May 29, 2007

Go black and you won't go back.

If you do your share of driving at the track chances are your wheels look like crap. Race pads and heat and rubber will turn your nice lightweight rims into rusty crusty nasty alloy donuts. This is especially painful if you happen to like a particular breed of pads, Performance Friction PF 97 being a prime example, which produce a dust with the charming habit of turning into a rust crust so hard it can only be taken off with oven cleaner. This will happen if the dust gets wet and dries.
I got sick of getting mad about wheels looking crappy so I decided to paint my SSR track wheels black. This is key to happiness: no more obsessive cleanings, no more crappy looking wheels.

It's very easy to do for yourself, and don't stress too much over it remember that your wheels already look like crap!.

Start with as good a cleaning, use a de-greasing agent. Give it a good once over with a scotch-brite pad. Put masking tape on the valve stem.

Get a can of Dupli Color High Performance Wheel Coating at your local auto parts store. I like matte black (which ironically is not matte at all). Shake well.

No need to take the tire off, nobody sees the inside of your wheel under the tire, only your tire mounter will know for sure.

Use cardboard as a quick mask. If you get a tiny amount on your race tire and get all upset about it just remember this: if you are driving properly that tire will be gone VERY soon....oh, and it's black anyway.

Go at it in multiple light coats, it will need to dry about 10-15 minutes between coats. The stuff is great and as long as you don't put it on too heavy will sort of self level and make a very even coat. Let dry overnight.

Now the best part is that after you have done your initial painting and you come back from the track with nasty wheels like the ones above, a quick wipe and degrease and a quick spray and you are back in top form. Scratches? no problem, spray and go.

It's fucking greatness as Jebbe would say.

2 comments:

  1. Andrea,

    Hello. Or you could coat your car / rims with a product we sell called Rejex. I have used it on my car / track rims for years and everything still looks GREAT!

    Regards
    Mo
    www.offcambermotorsport.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. must....resist....temptation....

    :o)

    ReplyDelete

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