What is the best way to refinish bundt wheels?

__________________
Britton McIntyre

68 280 SE coupe 'Hairball'
70 280 SL
71 280 SEL - RIP May 2010

Bead blast and powder coat.

__________________
Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Iv e never tried the powder coat but bead blasting is a great way to prep them.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Why powder coat? It's just polished aluminum with a clear coat. How do you get a nice polished shine? I would think that bead basting will give it a dull finish.

__________________
Britton McIntyre

68 280 SE coupe 'Hairball'
70 280 SL
71 280 SEL - RIP May 2010

The most durable, maintenance free finish you can get is powder coat. It can be applied much thicker than liquid paints and applies evenly on the intricate shape of the bundts.

You can use aircraft stripper to strip the existing finish and sand them increasingly finer grits until you end up with fine steel wool to polish them, but that is quite a bit of labor.

I just sanded the chipped areas on mine and rubbed them out with steel wool. Then I wiped them with mineral spirits, primed with 3 coats, painted with 3 coats with a 4th dusting coat to even the metallic in the paint I used, then 3 coats of clear. It should last a few seasons and then I'll get them bead blasted and powder coated. I didn't have time to get it done that way this go around.

I used Duplicolor Wheel Paints. It cost about $50 to finish my 2 sets of wheels this way to use them with snow tires.

__________________
Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Bundts come painted silver from the factory...like most alloy wheels. I don't really know why everyone seems to think that wheels are coated with something "special" they are just painted, like the rest of the car.

I also have used Duplicolor wheel paint on all of my cars, and it works very well. Easily to apply, and is very durable. As with any paint job, most of the work is in the prep.

__________________
Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles

Exactly Johnathan, It's Astral Silver ( 785?) . I just strip the old paint off with paint stripper,coat with high build 2k PRIMER (sometimes i use a glasurit etch primer) . I use a silver base coat ,then two coats of any quality 2K clear. The finish will last 15-20 years considering the punishment a set of wheels undergoes.Quick and easy and better looking than the flat glossy look of powder coating. I have been told my finish is too glossy but thats not correct,they look exactly like new Rims did 20 years ago ...mostly before they have been repainted with silver spray cans.

This is an nearly intact factory painted wheel:



And here is a repainted one (by me):

__________________
Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles

I painted a couple of wheels a few weeks ago. I did throw some primer on but did not put a lot of effort into cleaning them. One came out really well. The other one....not so well.

I think if I broke to tires off the wheels, I would have done a better job. I plan on doing this with all of my spare wheels in the spring.

__________________
With best regards

Al

incorrect, they are painted astral silver from the factory.

Here's my painted wheels on both w123's:


I used Duplicolor Metallic Silver. One set was already bead blasted, primed and tireless from the PO:


The other set had old tires and I painted them prior to having new snows mounted:

__________________
Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Guys, I don't think the color is astral silver. The code for Astral silver is DB735. I think the code for the wheel paint is 9700 or something like that. I tried to look for it and could not find it at my local paint jobber so I went with brilliant silver.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Ali had told me that I should paint the wheels but here's the deal mine are polished not painted. I even scraped a few spots to make sure. Zero paint.
I don't have a problem with painting them. Now I am wondering why they are polished.

__________________
Britton McIntyre

68 280 SE coupe 'Hairball'
70 280 SL
71 280 SEL - RIP May 2010

your welcome to a set of my old wheels to tinker with and repaint.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Maybe your wheels are chrome and just have gotten dull, so they look polished?

Yea, I don't think the color is Astral silver, the wheels are painted in a very bright silver. I use the metallic silver duplicolor paint, then the high performance clear wheel coating. If you don't use the clear coating, the paint will start to turn funky colors from the heat and brake dust.

__________________
Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles