Painting wheels

[tree grower]

Several of the wheels on my 1993 F350 are fairly rusty, and I would like to paint them. The tires are nearly new, and I would like to avoid the cost of having them dismounted, remounted and rebalanced. I have a sandblaster (Northern Tools), but am fearful of blasting sand working its way into the bead, I have thought about filling the bead with heavy grease, and washing it clean after blasting and before painting. Is this feasible? Plan B is to use a heavy wire brush on an angle grinder.

 

[ovrszd]

Sand Blaster material bounces off rubber. Unless you hold the wand in one spot at the bead you aren't hurting anything. You'll have a lot more trouble not damaging the valve stems unless they are steel.

Sand Blast them. You'll be glad you did. And it'll take less time to do all of them than it would to do one with an angle grinder, which won't get into the critical places....

 

[Granthol]

Or just spray them with Ospho then paint of your choice.

 

[Threepoint]

Hmm. Agree with Richard that there isn't much risk of the media getting down in the bead. But what about some of it ricocheting around the hub and ending up between the rotors and pads? :scratchchin:

But, then, I suppose that's a risk even from just driving over sandy areas at speed.

 

[ovrszd]

I might have jumped the gun a bit, but I assumed he was removing them from the vehicle?? I would never shoot paint on my truck wheels with them mounted to the truck.

 

[4570Man]

I painted the wheels on my ton truck last year. I cleaned them up with a wire wheel and sprayed them. The first 2 I taped off the wheels that’s kinda a pain to do. The second 2 I decided to stick index cards around the tire kinda pushed in the bead which was a lot faster but it didn’t work as good. I’d recommend taping them. It wasn’t clear if you intended removing them from the truck but I definitely would.

 

[ovrszd]

And taping them is definitely a PITA. But worth it.

 

[tree grower]

No risk to brake components. I will take the wheels off and prop them up so I can work on both sides.

 

[Deere Dude]

I sort of did that to my dually and camper. But, I took them off and got some light aluminum strips two inches wide and a little more than the circumference of the wheel and tucked them in where rubber and steel meet. Works good for a paint shield and can be reused..

 

[yomax4]

Blue masking tape is what I just used on my plow truck wheels. Sucks a bit as stated above but simple and clean to remove.