Refinish Old Rims?

Tommio RS · Post by **Tommio RS** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:29 am

Hi Thar. I was wonder who has repainted any stock subaru rims? I have a stock set of 93 legacy ss rims. You know the ones that gen. 1 outbacks ran. Ya those. And they could really use a nice new paint job on them. I was thinking of going bronze as a color, that doesnt seem that crazy. As far as painting skills goes i seem qualified to do my mags.

Questions i have tho:
1. How does one remove ALL the old paint on the rims? Sanding,chemicals?

2. What brand of paints and primers should i use?

Im after here a cheap method of having nice looking rims without bustin the bank.

Aswell here be a link to a picture of my rims:

Link: http://s449.photobucket.com/albums/qq21 ... G_0967.jpg

Thanks

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:07 am

I did a set of Legacy GT wheels, the snowflake ones. I did them by hand with varying grits of sandpaper, self-etching primer, and prolly the same wheel paint you have in mind. It was a bitch. A lot of prep w/ all those spokes, but yours shouldn't be as bad. If you wanna save some time, and spend a little more scratch, get 'em sandblasted. Otherwise just do like I did: sand, prime, and paint.

Tommio RS · Post by **Tommio RS** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:21 pm

Hmmm. Ok I know what them rims look like and i can see them being hard to paint nice. I have them more basic less spoked rims, which should be no problem. I found one price tho for sandblasting and paint. $345cnd before taxes. So that is a total rip. I probably could buy the paint,primer,clear for like under $75.

I think just sandblasting them is going to be around $55 a rim.

Thanks for the info.

G-unit · Post by **G-unit** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:00 am

have u tryed a panelbeater car painter? thats where i got mine painted

Zoo Mob · Post by **Zoo Mob** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:51 am

Find a local sandblaster with a do it yourself booth, we've got one here that is $12/hour. Blast thoroughly, rattlecan prime and paint. Voila! Start to finish, less than $50.

kimokalihi · Post by **kimokalihi** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:46 pm

Depends what paint you use. I bought PPG for my car and I think one pint was like $80. Just for the base. Is a pint the small cans? It was a small can. I'm no familiar with the sizes of liquid. I wish we were metric here. Standard is so confusing.

rallyguy_777 · Post by **rallyguy_777** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:03 pm

go to home de-pot and rent a sondblaster for a few hours and do them yourself. I did a few sets of 92 Leggy wheels and we use them for rally. Used some shitty paint an ddid a few coats and even after running through all that gravel and beating, they are still not half bad. As for paint, unless you want a very differerent colour that is out fo the ordinary, use the Duplicolor rim paint/primer. I know of a few people that have used it and the rims look great and they have had no problems with chipping, cracking etc. I am going to go this method in a few weeks when I paint my Legacy GT wheels graphite.

beatersubi · Post by **beatersubi** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:22 am

I did that to those same wheels with the same color and they came out well. Only i just gave them a good sanding prior to primer and paint. The paint held up well through a couple rallycrosses with minor chipping on the rears.

G-unit · Post by **G-unit** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:09 am

all up it cost me $100 for my 17s 2 be painted

Apex3 · Post by **Apex3** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:10 pm

There's varying levels of prep you could use. I'm gonna do mine and I'll probably just wetsand and smooth down everything, prime and paint.

I sprayed my last set with aircraft stripper, stripped it down to bare metal, primed and painted, and it didn't hold up any better than just sanding and painting.

Bdub · Post by **Bdub** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:33 am

If you aren't powder coating the rims, you may as well just prep them by scouring up the painted surface with a scotch brite pad, some good primer, a few coats of wheel paint, and clearcoat.

As said above, it'll peel no matter how much you prep it after a while, so why waste $100 and a day or so of your time, when you can do it every year or so for around $20.

diego0decastro · Post by **diego0decastro** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:58 am

I just rattled can my SS rims. I took some sand paper rough up the wheels, rattled can them then gave them a coat of rattle can clear and they held up pretty good and look realy nice.

G-unit · Post by **G-unit** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:09 am

mine was done at a panel shop and havent peeled or anything yet, getting them sand blasted was over $200, but thats in new zealand

Tommio RS · Post by **Tommio RS** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 2:25 am

I got a new bead on some 98 outback rims. You know the exact ones that come on the 93 leggy turbo! LOL gotta love Subaru for reusing old rims. But ya. I might be able to get those rims for $100! Ill tell ya later if i get them or not.

If i get them i will paint them up bronze!
I hope i can get them!!

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Refinish Old Rims?

Refinish Old Rims?