(Real pics with a real camera - not a cellphone - will happen tomorrow as I finish the other 3 wheels)
Hey everyone...
Been reading for a long while now, asking questions, saving cash and planning a wheel purchase. As life works out, that $$ ended up being reallocated so I am back at square one... and thinking maybe new wheels should be a lower priority.
The problem with that is that the OEM wheels, just dont "do it" for me... So, I am working on a plan to have the OEM wheels machined some, and while that plan comes together, I decided that no matter what I machine on them, they were going to need a paint job.
So, let me say right off the bat, when you get your wheel off and on the work bench, get it all taped off and you grab that 600-grit sandpaper... it takes a long deep breath and lots of internal discussion to start sanding the finish off the wheels of my 35,000.00 orange racecar. However, once you start... its easy-peasy to sand off that finish. I didn't realize how soft the paint is on the OEM wheels... WOW. It takes very little effort to get through the midnight silver to the black underneath. Thankfully, the inside of the wheels was/is already painted black, so I didnt need to bother sanding the whole inside wheel to repaint it.
I sanded everything not covered by Blue tape until there was no shine... let me tell you, at this point your fully committed to the project and you start thinking to yourself - "I wonder what it would cost to have these professionally repainted if I ruin them". Of course it didnt help having my buddy sending me craigslist links to new OEM wheels "just in case". anyway, here is the wheel after the sanding...
After a thorough wipe-down with brake clean, inspecting the paint lines and touching up the sanding along the edges, and another couple wipe-downs to make sure its clean (hard to tell when the paint is so scuffed), its time for paint. I really didnt want any runs, so I did multiple light coats. The paint I was using dried incredibly fast when put on so lightly, so by the time I got back to the first spot, it was dry to the touch. I worked my way around, making sure I got everthing as well as I could (though I did end up leaving a couple light spots that I went back and resprayed). Then, moved the wheel inside to in front of the fireplace... to bake a little.
after about 15 minutes (next time will be longer, I dont think 15 minutes is enough time) of enjoying the heat from the fireplace, I took it back outside and bolted it on. I didnt realize that the torque spec was so high on these wheels! 140ft/lbs seems like a lot... especially since my pickup is only 110 per!
I think it turned out fairly well. What do you think...