Well I have been rocking the steelies for over a year now, and I managed to pickup a used set of Z Wheels that had been painted several times and in kinda rough shape. There were runs in them and dirt, chips, I just wanted to take them down and get everything evened out and consistent looking.
Starting out I decided to try and strip them with a portable sand blaster, this proved futile, I really needed a blast cabinet, wasted a lot of sand and my compressor could not really keep up with it either.
Then I got a hold of some aircraft stripper, this stuff rocks, and it causes cancer and neurological diseases too! I did about 10 coats of the stripper, scrapping and blasting with high pressure power washer in between treatments. eventually I got everything down to bare metal.
Funny thing is after all this work I realized it would have been easier to just sandblast down to the GM paint rather than take it to bare metal for the reason that GM uses some sort of ceramic primer on their rims that is extremely tough, on top of that there is like 3 layers of color and 20 million layers of clear, so every time I put the stripper on it seemed to just be getting worst. eventually I got through to that beautiful milled aluminum underneath. I tried to clean up any remaining GM primer with a rotary wire brush.
After I got them all prepped for primer, I went to the autobody store and got etching primer to do several coats before the color. Hopefully this will help this job hold up for a while. The etching primer is also flat black so it will minimize any unsightly rock chips I get.
Once I had several coats of etching primer on, I took them to the tire shop and got them center balanced and tires mounted, I wanted to make sure I had the lip primered all the way around, and was alway worried if I painted it before I took it into the shop it would get scratched.
Once back from mounting my girlfriend and I got all the rubber masked off, and put down several layers of Duplicolor Flat Black enamel. I also painted the center caps flat black, and painted the inside of the chevron gloss black to match the wheel lugs.
Hopefully Ill have some pics of them on the car this weekend after I get my alignment.
Thanks for lookin,
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Mitsu TD06-20g |3" Downpipe w/ Cutout | 61mm Bored TB |
HP Tuners | Innovate WB02 | Spec Stage 3 | TurboTech Upper | Full Addco Sways | Sportlines & Yellows |
I'm going to be doing the same thing, but I'm just going to give it to a local company to powercoat them gloss black for about $200. I just don't want to worry about chipping or anything. I'm going to balance them clip tape so I can no weights on the outside. I'm picking up another set for my winter tires and leave those silver. i really like them, but I think gloss black would of looked better.
this thed is worthless without pics!
TRD Cav Fire wrote:I'm going to be doing the same thing, but I'm just going to give it to a local company to powercoat them gloss black for about $200. I just don't want to worry about chipping or anything. I'm going to balance them clip tape so I can no weights on the outside. I'm picking up another set for my winter tires and leave those silver. i really like them, but I think gloss black would of looked better.
In retrospect I should have just had my powder coater do them since he has the proper sandblasting equipment, would have costed a little more but worth it. Now I know whats involved to do it. I chose flat black because if they do get chipped it will be an easy touch up, I also thought about polishing the outer lip but thats just a lot of extra work I don't have time for, would be interesting though.
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Mitsu TD06-20g |3" Downpipe w/ Cutout | 61mm Bored TB |
HP Tuners | Innovate WB02 | Spec Stage 3 | TurboTech Upper | Full Addco Sways | Sportlines & Yellows |
Freak04 wrote:this thed is worthless without pics!
Time for you to upgrade to highspeed.
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Mitsu TD06-20g |3" Downpipe w/ Cutout | 61mm Bored TB |
HP Tuners | Innovate WB02 | Spec Stage 3 | TurboTech Upper | Full Addco Sways | Sportlines & Yellows |
thats are nicely done man
gotta love that aircraft stripper
RIP JESSE GERARD.....Youll always be in my thoughts and prayers...
I'm going to do that to my z rim this coming spring, I hope they turn out that good.
that looks pretty good. i think that colored bowties on the centercaps would look great. keep it up
geez, your sexy.... oh wait I mean the wheels are sexy.
Proud member of Jbody of Kentucky ... Click on sig to go!
BlackEco wrote:
Once back from mounting my girlfriend and I got all the rubber masked off,
WTF did u mean to say that?
that's hot now. def need to do that to my black rims.
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my carDomain updated 9/2/07 I've got premium. Yes I do. I've got premium. How 'bout you?
uh oh murdered out lol. looks good now just get some tire shine on there.
2009 Ford Mustang V6
You did a damn good job. They look like you bought them like that. Also, Is that dirt or is your paint in need of attention on the bumper?
That bumper is trash, it's what I get for taking a job downtown for a year. GM Extreme kit is on its way, the whole car will get straightened out and repainted hopefully this winter.
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Mitsu TD06-20g |3" Downpipe w/ Cutout | 61mm Bored TB |
HP Tuners | Innovate WB02 | Spec Stage 3 | TurboTech Upper | Full Addco Sways | Sportlines & Yellows |
Definately need tire shine bro. Where in Ohio are you? I just moved to Dayton and work at WPAFB.
I want to do my 16" Z24 5-spokes in gloss black but my wife says no. One is scuffed so I could fill it and spray them and I think they'd look good on my car. It's red w/ limo tint.
Scott
2002 Audi S4, black
1996 Z24 auto, red
