Recoating prep on wheels with acrylic enamel

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:45 am
I have 20 year Jeep with old aluminum alloy wheels whose clear coat was chipping and peeling. So I decided to paint them with Dupli-color wheel coating, an acrylic enamel in a rattle can. (I know the consensus on rattle cans, but I am not wanting to spend the money on a spray gun. Nor do I have a garage or spray booth; this is a driveway job and my expectations are aligned as such.)

I cleaned, sanded, primed, and sprayed on three coats of the Dupli-color. While trying to get at all angles of the wheels, I ended up with some runs and sags. (These Dupli-color cans like to clog and spit when tilted not very much from 90 degrees.) I waited a week for the paint to cure and wet sanded the imperfections with 400 grit.

Given that I removed some color coat from wet sanding, I now want to put down one final coat of color and then clear coat. My question is about the prep. Should I clean with a solvent such as mineral spirits or acetone or will they eat/soften the enamel even after seven days? Should I just go with soap and water?



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PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 11:09 am
Dupli-color is i believe a lacquer base paint, i could be wrong, i have been once before. i would just use soap and water. i use a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water some times, but you should be good with just soap and water. be careful and do a test spot, if indeed it is enamel it could lift if it hasn't cured good. with lacquer it won't be a problem. when you do the spraying just spot spray the sand through spots lightly and let them tack up good first, this will help seal the broken edges and make color coverage easier.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 1:49 pm
Hi Jay,

The Dupli-color factory matching body paint is indeed lacquer-based; their "Wheel Coating", which I used, is an acrylic enamel (really just overpriced Rust-Oleum with a horrible nozzle thrown on for good measure).

Per your suggestions, I just cleaned up with soap and water and some diluted rubbing alcohol and it went on very nicely. Thanks for the tips.

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