Baking or buying wheels?

[Frankenchevy]

I painted my factory steels about a month ago with rustoleum rusty metal primer shot through and hvlp then top coated with dark machine gray out of a can. They’ve been sitting in direct sunlight for over a month with daytime highs averaging 90 degrees and still aren’t passing the fingernail test. I really want to get my tires mounted up. I’m either going to try to bake them or buy some wheels.

Has anyone here baked
Paint to force cure or harden them? How hot and for how many cycles?

Have they already achieved maximum hardness after sitting in the sun for a month and baking will be a waste of time?

If the outlook is dim on my success as a wheel painter, I’m looking at the American Racing AR172 “Baja”. I can get a 16x8 with 4.5” backspacing for $95 each, but they’re black. The price for polished is $150 each.

Anyone have pictures of a square with plain black AR172s?

Photos aren’t 8 lug wheels but show the color:

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[Frankenchevy]

I’m not particular to the extra rivet look, mostly due to cleaning, but these are black so it won’t be as bad

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[82sbshortbed]

I'v painted a couple of sets of rims before and other various parts in my vehicles (like trim,door handles,bumpers,brake calipers and other stuff) when they fade over time. The key is to apply light coats and allow for dry time in between the coats. Did all the painting with a rattle can too. If your paint is still kinda soft and you can scratch it with your fingernail then you have applied too thick of a coat and it hasn't cured properly. You could probably strip that paint off the rims with paint stripper fairly easy since it never really cured properly. Then make sure you clean them really good after using stripper to make sure none is left on the rims. Then prime them allowing 15 -20 minutes between coats. Then let them sit for At Least 24hrs before painting them with whatever color you want. Again applying light coats of paint and allow the 15-20 minutes between coats. After you paint them it shouldn't be more than 48hrs for the paint to cure and you can put them back on your truck. Yeah setting them in the sun on a 90 degree will aid in paint cure time also. Oh and prep work,prep work and prep work is also a big key to how a paint job will turn out. Just take your time and I think you'll be pleased with the job.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I have a metal shed in the backyard that gets direct sun all day long. Out of curiosity I put the oven thermometer in there during a triple digit day and it got up to 165*. I use that shed to bake my painted items. If you have a shed like that or some way to amplify the heat in an area that gets sun all day long it may achieve the cure you're looking for. I've even used a radiator-style heater in a small space to drive up the temperatures to get a good cure on paint. Now that I'm married, using the bathroom is off limits for that, but it is the smallest room I have and has cured many painted items when the shed wouldn't get hot enough. Do you have some clear plastic or better yet some black plastic? I know landscapers use plastic over soil to cook weeds and undesirable plants from the soil, so that may be an option too. Cover them with thick black plastic with enough of an air gap that it doesn't stick to the curing paint.

 

[Blue Ox]

Not an expert by any stretch, but to get the correct colors on some things we have to buy color matched enamels and spray them. My experience is this: Best thing to do is add Japan Dryer to the mix when you thin it for spraying. But since you're past that point, as I have been in the past, you can bake it. I've gone up to about 180° on most things. The reason for that number is that when we first had these problems we couldn't get the paint to cure until the part was installed and run on an engine.

If you're going to be fancy and use an oven I'd say a half hour ought to do it. YMMV.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I ended up finding the "Baja" in polished aluminum for around $105. I'm going to grab them for this go round and keep my steel wheels to get the finish decent as a back up pair. I'll try the outdoor method first and if that doesn't work I'll hit craigslist for a used oven.

 

[smoothandlow84]

Have you considered powdercoating instead of plain paint? Powdercoating will definately outlast the paint.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Somebody here baked white wheels... in his wife's oven..maybe it was @chengny ?
They look great too...

 

[Frankenchevy]

I considered powder coating but it’s $100 per wheel in my area. I’ll bake the ones I have and tuck them away.

I picked these up for $106 each, no tax and free shipping.

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They’re a lot lighter. 20lbs versus the 40lbs or so of the steel wheel. Better acceleration and economy for sure. Not sure by how much though. At 8” wide versus the stock 6.5”, they should also fit my 285/75-16 a little more squarely.

