Your wheel painting technique

[jwilliams81]

I hung mine from the garage rafters... then put up sheet plastic. Wore a respirator and used spray paint. Worked very well!

[dlshady]

This is a setup my Dad made back in the 70's and there's no telling how many wheels that have been painted on it over the years. You can manually rotate the wheel by touching it around the outer band and flip it from one side to the other so that you can get good coverage on both sides of the spokes. If you start to get a run, just rotate it around to allow the run to level itself out.

As some have pointed out, the problem with a setup like this is that you can only paint one wheel at a time. However, a one gallon paint can fits inside the center of the wheel perfectly so after you've painted one, lift it off the fixture and set it aside to dry on a gallon paint can while you get busy painting the next one. The benefit of that is you minimize the chances of getting overspray on the wheels you've already finished.













These are "T" wheels and the hub is too small for a gallon paint can so these are on quart cans, but you get the idea.

[28Ca8149]

I am painting six wheels this week and made a spinner from a Ford truck hub ,welded or bolted to a bar three feet long that is clamped to a saw horse. Get a hub with the old style breaks so you don't have a caliper to deal with studs 3 1/4 " apart Take every thing off that you don't need to make it lighter ,I then put the wheel on a horizontal pipe to finish the wheel where the tube goes and around the break drum

[28]

Great pics guys, keep em coming!

[Corley]

If on the west coast, just drop them off at a Les Swabb tire store, and for $50 a wheel, you get them back all cleaned up and powder coated in your choice of color.

[wmws]

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I don't have any fancy turning rig. I just lay them on my painting saw horse paint one side, let it dry, turn it over and paint the other side. Job done.

[SSsssteamer]

I built a frame with a belt driven motorized wheel arbor to hold a wheel. I can paint all the sides of the wheel at one sitting, and with the wheel turning at one RPM, I don't get any paint runs at all. I have painted all of my cars' wheels from 14" thru 29" diameter wheels. Wood or metal wheels, it works for all of them. The arbor is powered by my variable speed drill motor. When not being used for spray painting, I use the wheel arbor for holding my wheels for sanding and other prep work. I have had powder coating done, but as said above, the prep work doesn't stand up to the baking in the oven.

[wrndln]

The problem with most of these paint rigs is you can paint only one wheel at a time. I don't like having to get my painting equipment out 5 times. I know most paint dries fairly quickly, but still... I prefer, like stated above, to paint ALL the rims in the same session using the long pipe method. Why make things harder than they need to be.
Rusty Nelson

[28Ca8149]

I have to paint 6 wheels for the FORDOR .I made a spinner using a old ford front hub I cut the brake drum off to make it lighter using a cut off disc . Attach it to a up right angle iron,30 " long and a T support at the bottom ,with two bolts 9/16x 3" .I hold the wheel with two Find thread bolts 1/2"x 3 1/4" screwed into the Stud nuts that are screwed on half way .Now paint the inside of the wheel, un bolt it ,turn it around and bolt it with a couple of stud nuts .Paint it on the out side .When done I slide it on a 1 1/4" pipe that is clamped to my hydraulic press,about 6 ft long to dry. You can use this spinner to check the wheel for straightness and sand blasting ect. Now is this clear as mud .Hope it makes sense .I have made a lot of tools for different things ,My moto is keep it simple stupid and that is harder to do then if you make it complicated To bad we couldn't be closer as it is lot of work for just 6 wheels .

[Terry, NJ]

I lived in Jackson, Ocean County for 35 years. I was chairman of the Board of Health, sat on the Planning , and Zoning boards and the Environmental commission. Jackson, at 104 sq. miles is the 3rd largest township in NJ. It is also the home of Six Flags, Great Adventure. and Switlick Parachute. I met Stanley Switlick before he died. It is also the site of one of the first Nuclear accidents. In 1961, A Nuclear warhead caught fire and melted. We had two kilos of plutonium ready to go critical on that small piece of Maguire AFB that's in Jackson. Jackson also was known for Cassville, The site of the largest enclave of White Russian emigrees in NJ and the burial place of nine Generals of the white Russian army and Igor Sikorski who was a leading power behind ROVA farms. So, when compared to Jackson NJ, all other jacksons pale to insignificance.
Terry

[fredski53]

Seems to me a lot of people are overthinking the fine art of painting wheels!!!

[Purdy Swoft]

I paint mine mounted to a front axle with hubs installed . I set the axle up on the end of a table that is narrower than the axle so that I can get to both sides of the wheels .

[flatford39]

I have a model a spindle and hub welded to a 2" piece of pipe I made a stand for. The base was a screwed up wheel. the wheel is at chest height and I can spin it freely and access both sides. Works real good.