That Is The Question... I'm trying to paint my rims black and leave the outer part of the rim silver. I'm familiar with the process but I do have a quick question.

I'm trying to decide whether to sand the rims off before putting the primer on or just to prime it over the rims as it is now. (After cleaning it thouroughly obviously)

My rims are still fairly new and don't really have any scratches on them. I've gotten mixed responses, some say that sanding them down will make the primer and paint stick better as others say there's no need to sand just to prime them. Any suggestions?

 

Sand and prime them, save yourself the time of having to paint them over and over.

 

I say...400 if the clear coat is starting to fade and just run an 800 grit after that...Go with a high temp paint also...and if you want a good finish...run a dry(high count)cloth over the primer once its dry(it will remove the small particles that might get in the paint during application). I guess it also matters if you are running flat or gloss paint. If you are using gloss...I would suggest BLOCK paint...its da sheezy! . I painted the E30 bottle caps I have on my CRX with it..and its held up rather nicely

 

Do not sand them!!!!!!!! you have to sand blast them if you want it to look good at all

 

I painted my rims gunmetal and left the the outmost ring silver and I didn't sand and it turned out fine. I did, go to extensive lengths to make sure the rim was really clean before I did it. Its been over a year, and they still are lookin great.

 

You dont primer rims.

 

All you have to do is:

1. Go to an Auto Body Supply Store
2. Buy some 3M Red Scotchbrite Scuff Pads
3. Scuff/Sand the parts you want to paint
4. Paint Rims

That's all...like TehJustin said, you don't have to primer rims. The only time you need to Primer ANYTHING on a car is if Body Work has been done and bondo has been spread.

 

All right. Thanks a lot.

 

No problem