I've done this many a time, to spruce up wheels. Here's what I do.
Clean everything (of course)
Buy a few rolls of cheap (for the high sticky factor) 2" masking tape.
I mask the wheel, buy placing the tape on the tire. You tear the masking tape into pieces about two inches long, and just keep overlapping, and moving around the wheel, placing the tape tangent to the rim. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in seconds (you don't need to have worked for JPL)
After there is a ring around the wheel, you just tape your masking paper to the tape on the tire, and voila.
I've used Tremclad (rustoleum to you in the USA) with good results, the wheels on my 1-ton are still presentable after 20,000 miles, and three winters spent in the rain, although they could use some freshening up.
You can thin down Tremclad and spray it, it'll be cheaper than rattle cans, but it does take longer to dry. You should only need a couple coats to cover though.
This way you don't have to break the bead, I'm too cheap to do that, don't have the equipment.
