which wheel paint?

Got em scrubbed tonight.  Dish soap and a wallpaper brush to start to get the majority of any grease off (but they were actually really clean), then dishsoap and green scotchbrite to make sure they were clean.  Tomorrow will be a red scotchbrite on dry wheels and a wipe down with acetone.  Pics of bronze wheels hopefully soon.

Acetone is pretty harsh for a wipedown (on you too).  You can just use mineral spirits or plain rubbing alcohol for that step.  You are just trying to pick up all the dust and have something evaporate fast and not leave moisture behind like water.  I forgot to mention this step earlier too.  I love the step, but recommend something milder for you, the wheel and the environment.  I use acetone when needed though. 

Good tip.  I have Denatured, Acetone, and mineral spirits, but the mineral spirits I don't trust.  It's the "low odor" stuff and it's really old.  I have a feeling some of the more volatile elements have evaporated out.  It smells like liquid paraffin so I use it for non-critical stuff, like cleaning up overspray.

I assume the Dentatured is primarily ethanol, but not sure what they use to denature it.  i suppose if they use Methanol I'm ok, but some hydrocarbon mixes don't really evaporate cleanly.  I guess I can pick up some 90% iso.

The better but more expensive way to go is to strip them to the metal and respray them so you aren't dependent on whatever quality the original coat might be.

I redid these myself (sorry the first one is not clean in the pic)

But had these professionally refinished and the result was great.

Get some Jasco paint stripper and it's fairly easy to bring wheels down to bare metal. Or at least, that's true of early Miata wheels.

I have used stripper on wheels before.

I have no fears going over this finish.  I doubt the wheels have more than 5000 miles on them.  Put it this way, the guy bought the wheel/tire combo 6 months ago, and the tires which originally had 11/32" now have 10/32" tread.  No scratches, no nothing.  They were practically new.  That is to say.... there shouldn't be anything sketchy about the factory finish on them.

I got three coats of dark copper metallic on the lips today.  I'll give that overnight to dry before I mask it to spray the centers with the bronze.

The first picture shows the two colors I'm using.  The picture makes them look more similar than they are.  The one on the right is the dark copper which is on the lip and center ring.  The one on the left is the antique brass which will be on most of the wheel.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I don't care for gold wheels. At all. But I have to say, I think that combo is going to look very good on that van! 

In reply to 03Panther :

Thanks.  I'm not a fan of gold wheels either which is why I'm trying to keep it as muted bronze as I can.  9 times out of 10 I'm a genius when it comes to pairing colors, but there is that one time when I do something like this and end up creating something in the vomit category.  We'll see.

I'll hang the wheels on the van before I mount the tires.  That way the worst that will have happened is that I wasted $40 on bronze paint and I end up throwing a fresh coat of something else on them.  Maybe lavender (ok, not lavender)

I think it will turn out nice, but then I really like bronze colored wheels.

They're done.  Final coat of clear just went on.  I'm reminded of how good I can be with a rattle can when it has a decent nozzle.

I ended up not liking the contrasting lip so the last two coats I did in the Bronze.

Looks terrific. 

That is pretty sweet.  I would let them dry in the sun for a while before trying to mount the tires.

Which beinze/brand?

Bronze is like orange, you can have a really good one or hundreds of not really good ones. And it also depends what it's mounted on. For example, the bronze used on the previous 6UL looked absolutely stunning up against Mazda's Soul Red. It was okay on other colors.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Which beinze/brand?

Rustoleum Antique Brass Metallic.  I couldn't find special wheel paint in the color I wanted, and the wheel paints I researched were either Urethane or Enamel.  This stuff is Enamel, and it had worked on some other wheels I did so I figure I'd give it a shot.  If it doesn't work out, I only have to put up with it for 60k miles until the tires wear out again.

Toebra said:

That is pretty sweet.  I would let them dry in the sun for a while before trying to mount the tires.

I left the radiant overhead heater on tonight so that should help cook them.  Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be nice-ish so maybe I can get them some rays.

Keith Tanner said:

Bronze is like orange, you can have a really good one or hundreds of not really good ones. And it also depends what it's mounted on. For example, the bronze used on the previous 6UL looked absolutely stunning up against Mazda's Soul Red. It was okay on other colors.

Very true.  I am fully prepared to put these on the van and not like them.  I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Keith Tanner said:

Bronze is like orange, you can have a really good one or hundreds of not really good ones. And it also depends what it's mounted on. For example, the bronze used on the previous 6UL looked absolutely stunning up against Mazda's Soul Red. It was okay on other colors.

Very true.  I am fully prepared to put these on the van and not like them.  I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I really like Keith's wording on that!

I predict it's gonna look great. I was liking the thought of the contrast, but the one color is looking perfect. 

I agree that this combo looks really promising. It's the right bronze for that red. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I would imagine most of us would not be surprised that Curtis has a good eye for colors and contrasts! Looking fwd. to seeing 'em on the van. 

Wow that looks fantastic, great job.

Got the two-hundred-and-eight (not an exaggeration) trim bolts and washers back on and finished up the center caps.  Now I'm just at the mercy of my buddy and when he can get me in for mount/balance.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Those look great, Curtis!

Wow, what a transforation.

Very cool on the progress.