Wanting to paint wheels, Question for Y'all

I have chrome Rally style wheels on my wagon. 15"x7" on front and 15"x10" on rear. I have original style Rally's on my truck (Silverish painted color) 15"x8" all the way around. From sitting the chrome ones have rusted and I really don't want a 10" wheel on the back so I was thinking about taking the ones off my truck for my wagon (if I get it together) and painting the chrome ones White to match the roof and bumper of my old shop truck and putting the chrome hub cap on them. I think it would look good with the deep dish on the truck. My question is what do you recommend I use to scuff the chrome up well enough and what is a good primer you could recommend I use. I could if I have to enlist the help of my friend Paul who is the painter at work but I try not to because he says "Just sit them there and I will take care of it!" which is nice but I would like to have a part in it.

 

If at all possible, I would get the rusty chrome ones sandblasted before painting them. You don't have to remove the chrome, just enough to remove the rust and give a textured blast finish to give the paint something to bite into. Then just treat them like regular steel wheels for painting.

 

Thanks for the response. I'll see about blasting them. They aren't too terribly rusty but enough that I would rather paint them.

 

Personally, having seen chrome peel, I would try to blast all the chrome off them, then prime and paint. Chrome can be funny for adhesion, especially where there is rust in place.

 

That's what I am worried about, I hate to do them and 2 weeks they are peeling and look bad.

 

I'd blast all the chrome off, then prime and paint.
BTW, I love blackwall tires on white painted (or powdercoated) wheels with a small chrome cap!

 

Thanks for advice. Yeah I think it will look ok on my old C10 being a plain truck with the white bumper
And roof. Give it kinda the old school shop truck look.

 

In my 8 years of experience restoring cars and working in the auto body industry, it is imperative you sand blast ALL THE CHOME OFF! You may also use a grinder and grind all the chrome off but this will require alot of patience and you may not be able to get into the cracks and pockets of a wheel. It must at least be blasted/ground to the nickle/copper or your paint will not adhere. I always see these guys take the older 60's cars and paint the chrome bumpers only to have it fall off a year later, and it was babied and garaged to boot seeing very little weather. Also be sure to use some type of etching primer to help promote adheasion. The etch primer has acid in it which eats into the steel causing a much better adheasion.

 

Sounds like a may be better off just keeping them for spare wheels because they are not real bad and just buying
the steel ones already primed for around $65 to $70 each.

 

HandyAndy bought one of those small sandblaster guns to clean his up and then took them in for powdercoating. Haven't seen them for awhile but they looked great and stayed that way for a long time. I think he paid $15 per wheel, IIRC.

 

If they're not real bad, why even fool around painting them? Just swap the damn things over. Clean them up as best you can. Forget chrome polish. Take some aluminum foil and make a golf ball sized wad. Attack the rust with it and you might be amazed at how nice they clean up. Keep em waxed with paste wax. Voila!!! Problem solved.

You get sidetracked with these non-productive ideas and waste too much time farting around. Put that time into fixing up your wagon. Make a checklist of things to do, in a logical order that doesn't require having to redo previous steps.

You are not building a car. You are completing a bunch of little projects that when complete will result in a finished car. Don't move on to the next step until you've completed the previous one.

 

Yea listen to OldFox. He ain't as dumb as we look!

 

I'm sitting at my desk crying I am laughing so hard because I am wondering if my dad joined this forum under
a couple alias' (Oldfox & catmodelT) because it sure sounds like him! I believe you are right I will just clean them
and roll.
Man I can't quit laughing over here and hearing " See, that's your problem you play too much! " in my head.

Please know I mean this respectfully and joking but understand and agree with Oldfox and Denny...still laughing

 

Progress is progress Dennis, I feel even the slightest move in a forward direction is a good thing. You got the wagon out after 3 years and you're moving forward...good on ya brother!

These two are like the "forum fathers" always there to give us a good swift kick in the a$$ once in a while.

 

Totally agree! Especially with the 'forum fathers' part.