3rd gen wheels on 4th gen Camaro

[93formulalt1]

I bought my orange 1994 Camaro V6, and the previous owner replaced the original wheels with a set of horrid looking 3rd gen wheels. I was thinking about painting them, and I wanted some input. They are a dull grey right now, and the paint is in rough shape. I was considering painting it a orange/black scheme. The inside of the spokes black, and the outside orange, but I don't want it to look stupid. Any suggestions will be considered. I have an airbrush, spraygun and air compressor, so I will be using my limited knowledge in painting to tackle this project alone. I might just stick with spraypaint until I actually paint the car.

[JoeliusZ28]

i would paint the accented parts and polish the rest to a chrome appearance and finish them off with clear coat.

by the time you finish one wheel though, you arent going to want to start the second

[93formulalt1]

What do you mean? I can't really polish anything because the paint is in really bad shape. I know the 3rd gen 5 spoke wheels were originally aluminim, but these have been spraypainted by the previous owner. What "accented parts" do you mean? The outer edge of the spokes? I am also missing the center caps for the wheels, so if anyone knows where I can find some, let me know.

[JoeliusZ28]

well i was just looking at your cardomain minutes ago, but now i cant find it to get a picture. the accents are (i think) the piece in the center of the spokes. the rest of the wheel you would polish ( not the paint, the wheel ). sand em down to bare metal, and move up the grits until you practically get shine from them. next wet sand with a fine grade. After that get some metal polish and buff it. clean the surface and give em 3 coats of paint clear coat, theyll look chrome and brand new.

i am doing the same process on my brake calipers, and they are turning out pretty damn good looking. i dont have any pics yet.

[SS4Matt]

yea i did the same thing to my dirtbike swingarm. first i got a can of "aircraft tall strip" and took all the paint off...then sanded it with a DA moving up in grits. until i finished with like 1500 or 2000 wet sand then i polished it with some neverdull...and Flitz. basically any metal polish will do. the clear coat will preserve them. since i clean my bike after i ride it everytime i never clear coated it...plus the mud and dirt and stuff would rip it off in a second. but yeah... i like joels idea. paint the inner spoke a black. maybe get daring and go orange. then polish the rest of it!

[93formulalt1]

I think I'll give it a try! How should I sand it? A DA is too big, and my dad needs his smaller grinder/sander for work. Maybe I'll just start doing it by hand with some 80 grit and then move up. I'll think of another way after I get tired of doing it by hand! Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still open to more if anyone has any!

[JoeliusZ28]

I think I'll give it a try! How should I sand it? A DA is too big, and my dad needs his smaller grinder/sander for work. Maybe I'll just start doing it by hand with some 80 grit and then move up. I'll think of another way after I get tired of doing it by hand! Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still open to more if anyone has any!

I wouldnt use any power sanders on wheels, they can take out too much material real quick, and it will be really hard to cover it up from that point. hand is the way to go, its just really tedious labor.

[SS4Matt]

if you used a DA with like 500 grit starting off i don't think you need to worry about taking off too much material. but that's just me. i don't like to take forever on stuff ya know? i mean if you have all winter...or whatever this season is they call it lol? cause it's certainly not winter right now lol...... but if you have all "winter" to do this i would just go by hand too plus makes you feel like you worked your ass off that much more for a good lookin wheel!

[93formulalt1]

I don't have all winter to do this. I can probably get one wheel done in a weekend. The garage isn't heated or anything, so I'll end up airbrushing the centers of the spokes in my basement (air compressor's down there, and its heated too) and having dad take them to work and having the painter clear them for me. I dont have another vehicle, so the 'maro's been my only source of transportation for a couple of months now. I'll probably start on one of them today. I'll let you know how they turn out. Keep posting your suggestions, I might change my mind after I strip the paint off of these things!

[SS4Matt]

that sounds like a plan. just keep doing one at a time and throw your spare tire on whatever corner of the car you're working on so you can still drive it!

[93formulalt1]

good point. I don't think I'll even need to do that. I can probably do one every weekend and drive my mom's 95 Aurora 4.0 (nice car- fast!) I don't know exactly what my plan is for clearcoat, I think I'll just polish the wheels until they shine and use a spray can of clearcoat on the paint in the center of the spokes. Dad says that the polished aluminum will hold up alright for the year. I am going to try to buy a beater with 4WD for next winter, so I don't really need to worry about it much. I'll post pics on my cardomain site when I finish one of the wheels. My username on there is also 06camarodude.

[SS4Matt]

yea that sounds like a good idea. polished alum. will probably corrode a little and lose it's shine with the salt and stuff... but just throw some kind of metal polish every now and then on it to keep it shine'n!

[93formulalt1]

Yeah. I probably wont be driving it next winter, so I'm not worried about corrosion

[JoeliusZ28]

if you clear coat the wheels, they wont lose their luster until the clear coat peels off.

[93formulalt1]

Yeah, that is also a good point. I had the stock polished aluminum wheels on my Roadmaster, and after about 7 years of constant driving, they looked like crap. I might use clear coat, but I might just buy another set of wheels to throw on if I end up driving the car another winter.