Sanding them down just makes them smooth>the smoother the better. A high speed rotary buffer with the polish is where the shine comes from mine is aluminum polish from meguiars in a blue cylinder container. To insure that shine and add a little the fully finished clear coat keep the shine lasting. But you have finish the clear, four coats, block with 1600 or 2000 and buff the clear just likie the paint on your car. PM me with any more questions maybe I can help.

 

alright will do. Yes after sanding I went over with a polisher and Mother's metal polish (red and white jar). maybe i am just spinning to to low of an RPM.

 

question guys..i have a hazy oxidation on the lip of one of my wheels. it only covers about half the wheel but it goes all the way around. what can i do/use to get rid of that ? my lip looks very cloudy !!!

 

awesome job

 

I followed the OP's instructions to the letter last year and they came out pretty good but I'm not a fan of the duplicolor wheel paint. I did several even and thin coats and it came out very very rough they are kind of hard to clean. I sanded it the best I could but even after clearing it was still kinda rough. I get lots of compliments all the time and people think they were professionally done and the look on their faces when I tell them it's rattle-canned is priceless. But big thanks to the OP for saving me lots of cash. I want to refinish mine again using a different paint though. BTW: I did curb my front driverside wheel about a month ago.

 

i am waiting for the same color as well

 

great DIY!
noob questions. 1. whats wetsanding? how do u do it?
2. clear coat. what product did u use? and how?
3. do i REALLY have to sand em down with different grades of sand papers?

THANK U!!!

 

great write up!

 

I painted my OEM rays duplicolor silver, and it came out darker than i expected. because i have a dg coupe, it just doesn't look right with less contrast.

sooo now im gonna be redoing them. ive been researching online for options, and i think i might get ultra silver from GM, chrome silver, or any of the lighter shades of silver.

Anyone have any suggestions??

 

Wetsanding is self explainatory. You use sand paper and you make sure it's wet and you sand something.

Clear coat.. not sure if it matters what kind you use.

Yes you have to sand them down with different grades of sand paper because different grades represent how fine the paper is and you won't get the result that you want unless you do use different grades of sand paper.

 

how good does bondo fare on sticking on metal? did any of it flake or come loose? im guessing the paint holds it on there good too?

 

bondo works fine on da wheels. i did my wheels couple months ago. so far so good.

 

Yes the bondo holds up perfectly. I went 9 months and had no problems. Make sure you use high quality primer as well

 

nice came out clean....

 

nice pics!!!