I have redone the whole car except for the hubcaps. I had a good look at them yesterday when I was redoning the brake lines & they could use a good restoration. There are 3 colors that have to be painted & it looks like a lot of taping will need to be done with each color.
Any ideas as to an easier way?
Thanks
I had to re-do my wheelcovers on my 85 sedan. As I am pretty handy, there really is no "easy"way to do it except lots of time and patience. I used some really small brushes like you might use for painting model cars. It's tedious work for sure as those little triangles take forever. I used a good cleaner/de-greaser first, then primed them, then did a few coats of Argent, then painstakingly did the black triangles. Taping off the trim ring is easy, as is removing the center part around the lug holes. Should take you about a whole day and a case of beer per cover. Good luck and remember to take before and after pics.
For masking off areas for painting, use electrical tape (black tape) as it stretches and will lay flat going around bends and curves. Don't get the vinyl stuff but rather the stuff that is a little higher quality.
Electrical tape is also a good tape to use for taping off trim that you don't want painted or creating curvy lines like in a "tribal" design. I've even used it to tape off small holes temporarily for washing the car or keeping from dropping screws and bolts in the wrong places.
Show us some before and after pics too! I'd love to see your work.
Well the most recent paint job I did for wheels was to have my beat up old aluminum wheels powder coated.
BEFORE
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Bird-o-Prey/Rims1.jpg)
AFTER
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Bird-o-Prey/Rims2.jpg)
I did repaint some stock hubcaps a while ago. I used cardboard templates that I cut out to cover areas I didn't want painted or wanted painted with a different colour. I started by sanding the worst of the gouges out and generally just lightly roughing op the surface. Then I primed the whole thing. I went with stock colours ( as close as I could)
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Bird-o-Prey/IMAG0092.jpg)
See the templates I made. I painted the black areas first and let the paint dry. Then put in the tight fitting templates and painted the second colour over them. Yes, I cut out a whole bunch of the wedge shaped ones, but I only painted one wheel cover at a time. I also touched up the black on the center caps.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Bird-o-Prey/IMAG0093.jpg)
Finished product.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Bird-o-Prey/IMAG0094.jpg)
Side by each before & after.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Bird-o-Prey/IMAG0095.jpg)
Not a professional job, But they looked 100% better. I also coated them with 3 coats of satin clear coat to help protect them from the elements and brake dust.
Cheers
I might be wrong but I believe if I were to do it I would prepair the hubcap and then just spray the black sections without taping off anything.Then I would put sponges in the black sections and then spray the argent silver. Then I would spray the entire cap with a satin clear coat. Then use thinner to remove the paint and clear coat from the polished outer ring and center caps. I have never tried this on a eagle hubcap but I did do it on a set of corvette aluminum wheels and it worked great.