I just spent couple of days painting my wheels. Stock polished aluminum wheels look great on pictures to me, but up close and personal they just do not cut it for me. I swaped my CRX wheels for a few months and thought I will never use stock ones any more unless I do something with them. I plan on geting new set of shoes with sticky summer rubber, but I need stock ones for rainy winter season.
I am so content how they turned up that I am debating if I should get new ones at all! If I do they will have to be forged in order to be light and I think that I will stay with 15's. Weight penalty can be felt ona Fit big time. Do not get me wrong, if you have money to burn why not, but for a daily driver and track bound CRX in a garage.......
ne of the pics is just plain black and second one finished one. I am working on center caps. Some carbon fibre with raised red "H" on top of it is what I have in mind.
Comments?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7/23/07 Update: I finally got some time to research source for CF and paint "H" I removed from HFP wheels center caps for the Fit. Center caps are the same diameter, but they latch in the grove at different depth so they did not fit.
It all worked out at the end. I utilized original OEM Sport wheel center caps, attached CF and badge to them. I am debating about spraying some clear coat over center caps to protect CF from geting penetrated by dirt and carwash soap. I clear coated the badge over red paint.
Wheel project is finally completed!

 

Excellent job !! congrats.

What was the paint process?

 

that looks really really good, major thumbs up and the red lip speechless

 

Looks Sweet! Lets See Some Pics Of It On The Car Please!!!!

 

wow I am surprised! they came out really good!

 

i'm usually not a fan of painted stock wheels, but yours is an exception. it looks very nice. congrats! i wonder how you did it?

 

those look badass.you need to get us some pics with these on the car

 

Very nice job on the wheels. What did you use for the red stripe? It isn't that rim tape that they make for sport bikes is it? Anyway they look good. I just might have to do something like that to mine so at least I could roll with some style in the winter months!

 

Thanks guys! It took two days, but it is well worth the effort.
In a "nut shell", I sanded them down with sanding blocks of 150 then finished them with 320 grit. Pressure washed them and let them air dry overnigh after I used compressed air to get most of the water off.
Next day I deflated tires completely to narrow tire width and expose inside of the rim lip from the tire wall. I laid the wheel flat on the bench and pushed on the side walls to expose lip even more.
If you are planing to paint inside of the wheel like I did, primer it and paint it BEFORE you mask tires!!! You paint the front face after you mask them after painted inside surface dries for couple of hours after the last coat! I masked them with painters plastic sheating by cutting it about 2" smaller then wheel diameter. I forced plastic sheating in between the rim lip and tire with plastic scraper carefully not to tear the plasic covering. I tightened excess sheating underneath the wheel. I wiped all whell surfaces with lint free rag and rubbing alcohol.
I primered all 4 wheels with a total of 3 cans of DupliColor self etching primer in two coats with about an hour of drying time in between. Then I did the same with 3 cans on DupliColor wheel paint in two coats.
Then I had to mask them exposing only the lip which I sprayed with one small can of DupliColor red paint.

TIPS & TRICKS: Patience is required! Ton of it and I am not a very patient guy! This is a major achivement for me! LOL! You MUST alow at least 45-60 minutes before removing masking tape otherwise you might peal pieces of that painted lip! I used electrical tape since it is very flexible, but I did not stretch it. If you stretch it, it will tend to retract and come off! Sand wheels outside the garage so you do not end up with dust everywhere in the garage! Clenliness is the key to perfect finish. Once you mask the wheels and are ready to wipe them with alcohol, close the garage until you are ready to pull masking tape at the very end of the job. Any dust or pollen flying and landing on your fresh paint will ruin it and you will be forced to sand it and re-do it!
Use gun trigger adapter for the can's since it is a lot easier to hold it and control motion. DO NOT USE CAN UNTIL IT RUNS OUT! IT WILL SPIT PAINT AT THE LAST ONE SIXTH OF THE CAN AND YOU WILL BE SANDING IT AGAIN! Paint all wheels one after another and shake cans frequently! Doing one wheel at the time will cause can nozle to clog up even if you discharge them upside down! If they do not, they will at least spit paint!!! Use sweeping motion at about 12" to 18" away from the wheel.
CAUTION: Use serious breathing mask and not just a paper face mask! It is not just a paint dust, but also the fumes you should avoid. Protective eyewear as well. TAKE YOUR TIME DOING IT! THIS IS A TWO DAYS PROJECT! If you plan to remove wheels in the morrning and put them back on in the evening, do not even bother to start this project!

I am not an experienced painter, so you guys feel free to share tips and tricks and help the community!

If you do it patiently results are great. I would love to see them in different colors. If you do it, let me see them!
For now, injoy!

 

Can you do my tires? and how much will it cost?

 

Damn man, that really looks sweet. I'm almost tempted to consider doing mine, but in white. Good Job!

 

Chikubi, white would be quite a contrast on your blue machine. Maybe with a matching blue lip, or sticking with "in your face" attitude, red!
I wish we had a choice of yellow Fit! I would have goten it in a heart bit! Black wheels with a yellow lip! I am druling just thinking about it!
I am thinking about vinil graphics for the spokes, since it can be removed if I get tired of it, or to try a new design! Crap! I am obsessed! I need help! I am working on about dozen ideas for this car! My best man and I will get together in our friends machine shop in Los Angeles in a few weeks and start building prototype parts! That machine shop is sick! They do highly detailed parts for surgical equipment including titanium hips, parts for defense contractors and NASA, serious racing stuff for big names.....
I can't wait! Our friend, the shop owner is leaving for Maranello for a private black stallion tour on their invitation. He has 512TR Modificata, Laborghini Jalpa, classic E-Type Jags in hardtop an convertible version. He had us remove some parts of his cars, so he can re-make them out of titanium and magnisium with some customatization and then we would install them back. Did I mention he is about 65 years old! He is even more obsessed than us!
Darn, I am drifting away! Go for it Chikubi! It is a pain in a butt to do it, but results are sweet!

 

CuTeBoi, PM sent!

 

im so glad you did this...i wanted to do this for so long but i wanted to see if someone would do it first...i think it came out pretty decent...im trying to imagine how the stock wheels painted black, look like on an SSM Fit

 

good job man... got skillz!

 

Very nice, clean job.

I once painted my hubcaps black on my Honda Civic... It didn't look as good, though.

 

Thanks guys. I was just trying to make do with what we already all have from factory. It has been a while now, few car washes, a wax job that included wheels and they still look as I painted them yesterday.
I am a grown up now (yeah right!-my wife would say), so I stay away from all out racing stuff. Just trying to improve as if Honda itself did it these days. CRX is for that all out stuff, Fit is a daily driver.

 

Looks great! That muffler is just screaming to be jumped on and ripped off.

 

looks great! wonder how it would look on my NHBP fit, but in all black...hmmm

 

Ciburri, you "new" wheels looks astonishing! Just fabulous! And it really matches your car.

Hmm? Then my idea of painting my alu wheels with the same color as the body on the car (Black Amethyst Pearl) and add a crome/silver rim, can be done cheap and without buying new wheels?

Or maybe I have to buy new wheels anyway, the 14" wheels looks very tiny on my car.