can my chrome f150 rims be painted black chrome?

[t-maxxracer32]

hey guys im in the process of buying some new tires and i may want some new rims. problem is.. that rims cost aLOT!! right now im runnin rims like this

http://members.cox.net/kelsprky/at2.jpg

nothing special but they are OK. they are 16s and dont look terrible but im going for a black/red theme for my truck and so i think a new set of black rims would be pretty sick. if i bought new rims i would be spending another 1000 and so i figured maybe i would just get my rims painted chrome black.

is this possible? i want it to be a clean job and look nice.

what type of places do this sort of work? ive looked on youtube and have seen ways to pain it yourself for like 50 bucks but it just seems like this would be cheap and ugly... am i wrong?

i know my thoughts are all scattered so this is what im asking..

can i/someone paint my rims to be chrome black? if so who can do it? body shop? paint shop? special custom shop?


if anyone knows about stuff like this then id appreciate the help.

thanks!

[lincpimp]

I have painted quite a few rims over the last 15 or so years at the body shop. Generally I have painted import wheels, or steel wheels, but what you suggest will not be that difficult.

Taking the tires off will be a great help. You will then wantr to sand/scuff the wheels. I find that a red scotchbrite pad with some powdered ajax/comet cleaner w/bleach to clean the wheels, use water while doing this to make a paste with the comet. Do that until you would be happy to serve the pope dinner on them. (that means get em really clean, you may not like the pope so that may have been a bad example).

After they are clean, inspect them for any deeper scratches. Now is the time to sand any of those inperfections out with some wet sand paper, something like 320-400grit will do.

As for paint, an epoxy primer with some sort of self etching (direct to metal) feature is good. You can prime them, and after they dry wet sand again with 500-600 grit paper to smooth any texture out. I mix the primer as a sealer (basically more watery primer, so that is dries quicker and smoother) and spray the top coat on wet on wet over the sealer. Priming and sanding will provide a better final finsh than sealer, but it adds time and complexity.

Top coat will depend on your budget and paint equipment. I have had great success with spray can gloss black (I am a professional painter though, and have alot of experinece if f-ing stuff up). I would suggest a single stage automotive grade black paint. This will have a seperate hardener and possible reducer (thinner) that will have to be mixed by you in a certain ratio and applied with a decent spray gun. This is where a spary booth and good equipment will pay off, with a smooth glossy surface with the minimum of trash (foreigh objects, like bugs or Neil) in the paint.

Best suggestion I can give is to find a body shop that will work with you, pay them cash for the best deal, and let them do the spraying. If you have a halfway decent gun and a small compressor you may be able to prime them and sand them smooth, thus giving the body shop the final painting to do. Best way I can see to save some money.

Remember that prep is 9/10ths of the job. Etching primer is a must to go over chrome, and epoxy will hold up better than urethane build primer.

Have fun, painting is a blast and can really set you ride apart from the rest!

[t-maxxracer32]

ive wanted to buy an airbrush for a while and maybe this will be a good time to. will an airbrush work? or is there an adaptor that i would be able to buy for a bigger project like this?

i know typical airbrush guns that are used for RC are small and have a thin line of paint but i would think that theres a tip so that it sprays a fat line of paint.

im sure most of the body shops around here would charge a couple hundred bucks to do this job so i figure if i spend a couple hundred on a decent airbrush setup it will be better. i love DIY projects and this would be something fun i think.

lemme know of an airbrush that would be good for this job AND allow me to airbrush small things (right now i am customizing xboix 360 controllers so an custom airbrush paintjob would be an awsome addition to all the mods i do)

thanks jameS!

[lincpimp]

You really need a decnt spray gun, some sort of gravity feed item. I would buy a 50 dollar or so unit from harbor freight. Get one with a 1.4 tip, it will spray most paints well. I guess you have a compressor...

And airbrush will not work for something this size, only for detail work. Auto paint is reasonably thick and would not flow thru a needle that small. Imagine painting the titanic with a std house roller....

[t-maxxracer32]

oh ok. so for 50 bucks i could get a decent spray gun? im sure i could find ways to use it other than this one project.

and yes i have a compressor. its used for tires and stuff though so when i get my airbrush ill probably get a smaller one.

now that i think about it... for spraying my wheels i would probably want to use a big compressor?

if you could possibly link me to the things i need. paint spray gun etc?

or just tell me in details

thanks man!

[lincpimp]

Look at this, for 16 bucks you can throw it away when you are done. My suggestion will be to get a gallon of lacquer thinner and rinse the gun throughly between uses... It may last years that way!

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91009

You will need a decent sized compressor, but most will do. As for the paint, your local auto supply will most likely carry paint, or you may have an auto body supply place. Call around.

[Arct1k]

I;d take a road trip to LA and bring a case or two...

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Arct1k

I;d take a road trip to LA and bring a case or two...

Yeah, that could be arranged too...

[E-Revonut]

Not sure what kind of black rims your looking at that are a $1000 but I have an '04 F-150 and I bought 17" rims, new lugnuts, socket for lugnuts, and had my 33x12.50 Mud tires mounted on them for $675. Eagle Alloy rims.

[t-maxxracer32]

those are like the ones i have but my rims have smaller holes than those.

when i bought them originally i thought they were the ones like yours (cept chrome)

pictures are deceiving

so james that spray gun will do the job even though its 16 bucks? doesnt seem right!!

and my compressor will work just fine for that.

[squeeforever]

James is right. I have probably 5 of those guns as well as the matching touchup gun and they work flawlessly and last forever. They work spray than the $400 DeVilbiss I have...

Also, black is one thing, but black chrome is another. You can't paint black chrome. You would have to have them done at a local chrome shop, and thats $500 or more easy. I'd just get a nice set like E-Revonut said. You can get them rather cheap.