Elbow grease, Rust Kutter, and an 8 year old paint bomb. :laugh:
Kidding aside, it was a bit of trial and error.
My original intent was to treat the wheels for rust, scuffing them and then use my cans of Eastwood Argent Silver that had stood on the shelf waiting for use.
I cleaned the wheels well with soapy water and rinsed
Sprayed them with Rust Kutter (
Rust Kutter/Rust Prevention & Control|Sanco Industries )
The Rust Kutter raised the paint, so I finished it off with some spray on paint remover. I removed the paint that came off.
I resprayed it with Rust Kutter.
Rinsed the Rust Kutter and then sprayed them again because I was not completely pleased with the results.
Ran out of time and left them unrinsed and quit.
A week later I came back to find that the Rust Kutter had lifted all the remaining paint. Everything was dry
Using synthetic wool I scrapped all the easily removal detritus from the wheels.
Then used a brass brush and a sanding buff on a drill motor, I removed the rest of the crap.
I vacuumed out the wheels and scraped out the remaining material where the rim and wheel hub meet.
I used a paint prep product to finish cleaning the wheels, sometimes I use acetone, sometimes brake clean, sometimes metal prep.
I sprayed three coats of metal etching primer, in a light color to go with the silver. Light coats.
I finished with three coats of Eastwood Silver Argent. I only needed one can, I still have three extras.
Eastwood Silver/Argent Rally Wheel Paint
I had planned to "clear" the wheels, but it makes it harder to touch them up in the future, so I'm still contemplating that decision. I've got 2 cans of clear on the shelf.
The caps were just some chrome polish and elbow grease.