Thought I would post on my progress. I wet sanded the lips of my rims going up to 2000 grit. They were already machine polished. I broke out the mothers polish and the lips really started to shine!

 

Masked the lip and mating surfaces. Used an exacto blade to cut the masking tape for a precise contour.

 

Used a tack cloth then cleaned with acetone and show towels. Applied 3 coats of rustoleum sandable primer. I really like the look of this primer. It created a really smooth and even surface without looking "caked on". I won't even sand it, it looks great. Sorry for the blurry pic.

 

Well done! Yes the pain stripper is a PITA. 12-20 hours sounds about right with a previous caked on paint job Rustoleum primer is great, I never have to sand mine either as long as I don't use any adhesion promoter.

Yes I think those are mid-late 90's Integra RS/LS option alloys.

 

Correct! Although I think these were available for the del sol, when I stripped the Center caps it did reveal an Integra (or Acura) logo. They are enkei with 45 mm offset.

 

Indeed, here it is with the "H" centercaps:



Del Sol Si. Maybe find some Honda centercaps for it to complete the puzzle? Learn something new every day, so many Hondas with swapped OEM wheels I never know what was actually OEM anymore.

 

Today I finished applying the base coats. That was a real challenge. My garage is far from the ideal setup because it has poor lighting. It was very difficult to get an idea of what was and wasn't painted because as you can see, my base color is nearly identical to the color of my damn primer! I used a rust-o-leum paint called "universal" which is supposed to not require a primer but I used primer anyway because I figured I'd get better results. The nozzle was very different to work with; instead of your regular run of the mill spray can nozzles it had a trigger type nozzle. It was more comfortable but I found that I had a much harder time getting short bursts. This paint is a metallic paint and I found that it creates drops and blobs waaay more easily than my primer. Plus the blobs are shiny so it is very apparent if it is not applied properly. In some cases I was able to rub off some blobs. Interestingly enough, the stream of paint from these cans is nicer; more like a fan than a circular type stream you get from a regular can. I still found it much easier to aim with a regular circular pattern spray can however, this type of spray can is probably much better for painting a large flat surface like a door.

I rather like the color (carbon mist) and I think it'll be pretty sweet with the polished lip. Tomorrow I'll be applying the dupli color engine enamel clear. I'm a bit concerned because it seems this enamel takes at least 7 days to cure! Apparently it can be handled in about 3 hours so I'm gonna try and do the back of the wheels and flip them at lunch to finish the front and just leave 'em for a week in the garage. Any longer and it'll be winter! It was key that I finished this job now because soon it'll be too cold to paint and I want the clear to be really solid so that my mechanic doesn't f* up the paint job too bad when mounting the tyres. If anyone has any tips on working with engine enamel and how to get it to cure faster (so I can flip the rims) I'm all ears!

 

HEAT is your friend. Use your oven on low (if wifie isn't home) or buy a HEAT LAMP bulb at home deport.

Unless it's high temp engine enamel it doesn't NEED anything to cure it LOL.

 

Were you shooting the spray at a downward angle with the wheels on the ground like that? If so, that's why it was spitting (blobs). It's best to keep the can vertical, i've always had issues trying to spray down like that.

But you got it done, so good for you

I always just put painted stuff out in the sun to cure for a day or two.

 

It is high temp engine enamel. I used a heat gun to heat the wheels and then applied heat after each coat and after the final coat. I now realize that applying clear is completely different from applying the other coats (at least it is for the dupli color engine enamel clear).

All the coats must be applied within 1h with 10 min between coats. Can says two light coats and one medium. I did 2 lights and 2-3 mediums on the back and sides and the results were dull looking. At least I hope it'll stand up from a protection and wear and tear standpoint.

I learned my lesson and did the front of the wheels the right way. Two light coats (with short sprays) and one heavy coat. I sprayed those suckers until they looked completely wet and shiny, right before the enamel would start to run. Honestly, with enamel clear coat, a few slight runs here and there still looks way better than the dull look you get from an application that is too gradual or cautious. I gotta let 'em sit in the garage for a week now and cure before I send 'em to my mechanic's shop to get the tires mounted. I might buy some more clear and redo the backs of the wheels (for added scuff and scratch protection (but then I'll have to wait another week again). The lips are slightly gunked with masking tape since it's been on there for about 2 weeks. I'll clean that once the paint is cured. I'm pretty happy with the results. I'd say the project cost me a total of between 120 and 150$.

 

Unfortunately, there's one slight imperfection. I either wrecked a part of my paint job while removing the masking tape or somehow messed up my masking job and had a piece of tape hanging off. As you can see it's down to the bare metal. After the curing period. I might try and sand around there slightly and then mask off the area and apply primer base and clear to fix the spot.

 

It's getting close to winter time here in Montreal so it's now or never for doing some last minute seasonal car stuff (oil change etc. etc.). So I've finally got around to attaching my centre caps on my Integra wheels (incorrectly identified as Del Sol wheels. Since the last update, I've had my garage put my Michelin xIce 2 tires on there and install some new valve stems (this set previously had a bad valve stem so I changed 'em all).

Most of my centre caps are damaged, have at least one broken clip and two have completely lost their retainer ring. So my way of sticking em on there is using silicone glue/caulk. I chose special heat/freeze resistant silicone because I they are winter rims (duh). I'm afraid of losing them while driving but then again I want to be able to pull 'em out if ever I need to down the road. Here are some pics:

 

Here's the silicone I bought for 6.50$ (instead of 4$ because I got the extra high quality silicone). Was very liberal about the application and didn't even use half the tube. I bought it in black colour so if ever it overflowed slightly it wouldn't be noticeable. Also available in white or in clear.

 

After prepping all the surfaces with rubbing alcohol, my technique was to put 4 globs on the rim, 4 globs on the corresponding mating surface on the back of the cap and then finishing of with plenty of glue on the inside of the rim. The result looks clean and absolutely no glue is visible. I hope it'll hold up all winter!




Tada!

 

Here are my painted rims with my XIce 2 tires. I must say I'm pretty happy with the result and since I do my own wheel change it was easy to install them without wrecking the paint. I'll post back after months of winter abuse. One thing I didn't consider is that the near black color does show dirt and road salt very obviously so I might consider opting for a lighter color in the future.

 

Excellent work, they came out very nice and look good on the car while being winter wheels at the same time.

To make it easier to wash that salt and grime off your freshly painted wheels you can apply wheel wax or just regular car wax in a pinch. The car wax won't last as long.