I did a similar project last spring, but wasn’t very happy with the results. Instead of giving the lips a brushed look like i did last year, i decided to polish them. Also last year, i painted the rims the color i wanted… this time i sucked it up and powdercoated them a color i bit darker then i originally wanted to. My main reason was for more contrast between the centers and the lips.
Anyway, without getting too much into detail.
1.) Sandblasting took about 6 hrs.
2.) Sanding/Buffing took about 4 hrs.
3.) Polishing took about 10 hrs.
4.) Masking took about 2 hrs.
5.) All powdercoating took about 4 hrs.
Here are pics of all of the steps:
Wheel polishing. I used a drill, the air grinder was freezing my hand.
after lots of polishing:
starting masking off the polished lip to protect it from powdercoating.
I thought this was a cool idea. I went to the local BMW dealership and took all of the used wheelweights they had thrown away at the time. Removed the two sided tape from the backside and sandblasted them. This way I could powdercoat them to match my wheels, and they won’t stick out.
Here the lip is completely masked and hung, awaiting the powder.
Freshly applied “Gunmetal” powder:
Started to melt the powder and took them out of the oven to remove the masking. By doing this, i remove the masking while the powder is soft (like tacky paint). If i removed this when the powder was fully cured, it would peel the powdercoat and i wouldn’t get a nice clean edge.
Outermost masking removed:
and the inner masking removed…fully exposing my polished lips:
Still not done, i want to protect the aluminum from any kind of corrosion and from road debris… so i clearcoat the entire rim. I goes on white, but will cure absolutely clear.
Spraying the clear:
and fresh out of the oven in their completed stage:
for pimp factor, matching wheel weights:
VOILA!
