AJ2.5GT Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 A couple questions I have before I paint my snowflakes tomorrow.... 1) Should I use aircraft remover or sand them down? It seems to me that sanding them down may take a lot longer due to the amount of spokes on these wheels 2) If I use the aircraft remover, should I use acetone after to remove any left over residue left from the remover? The acetone will also remove any moisture from the wheels. 3) I know people have painted these, so what have you done? 4) another painting question...just not wheels... thinking about Plastidipping my car white with a gloss coat because the previous owner thought it was a good idea to use 2 different colors of touch up paint. Anyone have any experience with plastidipping a car? Any input is appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcedinductiongt Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Plastidip can look great....if you don't rattlecan it...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 definitely not going to rattle can it lol I want to do it the right way so it will look nice. Any opinion on the paint removers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcedinductiongt Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Aircraft> acetone>water hose> light sanding>water hose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcedinductiongt Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I mean really light with 800ish grit sandpaper...just to scuff it up a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 why wouldn't you use acetone after everything? it takes the moisture and any left over residue off...just wondering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcedinductiongt Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I mean go for it...this is just the process I use whenever I plastidip metal and it works just fine. It just sketches me out because some people use acetone to REMOVE plasti-dip lol maybe it's just my ocd... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camroncamera Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Is the original finish on your snowflakes in particularly bad shape? I'm no expert but I would think that paint stripper on the original finish might *not* be necessary unless you have bad chipping, flaking or peeling. Clean them up really well and see what you have. The picture in my head of the snowflakes surface up close is slightly textured. As suggested, you should probably scuff up the surface before fresh paint, but you may wish to consider doing that with some Automotive Scotch-Brite scouring pads instead of flat sandpaper. It would probably do a better job of scuffing the low spots along with the high spots on the original textured finish. I kinda see sandpaper just "scratching the surface" (pardon the pun). That is, it may sand down the high spots on the texture, but the low spots may remain unscuffed and the new paint might not adhere as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forcedinductiongt Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 +1 for scotch brite or steal wool, definitely easier to use on snowflake rims Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zues Marine Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 +2, those scotch bright pads work great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 The finish is in pretty bad shape. Little bit of everything you mentioned Camron. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 Thanks for the input guys!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camroncamera Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Make sure to post pictures of your progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyposeur Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 A light scuff with sandpaper or scotch brite is the way to go. That's what I have done. I cleaned them off with soap and water and then a auto paint degreaser. Then I sprayed the wheels with etching primer so the pain adheres to any bare metal. Next a few coats of color, and follow up with a few coats of clear. There is no need to sand between coats unless you have drips. But don't wait hours in between coats. If you are painting the rims with the tires on buy a deck of playing cards and stuff them between the bead and the rim. It's easier than taping the tires. Rattle cans work fine for panting rims if you have experience painting. I got some high quality paint made up at my local body shop. Two cans of color and one can of clear did it for me. They still look great and it's been over a year since I did mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 So today I decided to tackle the painting job. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish them due to a few problems I ran into. Going into the project, I assumed that the wheels were just regular paint and I could use the aircraft remover to remove it down to bare metal. Well, I learned the hard way after the first "coat" of the remover. Took off some sort of a clear coat, and what do ya know, there was powder coat underneath that. The only thing I had on hand was acetone to try to remove that, and that worked to an extent. I was able to remove most of the powder coat but after I found out, I wasn't going to go all out like I wanted to. So I used a high 200's sand paper to remove the crappy spots of powder coat, then finally sanded them down with a 600 grit sandpaper. Even though they aren't down to bare metal, they are sanded down and ready to be painted tomorrow. I must say, it was quite the process sanding the snowflakes. Definitely not something that I would look forward to doing again! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyposeur Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 That's why a light scuff is all that you needed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 Finally all done with the wheels and they came out amazing. Some very little spots the are off but hardly noticeable. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/mazyraby.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/bu2utyga.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/ty3e7yha.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/e2egejyj.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/6asete2a.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/e2u9yzar.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/naza2y3a.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenva Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Good job except for 1 thing, You spent all that time and effort and painted over the wheel weights. Please tell me I'm wrong and you did remove them first, painted them gold to match the wheels, and cunningly re-installed them in the same locations. GodIhopeImwrong RIP 96 Legacy 2.2 4EAT lost reverse @ 374,000 miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ2.5GT Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 Good job except for 1 thing, You spent all that time and effort and painted over the wheel weights. Please tell me I'm wrong and you did remove them first, painted them gold to match the wheels, and cunningly re-installed them in the same locations. GodIhopeImwrong Unfortunately I didn't take the wheel weights off when I get them balanced in the future, I will sand and paint that spot. Hopefully that won't be too hard...? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solo413 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Thanks for this post aj2.5gt!!! I am about to do a set of rims as well but want to paint with spray gun instead of spray paint so I can mix paint myself and want to add flakes to the color Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solo413 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Finally all done with the wheels and they came out amazing. Some very little spots the are off but hardly noticeable. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/mazyraby.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/bu2utyga.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/ty3e7yha.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/e2egejyj.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/6asete2a.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/e2u9yzar.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/26/naza2y3a.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Looks great bro!! Good job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenva Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 My 2¢, I'd change the mudflaps. RIP 96 Legacy 2.2 4EAT lost reverse @ 374,000 miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 "are you saying that I am loud!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenva Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 "are you saying that I am loud!!" Caps-lock would've been a nice touch... Oh well, Next time RIP 96 Legacy 2.2 4EAT lost reverse @ 374,000 miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleaidestar Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 "ESTAS DICIENDO YO QUE SOY FUERTE" better Steven? I can say it in German too it would sound mean in that language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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