The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop painting wheels new idea

As they say, there's nothing new under the sun but will call it that because I've not seen it before. Tires on, no tubes. Was thinking about wedging 3x5 notecards all the way around but ya know, the best way would be to remove the valve core to stick the cards deeper and could even re-inflate to hold them tight. Still gonna need the rubber covered though.

Had bought a big roll of 9 ft wide painters plastic for the full body paintjob and realized I still have about half the roll. Hmm...cut a piece about 24 inches long (or whatever) then unfold to 9 foot width and it's more than enough to wrap around the circumference of tread and overlap the ends, plus enough to cover both sidewalls and tuck into both beads.

Since there's no bead ridge on tube wheels they're relatively easy to break the bead and give yourself a half inch gap to tuck in the plastic on both inside and outside beads. Re-inflate to lock in the edges and there ya go.

Should make it easy to lay them on the floor, spray back side, then flip over and shoot the outside without dislodging anything...for as many coats as desired.

Hope to paint early next week and will update whether it works. Sometimes the simplest ideas fail miserably. Ya never know.

I stick playing cards overlapping each other in between the bead and the rubber all the way around. Mask off the area behind the cards with tape and paper or what have you.

As a sixteen year old I'd rub GoJo to cover the tires and paint, then wash off and take my honey for a spin!!

Oh boy, I just saw vicegrip garage’s Derek demonstrate a super fast method of doing this with a plastic garbage bag.
Bundle up the bag into a long bunch, lay it from the center of the wheel to the rim which is half the diameter, and
cut the end of the bunch off at that point and you have a hole when you flatten it out that is just smaller than the rim size.
Push down the tire at the rim and slip it under all around…..re-inflate slightly, and the tire is covered . It took him literally seconds!
I can’t remember which episode., but I will look.
C

That was one of the Packard episodes...VGG Packard wheel paint starting at about 30:20

Awesome, I have all the first season episodes recorded (except Episode 1) just waiting for a few evenings to binge!
Very much enjoyed the one with '51 Chevy w/216. It's the only one I've watched so far.

👍🏻

Derek's method is definitely the way to go. I ended up using a combination. The .31 mil painter's plastic isn't thick enough to wedge in the gaps I was able to make, not having a way to fully break the bead. What worked great was builder's paper from HD. Cut into 5 inch squares was just the right stiffness to wedge in the gap when standing on the sidewalls.

That's what I do with a deck of old playing cards. Put short edge in.

There's not enough cards in my house for all 4 rims inside and out! Checked Amazon just out of curiosity. You can buy a dozen standard decks for $14.98, which ain't a bad price for 624 cards. Versus 3x5 notecards at about the same price. Or, you can get 140 feet of builder's paper for a whole buck less.

Funny. I haven't played cards in 25 years but I seem to have tons of decks stashed around.

Last time i was there, Family Dollar had playing cards for $1 a pack.

It all depends on what one has on hand to use. I always have lots of old flat sheet metal. It's very easy to cut to fit around the rim. Three or 4 separate pieces to go all the way around.

Of course, you can always use a paint brush with a paint that flows out nicely...

Amen to that! Let me tell you, those were the good old days, fresh repaint of wheels and running boards, did it about once a year and it sure did make the truck sparkle! Still do it with running boards because they're so beat up and I can't bear to part with them because they came with the truck.

Not to mention new body panels, and running boards I'm sure, don't have a good reputation for fit and quality. Sometimes our half worn out parts are better than new Chinesum ones.

My dad painted his 1938 Plymouth with a brush when he was in high school. He said it flowed and settled so nicely that it didn't show any brush strokes. His friends all thought he had it professionally sprayed.

Never did post a pic of finished wheels in this thread, so here's the back of one. The backs sides didn't turn out half bad, it's the visible outsides that are some of the worst work I've ever done with a paint gun. Fortunately because of the way light hits them the parts that look like someone sprayed coarse sandpaper (yeah, so bad it feels like it too) isn't too noticeable.

Sadly MOST of the time, Otto.

Here's a 1982 brushed on tractor paint pic.

You can always install beauty rings to help hide a paint job you are not happy with. e.g.
https://www.wheelcovers.com/16-inch-trim-rings-beauty-rings/

It says "Rings," plural. That's $89.95 for 4 rings, right? Or a piece?

No self-respecting farmer that owned an ADd truck in the 1950s would have ever put beauty rings on it. That goes for white wall tires as well.

No, but their teenaged sons , thats a different story!

Yes, set of 4.

Never cared for trim rings because they scratch the wheels so bad. You know, the part of the wheel that feels like sandpaper. We sure don't want to mess that up.

Gotta admit the thought crossed my mind. Kinda lucky to have stumbled into a non-chrome '52 all those years ago rather than a chrome grille version. From then on I've always prefered plain jane basic cars and trucks of all kinds. To my eyes a chrome grille doesn't look right on an AD truck. Have gotten used to chrome hubcaps though, and prefer them to the Korean war era gray ones I've put away in a box because they need a re-paint. No reason I couldn't warm up to trim rings.

Maybe paint them hubcap gray...