Masking Fuchs Rims for paint

Hello again, from the back-yard garage!

I've recently been stripping and polishing my 5-spoke Fuchs rims. They were originally fully painted matt black, but I wanted the spokes to be polished Aluminum.

So far, they've been chemically stripped, the clear oxide coat has been removed (was THAT ever a pain!) and the spokes have been painstakingly hand-sanded and polished - all that looks great!

Now I want to mask them off and paint the areas between the spokes matt black (Krylon). The look I want is what Dale Bates has on the Fuchs in his photo section.

My problem is that I want the polished area to be uniform from one spoke to the next so they'll all match, meaning that I need to mask them all the same.

Anyone have some good ideas about how to accomplish this? I thought of making a "cap" of some sort of masking material and somehow duplicating it for five spokes, but don't know how I'll keep them consistent. I could certainly free-hand an outline with masking tape, but, again, how to keep the lines consistent??

Proven ideas, please!!!

Thanks, Gordon

Gordon ,

I have done quite a bit of this in my "former used car life" . Can you post a pic of what you want to do ? Alan M

Alan,

I think this is the look Gordon is trying to duplicate. The "paddles" are polished but the background is painted black. Somehow "masking" them all to come out exactly the same doesn't seem feasible...and yet, you see wheels like this all the time so, what's the trick?

Thanks John !

Gordon
Masking is about the only way to do the job, you would have to have a high quailty template with a tapered rubber edge to allow for a clean edge transition .
I make sure that the wheel is at least 70 degreees and tape it off the areas with a good quality blue 1/4" masking tape, then tape off the rest with larger blue tape . Home made templates tend to allow for overspray along the edges .
The tape off method is time consuming but worth the final look.
A "trick of the trade" is to run hot water over the spray paint can to warm the paint, this allows for it to flow better....Eastwood speciality wheel paints or off the shelf epoxy paint are best.

Simple, get a 17" in diameter bucket make sure it is flat and level. Place your wheel into the bucket, shiney side up and then fill the bucket with paint to the desired level on the spokes. Then lift the wheel out and place it flat. or take the wheel to an anodizer and have them do the same thing. The wheels were originally Anodized not painted.

Thanks, guys!

Dale! Thats almost EXACTLY how my wife told me to do it!! Great Engineering minds think alike.........

OK, I was awake a lot last night thinking about how to do this and I have a plan of a template covering the black part to act as a guide for the masking of the polished part, so I'll try that today.......

Onward!

Gordon

good luck gordon, but don't waste your efforts using cheap paint.
like alan said, stop by an autobody supply and go with epoxy paint.
very, very, durable. after my freinds and i painted a few car parts using urethane paint we let it harden in a jar. cracked it open and
that paint bounces like a superball (almost).

Gordon,

Go to an automotive paint store and buy the narrow, professional tape for masking. You probably have seen guys on the motorcycle and hot rod TV shows use it to tape flames, etc. You can tape sharp bends and the tape follows the curves and does not bend/kink. I used it to for my wheels. Then cover everything else with wider tape and paper.

Thanks, E.C. Bruce.....I'm now on a first-name basis with the counter ladies at the local auto paint supply places, and a couple of the guys in the local classic car club own body/paint shops, so I should be getting organized for painting soon. I had already thought about the narrow masking tape, and will probably be using a combination of widths to get the look I want.

The big trouble now is that Mike Cochrane keeps sending really cold air down this far South, and it's too cold to paint anything in the garage. I'll just figure out how to do it best, get everything I need for supplies, and then wait for warmer days.

I was going to go with Krylon semi-flat black, although Eastwood has what they claim is black wheel paint with the proper amount of "shine" (not glossy, not flat, either). I hadn't thought of using the epoxy paint, but that's a darn good idea, if I can find it in semi-flat around here - I'll check with the paint ladies. I've also ben using the "warm-up-the-paint" trick for years, as well as putting the parts to be painted in the sun to warm before spraying.......got all those tricks down pat!

John - thanks for the picture! That's exactly what I'm heading for.......printed the picture and taped it to the cabinets in the garage for reference.

Got three wheels all ready for paint, and should be stripping the last one today - then it takes about an entire day to get it sanded and polished - what a lot of work!!

Gordon
One of the "Speedstah Guys" thinking of warmer days in Beaufort

i'm gettin tired just listening to your work

Gordo ,

Send them to me UPS overnite ..

I'll do them up real perty for you! LOL

Mine were dipped rather than sprayed. They were polished, then anodised, then dip painted. Not quite as shiny, but more durable for the UK climate !

I have polished and painted different Fuch 5lugs over the years and I will never do it again. I send my wheels to MagMasters in So Cal or to Al Reed. He will polish and paint your fuch wheels for less than $100 per wheel.

If you don't mind the elbow grease, use a quality paint no Crylongtime (krylon), and get fine line tape to tape the graphics or in this case the paddels. You will not make the turns with the blue 3m style tape, it has to be a flexible tape.

Pin strip tape also works well as a cutting in tape

I've painted mine a few times. It's not really that hard.
I have an old rotor and spindle that I mount the wheel on in a vice for masking.
I think it's easier to be able to turn the wheel as you mask. I just use regular 1/2" and 1" masking tape.
The pinstriping tape works ok but I usually have the regular stuff handy and the tape doesn't have to be one continuous piece for the corners. I just use several (or lots of) short pieces until the corner is covered and looks the way I want.
I use Dupli-Color wheel paint that I usually find at Wal-Mart or Kmart. www.eastwoodcompany.com has their own brand also.
Prepping for paint and using the right paint is as important as the masking. Peeling paint looks worse than a bad masking job.


Greg B

Thanks for all the info guys!

Jon: Dipping isn't an option for me (the tires are still mounted) but that's what my wife (an engineer) and someone else on here recommended. Makes a lot of sense to easily get the areas around the paddles (spokes) painted and everything stays even.

However! Not that I don't listen to my wife (although she says that all the time) but the masking route is the one for me. The last owner of these used Krylon on them and it didn't peel, as much as simply wore away over time, especially on the spoke leading edges. One of the local car club guys (he runs a body shop) also recommended a good epoxy paint, so I'm looking for something now in a semi-gloss finish. the ladies at the auto paint shop have just what I want, but can't get it into an aerosol can for me, and I'm not set up here at the "Winter Hacienda" for major painting, so I'll look a bit more.

Found that the center caps were black anodized, so I whipped out the sander and buzzed them off this morning, and just kissed the emblem with the sander, making the logo silver while the background remains black - I like the look, so now I'll just hand sand them and polish them up.

Still too cold to strip the final wheel or paint anything (4 degrees C ( 40 F ) here and rainy - Just like your place in the UK, Jon!) but it's supposed to be around 20 C (the upper 60's (F)) mid-next-week, so I'll wait for that before I forge ahead. Not driving Pearl out in the rain anyway!

Gordon
One of the "Speedstah Guys" in Beaufort

you can use a "preval sprayer". aerosol can screwed onto
a glass bottle, fill with paint or other and spray.

Gordo, Most large paint /hardware stores have the "PREVAL" paint sprayer and power units ,$4-$6. Also Krylon makes a satin finish black ,not as shiny as the semi gloss but more durable than the flat. I think the stock # is 1602. TOM