Rattle-Can Rims

[cjonesgo]

The official DIY Forum rules seemed a little intimidating so I am posting this here. All the images are from my B6 Avant so I hope it is not a problem here...



So if you want to clean up you rims or are sick of bright silver like me, here is the first installment of my How-To Rattle Can Rims:

Materials:
Spot Filler
500 grit sandpaper
Masking tape
Matte Black Paint for interior (1 can)
New sexy Paint for exterior (2 cans)
Solvent for cleaning (acetone, lacquer thinner...)

Tools:
Sander. Nice, but not required.

Time:
Easily accomplished in a weekend with weather favorable for painting. If you rushed you could likely do it in a day. I worked on this for an afternoon, but was only planning to try one wheel because I was still unsure on color. The other three will be pretty quick.

Total cost:
Well under $30 for all paint, filler, tape and sand paper. Cheaper if you have materials on hand from past projects.


Before we get started, I'd like to say that a rattle can finish can only be so good. It is NOT a professional powdercoat finish. That said, if you take your time you can end up with something pretty nice.
My rims had only a few little nicks. If you have curb rash you will have more work in filling and sanding than I had to do. If you do it right, no one will ever be able to tell.

I used a Dupli-color paint from Kragen that is supposedly made special for wheels. I was skeptical, but it had the color I was after so I picked it up. $7 a can, but worth it!! after trying to clean up the centercaps I used for my color tests, this paint it really tough!! Even with soaking with acetone (very harsh solvent) it was hard to scrub/wash/scrape off!! I think it will hold up nicely.





Here are my centercaps that I used for color testing. I pulled the rings out so I could paint them (pain in the @$$) but I am liking the old school audi logo!! I may fill the holes and run them with just the debossed logo... I ended up picking the lighter of the two colors to use.




Sprayed the rings black first. Figured the plastidip would be fine in this small application...




Used some rough-ish sandpaper to provide some tooth on the interior. I only did this step to that I wouldn't see light colored interior though the spokes on my newly darkened wheels... If I were just refinishing to the same color I wouldn't even do this.




Spot filled and sanded down my little knicks and chips




Scuffed the area to be painted with 500 grit sandpaper. It adds tooth for better paint adhesion.




Right before paint.
Note: I will be immediately replacing this tire so I did not mask it off before painting. If you plan on keeping the tire, MASK IT OFF!! You will not be able to clean the paint off the tire. Ever.




After.






Centercaps all painted up


and finally, wheel propped up against my car.



It was getting late in the day and the weather was turning cold and windy. I am going to try and finish up this weekend, but I don't expect to get these on my car for a few weeks. I'll update when I can...

[dirtybrd]

Nice work on the low buck!

[AudiSeefu]

not bad at all. may do this to my winter wheels.

[CARTEL]

right on... Colins wheels were painted and they looked great!

[cjonesgo]

white avant = the sex.

p.s. what rims are those? i like 'em.

[7speed]

nice work

[osofast10]

very nice.. i need to get some time and do this to my winter wheels

[abradley]

was def about to comment on masking the tires until i reread what you wrote. wheels looks awesome. good job

[Elliott]

I just finished mine. Now waiting on tires.

[dubenvy]

Rattle can FTMFW!!!

[doublezero30]

duude whats the lighter shade called?? i have a can of the dark stuff...but i need the lighter shade like youve got for my centercaps for my wheels.

[n7plus1]

what paint did everyone use? and did you clear coat it?

[ewytt]

i was just thinking about doing those to my avant sport rims. looks really really good! I want to match to my unpainted lowers.

[cjonesgo]

No clearcoat for me.

Used Dupli-Color "Wheel Paint" Graphite color (It's really more of a gunmetal)
Picked it up at Kragen, but probably available other places too. $7 a can.

This stuff really is strong! I sprayed all four of my centercaps different colors to get an idea of what I want. I then used acetone to take all of the test paint off to do final coat. This stuff took soaking and scrubbing to get the paint off!! and it is full of flex agent, even with acetone it is sort of gummy in it's removal.

[LampyB]

yeah that white avant is flippin' GORGEOUS

[d_maniac]

how would red with factory 17s painted black look?

[gt8]

once you paint em with the graphite color they become a pain in the behind to clean... i'd definitely recommend clearcoating them

[cjonesgo]

yeah, but the graphite color os already the color of brakedust so....

