LightsOut

Finally finished college and have some time on my hands while looking for a new job. Never got the chance to do any work on my tc so I'm taking advantage of the time I have.

Just a couple of questions, I know this topic has been beat to death so sorry ahead of time.

1) My rims are dinged up, scraped/curb rash. Should I just sand them smooth along with the rest of the rim with the prep or should I fill it with puddy (and if so what kind?)

2) Heard many ideas as how to strip paint. Should I get paint stripper or sand it? And if sanding I plan to get a low grit for the early sanding and something much less coarse to smooth it out. However what is your take on wetsanding between coats? necessary, better results?

3) Worth painting the lugs or are they most likely going to chip or scratch when I put them on?

4) Lastly, did you guys paint the very inside of the rim? Seen many people not paint it and wonder if there was a reason for it.

colinantherus

1.you can take your rims to a rim repair shop, but in order to save yourself your money i would just paint right over it. sand down your rims until every where you look is scratched up. this should take around 30 minutes per rim. after sanding you can either use soap and water or alcohol wipes to remove all of the dust. home depot should sell paint prep wipes.

2. if you are sanding down to bare metal try to find someone who can sandblast them, if not, sanding with heavy grit sand paper then moving to a lighter grit will give you the best results.

3. no

4. depends on your personal preference. i didnt. its a pain in the a**

LightsOut

Yea, I'm trying to avoid anything costly, I'd rather replace the stocks before dumping too much cash into repairing them. Was thinking about using bondo to fill which I saw while searching about this or just sanding everything down.

LightsOut

Also can I paint right over the weights on the inside of my rim if I choose to paint the inside?

tC_Kimmie

I would say it depends on how crazy you want to get with it... when we painted ours we first stripped the wheels down using a paint stripper from Home Depot. If you use the paint stripper that is sprayable, only use the spray bottle it comes with.. it will ruin any other spray bottle you use (we ended up switching to the paste since it stuck on to the wheel better and would work at the paint better.) Rinse the wheels down after and then dry. Then sand with a really low grit (we used 280) to scuff up the surface. Afterwards clean with whatever you would like. We then used a self-etching primer first and used about a can a wheel. Let that dry and then clean using tack cloths (Home Depot). We then moved onto a high build primer (again about a can a wheel). Let that dry and clean with tack cloths. Now before you spray color, sand with a high grit like 2000 then clean again with the tack cloths. Then your ready to spray color and if you want to clean when the color dries and then spray a clear. Would definitely make sure you wait at least a week after you spray the wheels before you mount them up and drive on them. The paint after a week is still semi soft and can chip..

Hope this helps!

tC_Crisis

Everyone heres suggestions are great, but just to save you some time. you really dont need to sand down your rims. Clean them with paint thinner, or some type of degreaser. lay down a coat of primer and follow them with color of your choice for rim paint. If your sanding down your rims because of the curb rash then by all means, do what they say. I painted mine black and its been 3 years plus no peeling and no flaking. Take your time between coats and be patient. but then again is a stock wheel so... Good luck.

ps. I have curb rash on mine but then again i didnt care since the wheel was going to be black. you cant see anything unless ur standing right next to it. also for the inside of the wheel, i found that the overspray will take care of that part hehe

bsp_tc_06

green