Teach me about wheel paints

I have a set of Honda wheels for my Accord that need refinishing after the PO of the wheels made a half-assed attempt to strip the clear coat off. I'm going to blast them clean, but I would like to know a little more about what to paint them with. Right now, powder coating is out of the budget. That pretty much leaves me with rattle cans.

It seems like every brand makes a wheel paint now. Is there really a difference between the brands? Is one product line better than another? Any tips for keeping them in good condition?

As it stands now, I'm looking at Dupli-Color's line of wheel paints. I am going for either satin black or a dark graphite color, so one of those colors has to be in the product line. If there's a better paint out there for a similar amount of money, then I'd rather go that route, obviously.

Thanks in advance,

-Derick

I used Dupli-Color stuff on miata wheels. I just made sure they were clean, them I primed and painted them. They looked outstanding. I sold the car after about 6 months, but for those 6 or so months they held up well to brake dust and some pretty intense breaking (heat) perfectly. I plan on doing the same to my benz one day.

I've painted several sets of wheels over the years and have always just used flat black engine paint, its tough and when it starts to look bad I just repray them. Its def not show quality, but for a DD/autox/rallyx car it works awesome.

Bunch of my old handi-work

APPLIANCE EPOXY

strong as balls

+1 on the duplicolor, I have yet to try it, but i have heard nothing but rave reviews about it.

If I had to paint wheels its what I would buy.

I used duplicolor engine enamel on the geo's wheels. It held up for a couple years, but is now chipped and peeling. At that price, though, you can't go wrong. ...it just needs a re-spraying.

I've painted several sets of wheels with DupliColor and I'm very satisfied with the results. Easy to get go smooth finishes and it seems to be pretty durable. I run a set of Miata wheels on my wife's xB that I did 3 years ago and they still look as good as the day I painted them.

+1 on the clear coat. It helps a lot.

+1 on appliance epoxy. If you can get away with black, white, or almond, it's awesome on wheels.

I have used the Dupli-Color wheel paint with great results, and it's held up very well. The clearcoat makes it even better.

Are the wheels in question alloys os steelies? I've had great success refinishing steelies with rustolium hammer finished rattle cans.

Has anyone actually tried the appliance paint on wheels? I'm curious as to how that turns out.

They are aluminum alloy wheels. A set of 2000 Civic Si wheels.

duplicolor graphite with duplicolor clear. as seen here:

I like that look. Any durability problems, Angry?

I use the duplicor engine enamel since I like the lime green it come in. Works really well and makes me look like a better painter than i really am. I've only done autox wheels, so I can't say how long it lasts in dd conditions, but after 5 years it's holding up well.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that I used clear as well.

I've used both real automotive paint with clear, shot from an HVLP gun and Duplicolor with Duplicolor clear. It's easier to get good coverage with the real paint rig and I got a brighter white that way, but obviously it's a bigger pain in the butt. Overall, for two full sets of wheels, the automotive paint was cheaper - especially when you consider that I was trying to paint black wheels white.

Long term, they both take chips. The oldest set of duplicolor wheels have been in use for about five years, and the nature of my cars is that they get pulled off and moved to different cars on a regular basis. The chips are probably from getting banged around in the garage, not from road use. On a normal car that doesn't get its wheels pulled off, I would expect it to last a long time.

The biggest thing is surface prep but I've had good luck with the Duplicolor wheel paint, and been very pleased with the result and the texture/durability. Make sure you clean your wheel thoroughly with degreaser or brake cleaner, then scuff with sand paper, then rinse clean, then use some alcohol to get anything else, let dry, then go to town painting, let the paint dry long enough...

Bare metal (stock):

Duplicolor (black):

Duplicolor (red):

Engine enamel works well--especially the "aluminum" color if you want to keep the wheels with a natural look.

I've had good luck with the Duplicolor setup.

I've also had good luck with Rustoleum white on my Miata's winter wheels.

Another with the Dupicolor stuff. This is the graphite paint with the matching clear. Minimal prep work, no wetsanding/buffing/etc.

In reply to Derick Freese:

these are duplicolor graphite painted.

+10 on the dupli-color with matching clearcoat. Follow the directions exactly If you don't leave the proper drying time between coats or too much time between coats they will wrinkle like crazy. If all the prep is done well and it is applied properly, you can get a near factory finish.

I'm strongly considering plasti-dipping my winter wheels. They are badly pitted now, so there is no reason not to, really.

Whatever you do, cover it with a jillion coats of clear. That way, the clear takes the nicks, and the basecoat still looks good, unless you do something really stupid.