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Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

Reading time 7 Min.

Recently updated on August 30, 2022 at 09:43 am

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

Old rims get a new shine: Old rims do not need to be replaced if they have a few quirks. They can be repainted if necessary. Here you can find out how expensive a paint job is and what alternatives are available. Rims add value to a vehicle. If you already from steel wheels to chic aluminum rims have changed, you know that a rim can completely change the look of a car. Despite good care, road dirt, brake dust, road salt or flying stones can damage steel or aluminum rims in everyday life. So what if the rims no longer look nice? You can buy a new set, which is usually more expensive, or simply repaint the rims yourself. For painting in a specialist workshop, you must have Costs between 75 and 150 euros be expected. Additionally arise Costs by mounting the tires and balancing the wheels. If the rims are painted yourself, costs can be kept low. If you can live with a little color difference, the cost will be between 50 and 100 Euro.

So rims are painted themselves

If steel or aluminum rims are painted yourself, two things are important: Patience and plenty of time. Even if the painting of the rims is not as complex as with other body parts, they will different Sanding, cleaning and painting processes needed. It is important that the rims are thoroughly cleaned beforehand gereinigt become. They must be free of grease, dust and clean before you start painting. For coarse soiling, a wheel cleaner be used. It also dissolves brake dust very effectively. And clean those too inside the rims. Stubborn dirt can be removed with a cleaning clay remove.

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

At a Steel rim Care should be taken that the Rust is removed. Otherwise, the joy of the new paintwork is quickly lost. After a while, the rust will come through again. In order to be able to paint the rims more easily, they must be freed from the tire. Otherwise the tire should at least covered or masked become. For this you can Cards between the tire and the rim be clamped. This prevents the solvents in the paint from attacking the tires. Everything that should not be painted has to be masked off. That also applies the inside of the rim.

special colored lacquers and primers

To avoid frayed edges, the edges of the masking tape should be masked with insulating tape. A rims tree has the advantage that the inside of the rim can also be painted. When buying the paint, make sure that it is suitable for the material of the rim. Stand for aluminum wheels special colored lacquers and primers to disposal. The surrounding area should also be well covered, as the spray mist cannot be removed easily. Make sure you wear the right clothing. It's best to wear one protective suit and forget about that Respirator Not. Varnishes and primers are namely unhealthy.

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

Equipment needed:

  1. Sandpaper with different grain sizes
  2. wood protection primer
  3. Silicone remover
  4. Rim paint (colored)
  5. clearcoat

This is how the rims are painted:

  • Step 1
    Sand off minor damage and scratches with 200 or 240 grit sandpaper.
  • Step 2
    The complete rim with a 400 or 600 (800 is also possible) sandpaper saturated roughen. Sand each spot and work carefully so that the paint stays in place.
  • 3. Step:
    Dry the rim and with a Silicone remover clean. Then dry with a soft cloth.
  • Step 4
    Primer in more horizontal Spray Direction. Walk slowly around the rim. This will cleanly apply the primer.
  • Step 5
    Let the primer dry in peace and then sand, dry and clean again.
  • Step 6
    Rim paint like the primer evenly Instruct. First apply a thin layer, let it dry, and then apply another two or three layers. Attention: Less is more- If too much paint is sprayed on, noses will form. If the paint mist is directed towards the rim, do not stop spraying. Otherwise there will be unsightly splotches of color.
  • Step 7
    As soon as the paint has dried, the rim is washed off with a soft cloth. Then the clear coat is applied. Any orange peel can be removed wet with a 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper. After that the rim should polished become. If you can see the top coat while polishing, you have to start again with the first step.

Tips for painting rims

If a rim is deeply damaged or scratched, the paintwork should a professional make. Only certified specialist companies can make rims professionally repair. But here too there are limits. If the scratch is more than two millimeters deep, the rims can no longer be repaired. This rim is then no longer roadworthy. More information can be found in our article "Repair alloy rims yourself - we'll show you how it's done!".

Anyone on a professional paint job want to do without and at the same time you want to save money, you can do some preliminary work yourself. By dismantling yourself or sanding off the old paint, the price for the work of the specialist company can often by half be reduced.

What alternatives are there to classic painting?

The rims can also be used as an alternative self-foiled become. Spray film is very suitable for this. It has to be applied like a colored lacquer. This gives you the advantage that it can be removed again if necessary. How exactly that with the Sprühfolierung works, that can be seen in our article "mibenco spray film experience report / test report“Read.

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

The powder coating has established itself in professional rim repairs as an alternative to wet painting in recent years. The rims must first be freed from rust, dirt and old paint residues. After that, a sandblasting carried out and the rims are sprayed with a powder paint. As soon as the lacquer has been applied, they are placed in an oven at around 180 to 200 ° C.

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

Due to the high temperature, the powder coating melts and combines to form a solid coating. This makes the paint much more scratch-resistant than a classic paint job. But it can also happen that a slight skin of the organs forms. For the professional painting, costs similar to those of a classic painting must be expected. There is more about powder coating in our article "Particularly robust - what is a powder coating?"As well as the contribution"Color in the wheel arch - the candy glaze finishing".

Paint chrome rims

Chrome rims are alloy rims that come with a Chrome layer were coated. If these rims are scratched, the appearance can Do NOT spread pesto on this layer! can be restored with polishing or grinding operations. There are some chrome paints on the market that do one similar optics like a real chrome plating. However, they do not last long and are only similar at first glance.

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

Chrome rims should discord can only be painted by a professional. The use of an acid is often necessary to roughen the smooth chrome layer. This work can just a professional take. And even in this case it is not 100% guaranteed that the result will be impressive. Rims only look like new when they are completely re-chrome-plated. But this is one Electroplatingwhich causes high costs. Per rim must with a cost of around the 300 Euros be expected. A "Surface like chrome “(SLC) coating. It is applied like a powder coating and costs between 150 and 250 Euro.

However, it must be accepted that the gloss is not as intense as with real chrome plating. Also one High gloss compression is possible. Here, the rims are shaken with grinding tools in a machine for 24 to 48 hours in order to remove small bumps. That makes the surface shine. The disadvantage is that the surface change means that a new and very expensive one TÜV approval (TÜV certificate) necessary is.

Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

Of course, that wasn't the end of it!

tuningblog has countless other articles on the subject of car and auto tuning in stock. Do you want to see them all? Just click HERE and look around. In part, we would like to provide you with news but also off the tuning. In our category Tips, products, information & Co We have reviews of car or accessories manufacturers, new ones Tuning Wiki Terms or one or the other Leak veröffentlicht. Following an excerpt of the last articles:

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Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

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Painting the rims of the vehicle: tips & instructions!

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About Thomas Wachsmuth

Thomas Wachsmuth - He has been an integral part of tuningblog.eu since 2013. His passion for cars is so intense that he invests every available penny in them. While he dreams of a BMW E31 850CSI and a Hennessey 6x6 Ford F-150, he currently drives a rather inconspicuous BMW 540i (G31/LCI). His collection of books, magazines and brochures on the subject of car tuning has now reached such proportions that he himself has become a walking reference work for the tuning scene.  More about Thomas

2 comments

  1. I really want to paint the rims of my car. Really fitting to read here that you should remove the old paint with sandpaper. Maybe a specialist company can give me more tips or help.

  2. I need to paint some rims on my company vehicles. Important to know that you should sand down the old paintwork so that the new one can adhere better. I will contact an industrial paint company for this.

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