Hey, it’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint. Tody’s topic is all about How To Prep Rims for Paint Media Blast, Epoxy Prime and Paint!
A question came in asking about refinishing aluminum painted wheels. Here’s a part of what he said, “What coating do you recommend and is there a manufacturer of paint coat for these wheels?”
He’s talking about a Mercedes W123 chassis, but I haven’t researched on the year but I’m pretty sure it’s a 70s or late 60s.
Please check out the this website: https://www.benzworld.org/ It lists all the color codes of that particular car. I believe yours is Astral Silver but you need to double check on it.
Normally, when they painted these cars the body color and the rims were of the same color but you have to double check at your VIN number and check the trim color. This is to check if the color of your trims was two-tone. This is what you will use to paint your rims.
Let’s then discuss your prepping concern. Sandblasting is old school and bad for your lungs. The more recent process is media blasting which is made up of plastic beads, walnut shells in glass beads which are sometimes aluminum oxide. This will help you paint off your rims.
There’s a product called Texas Blaster.. Media Blasting North Texas Customs. It’s a bigger tank which costs around $700 but you can definitely get a media blaster for around $200-$250 which can help take off the old paint and spray your rims.
Check out this link which also gives out awesome info on your question:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a9462/how-to-blast-your-car-parts-clean-15997905/
You need to prime it with a nice 2K primer then spray your base coat and clear coat on your rims.
You can put some epoxy primer over aluminum and paint over the epoxy primer. I recommend not to paint it too thick as it has more chance of chipping. The less coating, the better for the rims.
I hope you had some golden nuggets in this video. It’s the #BossPainter here, Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint.
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Talk soon! Cheers!
Tony
Other Helpful Links:
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How To Plasti Dip Car Rims Fast
Car Painting HACKS: Basecoat Clearcoat and Undercoat Removal
How To Clean Chrome – Cleaning Chrome Rims & Car Parts at Home!