Actually this stuff has a fairly glossy finish, just has a satin quality to the amount of metal flake in the paint. I imagine they will clean up easily enough, especially if you wax them before installing and every time you wash the car.

clear coat will have the same amount of grip as this stuff, but will give a more glossy finish overall which I do not want.

[doublezero30]

so you just did a lighter coat of the gunmetal wheel paint for the lighter shade centercap? i did only 1 coat and it is still wicked dark compared to my gunmetal wheels.

[cjonesgo]

oops, didn't understand the original question...

in the first pic of centercaps, with the lighter colored badge area i masked it off the badge area before spraying the new color. The Dupli-Color "Graphite" Wheel paint is close to the original audi color, but a good shade darker. you can see in the first pic (the one on the left)
when I sprayed everything, I decided to use the same color across the entire area (no masking on centercap)

[doublezero30]

im so lost with what you just said. lol what does masking it off have to do with the color? i used the graphite/gunmetal (whatever its called) duplicolor wheel paint on my centercaps, only 1 coat, and it looks like the centercap on the right (the dark one). im wondering what you did to get the lighter colored center cap(on the left).

[cjonesgo]

The whole thing is the center cap.



Left: Dupli-Color "Graphite" Wheel paint.
Right: Rustoleum dark metalic, I can't remember exact name.

BOTH "Badge areas" (circle in the middle with audi rings) are the original audi color (masked before painting)

[cjonesgo]

no masking. complete centercaps painted one color.

[Colt556]

Good Job! Being a wheel whore I have a couple sets I wanna try this on!

[AudiA4Turbo22]

nice!

[darkstar]

Rattle can FTMFW!!!

I WANT YOUR WHEELS!!!!!!

[AudiA4Turbo22]

^^HAHA ME TOO, the second pic is the best!

[darkstar]

time to sell the iforged haha!

[3ohAvant]

you can def get good results. its all about the prep, and buying good quality paint. ohh, and not being impatient. don't rush your second coats, and don't rush to do this or that, if it says to wait overnight, wait overnight.

from personal experience, you can get about 95% the look of professional paint work.

I used SEM paint. its GOOD stuff!

[A4Quattro3.0]

^^HAHA ME TOO, the second pic is the best!

Indeed...spontaneous wood.

[dubenvy]

There's a bit of a line right now to buy these. I was going to sell them but earlier but the deal fell through on the wheels I was going to buy. Right now i'm playing with the idea of Going staggered Flat Black Bimotos. I need to replace one wheel anyway because the Hub/Spokes are bent.

I definitely appreciate the love though!

Back to the topic at hand...I didn't use clear either. I used Duplicolor Flat Black from AAP. Scuffed the wheels with scotch brite pads, cleaned em with rubbing alcohol, cleaned again with Tack Rags, and painted away.

[05A$SE]

i used the duplicolor HP wheel coating (graphite) on stock 17's. it looks awsome on a DG car. def recommend for a cheap mod.

[vinny.dtw]

How easy would it be to scratch those for normal driving. My only concern is lots of scuff marks from this normal rattle can painting. Very tempting DIY tho. Gunmetal USP rims sounds good :D

[02SILVANT]

I have the same Sport wheels for my avant and i took them off because i have my summer set up on, but i think im going to paint my sport 17's this color and use them for winter set up.

Thanks!!!

[cjonesgo]

haven't put them on my car yet, this stuff was crazy hard to clean off my test samples. I am expecting it to hold up well one the car. we'll see....

once I mount them i'll try and do an update after a couple months to report on real world wear and tear.

[a4wd]

did you cop those wheels from nick aka ultimate DIYer??

[Stockton]

i used the duplicolor HP wheel coating (graphite) on stock 17's. it looks awsome on a DG car. def recommend for a cheap mod.

Pics?

I was thinking of doing this to my stock 17s. Mine is DG as well.

[sandspeed]

Hmmm... I have a brand new set of 18" Abt Sportsline SP0s that I might just do this with. One has a couple knicks from being a display model, and I was planning on having it refurbed, but a DIY anthracite job seems like a good option too. I'm quite the patient painter, so it should turn out well.

[jojoampt]

im in the process of painting my 17" stock sport wheels bright ass safety orange. im only using them as my autocross setup so i figured id go crazy. i think its gonna look cool though, the paint i got is specifically for graffiti and the orange is pretty much the same as the Porsche GT3 orange wheels. http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...G/DSCN1426.jpg
ill post pics when its all finished. next week sometime, cuz im going out of town tomorrow.

[AudiA4Turbo22]

^^WHOA!!!!! thats nuts!HAHA!