Hi Guys,

How do you guys tackle prepping motorcycle rims for paint? Sounds stupid but, are there any other alternatives than hand sanding or sand blasting? I just don't dig the idea of hour upon hour of hand sanding with all the angles involved. Thoughts?

i have done several. depends on the top coat finish paint, chrome, rust and the type of end job your looking for. i will typically sand blast or bead blast a painted wheel i usually will remove all the spokes. for a chrome wheel remove the spokes and sand blast, most of the time you can blast the chrome off, just depends. how about a couple pictures of this project we can better advise if we have something to look at .
Jay D.

Not really worth it these days with all the options for powder coat...

I do a few sets of wheels here and there for the Harley dealer here and they are not real fun.

are you just looking to practice or is this a job for someone ? any reason you cant find a good powder coat ?

badsix wrote:how about a couple pictures of this project we can better advise if we have something to look at .
Jay D.

Let's see if this works......

PainterDave wrote:are you just looking to practice or is this a job for someone ? any reason you cant find a good powder coat ?

Sounds like I am doing fenders and a tank and he has asked if I would consider doing rims as well. Not knowing how long that would take makes it hard for me to price that out--I don't want to go real high and scare him off the whole job but on the flip side, I don't want to be too low and end up working for hours for little profit. I've gotten pretty good at pricing fenders and tanks but this is an unknown for me. I really don't want to get into hours of sanding them though. If I can convince him to go the powder coating route I think that maybe the best for both of us. Wishful thinking but, if I got them super clean, could I spray an etching primer and make it stick without sanding?? Follow that by a coat of sealer and then the bc/cc. My guess is no but, not sure.

on those wheels i would defiantly do as Dave suggested and try and find a powder coater. they would be a challenge to paint with a gun, you would need a detail gun to make it easier.
Jay D.

badsix wrote:on those wheels i would defiantly do as Dave suggested and try and find a powder coater. they would be a challenge to paint with a gun, you would need a detail gun to make it easier.
Jay D.

I agree also with the powder coating option. I do however have a detail gun that I played around with a month ago and got great results. Would my theory with etching primer work or would it not have the adhesion without sanding?

I would not even attempt to paint that wheel without blasting first, and at that point the only thing that makes sense is powder coat. find a nice powder coat to compliment the color of the bike and put your effort into the other parts on the bike.

the powder will also help smooth out the rough casting of the wheel. you could do it with a gun, but you'll be upside down in hours if you do it right. your customer most likely will be happier with the looks and durability of the powder.
Jay D.

Rebel Racing wrote:

PainterDave wrote:are you just looking to practice or is this a job for someone ? any reason you cant find a good powder coat ?

Sounds like I am doing fenders and a tank and he has asked if I would consider doing rims as well. Not knowing how long that would take makes it hard for me to price that out--I don't want to go real high and scare him off the whole job but on the flip side, I don't want to be too low and end up working for hours for little profit. I've gotten pretty good at pricing fenders and tanks but this is an unknown for me. I really don't want to get into hours of sanding them though. If I can convince him to go the powder coating route I think that maybe the best for both of us. Wishful thinking but, if I got them super clean, could I spray an etching primer and make it stick without sanding?? Follow that by a coat of sealer and then the bc/cc. My guess is no but, not sure.

i usually add 30% to what my powder coater charges me if that helps