Postby kevinthefro » Fri May 04, 2018 11:36 am
Yup still here. I recently posted some stuff about brakes and gears.
I sanded the factory clearcoat (powedercoat?) just enough to flatten the surface and make a good key. I think I used 220 grit.
Chips in the clear were filled with 5 minute epoxy and sanded smooth - epoxy paint is the only primer that sticks well to bare metal (I learned reading painting forums), so I figured epoxy glue should stick and be thick enough to match the level of the clearcoat. It worked great - the touch ups were invisible after paint. No variations in sheen at all.
I'm really glad I went with paint instead of PlastiDip. Two and a half years later the wheels have been beat to crap off roading and have numerous dings, but other than where the actual dings are the paint has not chipped, peeled or flaked off. It't not even lifting at the edges of the dings. PlastiDip would have been peeling off like a bad sunburn by now.
The only think I was disappointed with was the paint scraped off the edge of the rim when new tires were mounted.
Since this project I have graduated from Rustoleum Satin Black to Eastwood 2k Rat Rod Black. You can see it in my post about painting the grill. I screwed it up the first time and had to sand it off and repaint and I can confirm that 2k lives up to it's reputation as the toughest paint there is, short of powdercoat. Plus l like the matte sheen better.