Honda Civic DIY

Painting your own rims at home without using Aircraft Stripper

Applicable to: Any alloy wheels
Difficulty: 2.5/5 – Moderate

Tools you need

- 1 Can of Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Paint Clear Coat
- 1 Can of Dupicolor Sandable Primer
- 4 Cans of Dupicolor High Performance Wheel Paint
- 400, 600 grit sand paper
- Dish washer
- Prepsol
- Towels
- Newspapers
- Masking Paper
- Index cards

Instructions

1. Clean your rims thoroughly with dish washer to remove wax/dirt from the surface
2. Begin wetsanding your rims with 400 grit sandpaper to prepare the surface for paint and to level the surface
3. Once the surface is relatively smooth and imperfection-free, move on to 600 grit sandpaper and repeat steps above

Note: If your rims has any scratches etc, it is important that you fix them now through sanding/bondo. The primer and especially the paint will not cover these defects for you.


for a super low price, but the finish was very very bad on it)

4. Clean the rims again with dish washer to remove dirt
5. Wipe your rims with prepsol to remove any leftover wax etc. (this step is not necessary)
6. Let rims dry completely
7. Put newspapers on the floor and place your rims on the newspapers to prevent spraying color on the floor
8. Put masking tape over any areas you do not want to paint (eg. rims logo etc.)
9. Put index cards over the circumference of the rims to protect the tires from being painted

10. Spray a light coat of primer on the rims, wait 10 minutes and repeat until rims are covered with primer, then wait 10 minutes or until primer is dry

11. Spray a light coat of wheel paint on the rims, wait 7 minutes and repeat until rims are covered with color, then wait 1 hour before putting on clear coat (the Duplicolor wheel paint is different than the company’s regular automotive paint, it is mixed with a metallic and is harder to control IMO)


12. Spray a light coat of clear coat on the rims, wait 10 minutes and repeat until you have around 2-3 coats.

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