Spraying wheels

Gravity feed gun, commercial (ie, lorry, tractor etc) two pack paint and an airfed mask. Mount the wheel on some sort of turntable as it'll make your life much easier. One mist coat, one quick blat of paint with the wheel turning steadily. Hold the gun so that the top of the spray pattern is at the rim of the wheel and hold that end closer to get more even coverage.

If you haven't got an airfed mask, try to get hold of cellulose paint and use a charcoal mask. Synthetic paint is rubbish - takes ages to harden off so it will come off in chunks when you fit the tyres. Or spray the wheels after tyres have been fitted...

Ok.

And that would be ok direct onto zinc?

Yeah, I was thinking of something like that .. or hanging it from a pulley on a loop of rope.

I used to love cellulose paint, even in rattle cans. Painted all sorts of things with it including the hulls of RC racing IC powered mono hulls. The boats would bounce of each other at full speed and there was ner a mark. ;-)

Yup. :-(

What if I was doing these outside (still sunny day etc), do you think I would still need to be quite so specific re the mask please?

Hmmm, as they have been zinc coated I guess that could be an option (not having to worry about the insides). Mind you ... I normally borrow my mates tyre fitting machine so can take it easy and make sure nothing touches anything and is all lubed up etc. ;-)

All the best and thanks Doki ...

T i m

A half size gun may be helpful by the way.

Nope. I'd use a decent acid etch primer at least - it's very thin stuff but it sticks well and does a good job of protecting the metal. Again, this stuff takes your breath away, so you need a good charcoal mask. It doesn't, however, need an airfed mask. I'd not be inclined to spray a filler primer on wheels that I'm not over bothered about. Obviously if you're doing them black then perhaps you should.

Having sprayed a few wheels (tractor wheels) I'd say a turntable arrangement would be the way to go. Spray the backs, let it dry and then do the fronts.

The isocyanates in two pack paint are very very bad for you. Some people react far more badly than others, and you can end up with life long ill effects such as asthma. I'd be happy to do a set of wheels myself in the open air with a fresh half mask from 3M so long as I was far away from any neighbours and so on. It's your own choice.

The other option would be waterbased with a 1K clear coat, which can be sprayed happily with a halfmask but won't be anywheren near as durable as twopack. OTOH if it's a kit car and it won't get many miles then perhaps that's the best way.

TBH if I were you I'd go to the paint factors and ask if they can find you any cellulose lying around. Some paint factors somewhere will have a bit, and you'll only need a litre. In fact, I've just looked at ebay and there's still Celly available. That's definately the option I'd go for, particularly as that's what you're experienced with. It's not over cheap, but you'll struggle to buy commercial two pack under £15 a litre + VAT and you'll still need hardener.

On it's way from eBay as of yesterday. ;-)

I've used the stuff in rattle cans to good effect. I got some for my mate to use in his spray gun for me (for ally wheels) and found it was water soluble. Probably ok once the top coat was on.

To be fair, although they were quite rusty where the powder coat had fallen off the longest they weren't that bad overall. I certainly wouldn't bother filling them, this really just needs to be 'tidy' and fairly long lasting.

Even if I was I wouldn't on this vehicle Doki ;-)

Ok ..

Yeah, my mate used some recently in a motorbike shop (for the first time) and a couple of them ended up with headaches. :-(

Understood.

Ok, another option then.

Hey, now there's an idea. My garage mate may well still have an odd tin of Celly at the back of his shelves .. I'll ask him tomorrow (I'm due to be welding on her Astra in his place). I'm not even fussed re the colour if it's not too radical .. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m