One day, while fixing another flat, I happened to remove the rubber band around the rim. THERE was the culprit!! When the previous owner of the car hung the wheels with a wire hanger (or whatever they use to hang the wheel from) to coat them, the coating bonded the wire hanger to the inside of the rim where the spokes came though. When the wire was removed, it left a very sharp, jagged edge of powder coating in that whole area. I had to remove each tire and rubber band and file those jagged edges down on each rim. Much better now. The main problem I have to cope with is rust seeping out around some of the spokes., but my car is an everyday driver (when roadworthy) and I drive it rain or shine. Water gets in and the spokes rub and you get rust dust. The powder coating on the areas of the wheels that don't touch the spokes is very durable.

Jack M was correct in his suggestion, A competent powder coater will have what it takes to properly prep your wheels and powder coat them. If he doesn't try another vendor.

I have just done a couple of powder coated wheels with paint stripper. It took a number of hours! I used an old kitchen table knife as the scraper and washed with "water blaster" (really only a power wash at about 1200 psi max). It took 2 attempts over some parts. I got it pretty clean then the powder coater had them sand blasted before coating. I put a zinc powder on first - hopefully it will passivate the rust around the spoke ends. The blasting cost about 50% more for the third wheel last week - I couldn't be bothered with paint stripper this time.

I don't have Arthur Ritis in my hands, but I do have mild carpel tunnel syndrome. It played merry hell with it. I had to change my grip and hand frequently to alleviate tingling in finger tips.

A couple of years ago I had one dip stripped. That was easy! That wheel was and still is to be disassembled - the spokes are loose. Damned difficult to get the spokes undone. Anybody know of a source for high strength spoke spanners? My internet searches found hundreds for m/cycle spokes but nothing big enough for these nipples. The nipples are basically square and a thick spanner would be required for the strength - a wide one would not fit.

I have just done a couple of powder coated wheels with paint stripper. It took a number of hours! I used an old kitchen table knife as the scraper and washed with "water blaster" (really only a power wash at about 1200 psi max). It took 2 attempts over some parts. I got it pretty clean then the powder coater had them sand blasted before coating. I put a zinc powder on first - hopefully it will passivate the rust around the spoke ends. The blasting cost about 50% more for the third wheel last week - I couldn't be bothered with paint stripper this time.

I don't have Arthur Ritis in my hands, but I do have mild carpel tunnel syndrome. It played merry hell with it. I had to change my grip and hand frequently to alleviate tingling in finger tips.

A couple of years ago I had one dip stripped. That was easy! That wheel was and still is to be disassembled - the spokes are loose. Damned difficult to get the spokes undone. Anybody know of a source for high strength spoke spanners? My internet searches found hundreds for m/cycle spokes but nothing big enough for these nipples. The nipples are basically square and a thick spanner would be required for the strength - a wide one would not fit.

Without seeing it it's hard to say but try an 8 point socket, mine are Craftsman, they fit the old Farmall or square nuts. We use Kroil penetrant but a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF is supposed to be a good substitute to loosen things up.

The spanner has to be open end to fit over the spoke or directly onto the nipple. I have tried an injector spanner but not strong enough and is not square anyway. My current attempt was filed from a piece of broken car spring.

I just got onto the ATF+acetone mix. Boy was I a bit squiffy after putting a little down every nipple! One needs good ventilation when using that stuff.

Buchanans sell spoke spanners which may do the job. One way to loosen the nipples if they are rusty is to heat them red with an oxy torch and then squirt them with cold water. This will break the rust seal.

http://www.buchananspokes.net/categories/miscellaneous_tools.asp