My rims... eww!

[SmoothMX3]

Harm me... As in?
Hmm...
I don't know what I want to do honestly bro... I'm kinda lookin for idea's really.
Care to inform me?

[tehbrookzorz]

lol. I was joking. I just said it cause I have britelites and I love 'em, but copying the paint scheme might not look as good and could be a lot of work.

[SmoothMX3]

Yeah another guy done something kinda like that on the forum.
I think ive narrowed it down to the following in my choices...
Im painting the rims one solid color... or getting them powdercoated... depends

Silver
Gunmetal
Bronze

[SmoothMX3]

I think I'm gonna go Bronze... What do you guys think?
I'll probally be getting my rims sandblasted in about 1 to 3 weeks... Depends on what the money looks like.

[Mooneggs]

I think I'm gonna go Bronze... What do you guys think?
I'll probally be getting my rims sandblasted in about 1 to 3 weeks... Depends on what the money looks like.

well hopefully the money is green

bronze sounds cool to me! what color is your car again?

[SmoothMX3]

Like a blueish green color

[fowljesse]

Here's an idea for polishing the lip, if you're not scared..
Have them blasted ( or rent a blaster), then, 1 at a time put them on the drive wheel (jacked up, of course w/ E-brake on), and have someone put power to the drive wheel while you hold steel wool to the lip, starting with medium, and going to ultra fine, and finish with polish on a cloth, then tape them off, and paint/ powdercoat.
I think they look great how they are.

[SmoothMX3]

Yeah... I like them the way they are too.
I just didnt want to go threw the hassle of taping them off. It's a pain in the arse.
It's hard making it look perfect. Once i tape it off, sometimes it seeks under the paint just a tad. See this is how i done it last time. I painted the whole rim black. Then, I put tape pretty much covering the whole rim. I then went around the crease of the lip with a razor blade. Once i got that done, I pilled the tape off the lip and spray'd the lip. let dry and unmasked it. all of it was mainly straight, but some of it was kinda squigly. so, this time after taping the lip off, then cutting the crease, I just pill the middle part that is taped and spray it black. Also... have you used that method with the steel wool? and do you know it works?
and... where can i rent a sand blaster? is it hard to use?

[fowljesse]

I have done this.... but on bicycles Actually, come to think of it, I did this on a Mercedes a long time ago. Of course, you have to have the counterweights on the inside. I haven't rented media blasters before, because I had a friend that is a mechanic, but I know you can rent them. You can also strip them with a wire wheel.
Here's the easy (no tape!) way:
Paint/ powder coat them, after blasting, or stripping without taping anything. Then, sand the lip with 220 while it's rotating on the drive axle, by just holding the paper (attatched to a block) flat against the lip. This will ensure a straight line. Then just hold the medium grit steel wool on for 15 seconds, then repeat with finer grades, etc. finishing with polish. Then use a clean cloth, holding it on the same way, with it rotating. If the line between paint/ polish is not perfect, just hold a small paint brush on the paint edge line as it rotates, anchoring your arm against your knee, or the fender, or whatever keeps it steady.
I did this on a Mercedes SL, and it turned out great. Oh, another thing I did for a perfect line was hold a scissor edge right on the point of the lip (where paint meets polish) after everything was done. This made an absolutely perfect edge. You have to hold the scissor at a 45 degree angle... This will be too hard to explain, so if you do this, I'll take some pictures. If you do it wrong, the scissors will chatter, and not make a perfect edge.

[fowljesse]

Just remembered... I did rent a sand blaster, to strip an RV I then painted. I don't remember where I rented it from. It attatched to an air compressor, and just shot the sand out, and it went everywhere. I think you need a bead blaster for aluminum. It's easy to do, but easy to screw up, too. You have to keep it moving, so you don't blast too much in one place. Practice on the insides, first. I've also used the kind of media blaster that is enclosed. I don't know if you can rent one big enough.

It would be easier to just wire wheel them, but blasting makes the surface uniform molecularly, so it's stronger, and polishes better, and holds the shine longer.

I was going to wait until I painted my car, to do my rims exactly this way, but if you want, I'll do them sooner, and put up a how-to with pics.

[SmoothMX3]

A called a place here called "United Rentals". To rent a Sand Blaster, Is $136.00 A day. The Bags of sand are like $5.00 a bag. I don't know how much sand it will take and if I can do it how it's suppose to be done. Being said, I'll just take it to a professional. Then Polish the lip myself, and paint. I really dont know what you mean by making a straight line without taping?!... I'm probally going to be spray painting them, So... If I don't tape it, It will then get on the part I polished. Anyways... This is the plan and I'm going to attempt it not too long from now. I'll have my Tires taken off my rims next week, Then I might go ahead and send them to someone to be sand blasted.
I'll update you guys with pics...

[fowljesse]

I'm saying paint them first, then sand the paint off the lip, and polish it.

[SmoothMX3]

Wouldn't that kinda be hard??
I am scared... lol

[fowljesse]

Ha haha.
When you spray it, just don't directly paint the lip, so it has an overspray coat, that will be easy to sand off. With the wheel spinning, you just hold the sandpaper steady against the lip and let it do the work.
ANOTHER option is: buy pinstriping tape the same width as your lip. Polish the lip, and put the tape on, and then paint the rims. Take off the tape, and if it bled, do the scissor edge while it's spinning.
Man, I really want those to look good, without you spending alot of money.
Now I'm inspired to do mine.