 

[chengny]

Mine are stock rims - the original ones that came with the truck. They were in poor condition when I bought it. Pulled the tires and took them to the local gravestone dealer for blasting (apparently they cut the letters into the headstones with some kind of special grit). On days when business is slow (i.e. when not many people have gone to meet their maker) the two blasting guys are just hanging around. So they're happy to do side jobs. Better to get even a little money than nothing - I think they asked $5 per rim. That was for both the inboard and outboard faces - and in the wells as needed. The "well" of a rim is that surface under the tire that runs from flange to flange. I had to look that up.

They were taken down to white metal. Brought them home and lightly coated all surfaces with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. Just to prevent any rust bloom - in case I didn't get to them right away. The finish coating is another Rustoleum product called Appliance Epoxy Enamel. The stuff is awesome. When the epoxy is fully dry, it is as smooth and hard as a porcelain sink.

It goes on and lays down beautifully. However, to get a good finished product, the application requires one's full attention. In light of that, only one rim was done at a time. Two coats - one light and one medium - filled any profile created by the blasting grit. When all the rims were coated, they were allowed to air dry for two days.

And then, each night for four nights (after my wife went to bed), they went into the oven. Baked them low (200F) for 2 hours to prevent any remaining VOC's from bubbling out. When it was safe to bring the temp up, I took a chance and went to 300F. They stayed in the oven until morning (about 4 more hours) - before my wife woke up and found a giant rim in the oven. I don't tell her anything. I figure it's easier to apologize than to ask permission.

I got them all baked out in 4 nights. Reinstalled the OEM brass valve stems and then had the rubber remounted and balanced. That was over three years ago and I took this picture the other night - they still look like right out of the factory:

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That was written a couple of years ago - but I was looking at them about a month ago and they have not changed at all.

 

[Rusty Nail]

 

[hatzie]

Mine are stock rims - the original ones that came with the truck. They were in poor condition when I bought it. Pulled the tires and took them to the local gravestone dealer for blasting (apparently they cut the letters into the headstones with some kind of special grit). On days when business is slow (i.e. when not many people have gone to meet their maker) the two blasting guys are just hanging around. So they're happy to do side jobs. Better to get even a little money than nothing - I think they asked $5 per rim. That was for both the inboard and outboard faces - and in the wells as needed. The "well" of a rim is that surface under the tire that runs from flange to flange. I had to look that up.

They were taken down to white metal. Brought them home and lightly coated all surfaces with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. Just to prevent any rust bloom - in case I didn't get to them right away. The finish coating is another Rustoleum product called Appliance Epoxy Enamel. The stuff is awesome. When the epoxy is fully dry, it is as smooth and hard as a porcelain sink.

It goes on and lays down beautifully. However, to get a good finished product, the application requires one's full attention. In light of that, only one rim was done at a time. Two coats - one light and one medium - filled any profile created by the blasting grit. When all the rims were coated, they were allowed to air dry for two days.

And then, each night for four nights (after my wife went to bed), they went into the oven. Baked them low (200F) for 2 hours to prevent any remaining VOC's from bubbling out. When it was safe to bring the temp up, I took a chance and went to 300F. They stayed in the oven until morning (about 4 more hours) - before my wife woke up and found a giant rim in the oven. I don't tell her anything. I figure it's easier to apologize than to ask permission.

I got them all baked out in 4 nights. Reinstalled the OEM brass valve stems and then had the rubber remounted and balanced. That was over three years ago and I took this picture the other night - they still look like right out of the factory:

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That was written a couple of years ago - but I was looking at them about a month ago and they have not changed at all.

I'm surprised you weren't sleeping in the doghouse for a month for that one.

SWMBO doesn't want the casserole and cookies to taste like Epoxy, Acrylic, Kynar, Polyester, or ... and I can't say that I blame her. Cancer runs in my family so I'm a little careful of what I ingest. No need for extra carcinogens in my diet... the processed food industry does a good enough job all by themselves.

I would highly recommend thoroughly cleaning that oven with EZ-Off, ammonia, and finish up with an alcohol wipedown including the burners and racks.

I've baked paint and powder coat in several large kitchen ranges I picked up at the dump. It's plugged into the welder power plug in the garage using my welder extension cord. I keep it on a pallet with wheels so I can wheel it out in the driveway and not stink up the shop. When it dies it goes right back to the swap shop... I mean dump.