Painting Wheels

[DJP]

The previous owner of this bike had stripped and polished the wheel rims and while it looked good when clean it was hardly the most practical finish for a bike that's used year round: A hint of rain, let alone road salt, and the wheels turned into a corroded mess. So I decided to respray the rims. After a bit of research, I went with Simoniz Tough Paint. This claims not to need primer but I wanted a durable finish so I went with an etch primer first.

I started by thoroughly cleaning the wheels while they were still on the bike. Obviously, I didn't want any residual wax on the wheels so instead of car shampoo I cleaned them with washing-up liquid and a small scouring sponge to get rid of any grease and grot.

https://i.ibb.co/4jpVD31/fwstart.jpg

With the wheels dry I keyed the rims with 200 grade paper, followed by a clean with aerosol de-greaser and then a final wipe over with thinners. As I was only painting the rims, I didn't remove the disks and I only needed to mask the tyre sidewalls. I found the best way was to overlap the masking tape onto the rim and then run my thumbnail around the rim to cut off the excess tape. This worked well and I was finally ready to start spraying the primer.

https://i.ibb.co/SNqc7dp/rwprimer.jpg

I used the rig shown so that I could spin the wheels while spraying. The first coat was just a dust coat and then I used two more, thicker coats. I used U-Pol etch primer and I was really impressed with how smoothly it went on – good enough that I didn't need to flat it down, exactly as I'd hoped for.

Once primed, I took the wheels indoors and left them for 24 hours per the instructions. The following day it was time for the colour coats. I did these with a similar technique: A dust coat followed by two progressively heavier coats. And I'm really happy with the result. Time will tell how durable this finish is but for now it's looking good.

https://i.ibb.co/YPKk3dd/fwpainted.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/x8r3bSr/rwpainted1.jpg
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Suzuki Bandit 1250
https://deejayp999.atwebpages.com/index.html
That's http not https

[A100man]

Nice job
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[DJP]

Cheers!
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Suzuki Bandit 1250
https://deejayp999.atwebpages.com/index.html
That's http not https

[Easy-X]

Looks good, easy to maintain... ticks my boxes
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[BenR]

Good call on the etch primer, should always etch aluminium.
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Current bikes: suzuki RG125UN wolf. Yamaha MT-07

[Bloggsy]

Very professional looking job, well done
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If It Aint broke Don't Fix It