Painting the Rims (and other observations)

[mud pie]

Since I got new NDT's for the Willys this Christmas, I decided to repaint the rims before mounting the new shoes.

Not trusting the kids at any tire center, I decided to pull the old rubber myself.  I bought three tire irons, and busted the bead the way we did "way back when" when I was a kid myself and too cheap to have a shop do it for me.  I'm sure all of you here know it; bottle jack on the edge of the tire, jack up the bottle jack as high as it will go under the bumper, them sharply press down on the Jeep (aka jumping on the Jeep) to pop the bead.  Works each time, every time.

But these tires were 1953 originals, TOUGH and old (and dry rot).  For the life of me I could not work the bead over the rim.  I gave up and went to a local tire shop.  Naturally, the kid never worked on a tubed tire in his life.  They had some new fangled tire machine, not the kind I used as a kid in the 70's.  I asked him to be careful and try not to bend my rim.  He laughed, "THIS rim ? It weighs a ton !"  He stuck his tool under the bead, hit the foot pedal and BENT HIS SPOON !!    The Willys rim sat there stoic.  He called over someone else. They pulled off one part, put on another and after 5 minutes, they got the old tire off.

Amazingly, there was absolutely NO rust on the inside of the rim, it was still painted black.  The exterior, on the other hand, has had many coats of paint over the years.

I plan on stripping off the exterior paint and re-painting it.  I've heard many statements about not painting the interior part of the rim.  What is the reason for this ?  It'll be much easier to slap paint on the entire thing instead of taping it all off.  Is it because the new paint will glue the tire to the rim ?  Why shouldn't I paint it ?  Has anyone painted the interior, and what happened as a result ?

[RA472A]

I've redone two sets of rims and I've always painted the entire rim, inside and out.  Never had any issues and it's been several years now.  However, I use tubed NDTs.

[Carls_jeep]

If it has lots of paint I would have it sand blasted and start off fresh.

[aboyandhisdog]

I bought four "new" steel rims from Walcks and they all came painted black inside and out from the factory. �I painted them with spray cans (Rustoleum Ivory) and they came out beautifully! �Good off-white color too. �I didn't paint the inner part of the rim that the tire would cover, but only to save on paint. �I did paint the bead area and have had no problems. �Incidentally, I bought radial tires and installed them without tubes. �They mounted up beautifully and have not required any additional air in over a year since I mounted them. �

[mud pie]

Today I decided to wire-wheel the paint from my rims.  Uh....yeah.  :-/

I put a cup wire wheel on my grinder, it got the exposed places pretty quick, it's the nooks and crannys that are the head scratchers.

Monday morning I'm taking them to be blasted.

[mud pie]

Okay, I finally took them to be sandblasted, and to be honest, this is the first time I've ever taken something to be blasted.

When I got it back, the surface was kinda rough !!  Should I wire wheel it smooth, or is it better left rough for the primer to attach ?  Is it supposed to have a rough finish or did I get hosed ?  I took it to a local wheel powdercoating shop, they always blast everything before they coat them, so I assume they did what was right.

So, what now ?

[Carls_jeep]

Paint them with a good primer and sand them. Maybe two or three coats to get the surface covered and smooth then paint them with the desired color. Use as many coats as you want.

[calvinhunt]

Back when I was restoring my Jeep I sandblasted my entire body and wheels. �I rented a sand blaster from and auto paint shop. �They told me to use a finer grit medium than was available at the local lumber yard/building supply(the local source for blasting medium). �I ordered it in (sorry that I can't remember the grit--I told this same story on the old forum way back when and I remembered it then) but where I'm going with this is that even using the finer medium I was still troubled that the blasted surface looked quite rough, too rough I thought. �I primed all surfaces then finished with the top coat. �I chose a non-sanding sealer primer because I didn't want to sand it. �It came out perfectly smooth and glossy. �Hope yours does too.

PS �I could tell as soon as the primer (one coat) went on. �So, like Carl said above, if it doesn't smooth right up, go ahead and build it up some with extra coats of primer and sanding as necessary.

Here is a photo of the tub just after being blasted.  It looks more like primer than bare metal.  The sheen of the metal was dull.


Here is one of the floorboard after sandblasting.  It is dull too except where I have had to add metal, weld, and grind.

[mud pie]

Thanks for the pics; that's EXACTLY what my rim looks like !

Now if the weather clears up (rain) and warms up a bit (55 degrees), I'll take it outside and shoot a couple coats of primer.

Thanks again for the piece of mind !

[calvinhunt]

You could try priming a wheel and see how it comes out without setting up for the whole production. If it turns out the way you want you would be good to go.

I should clarify from the two pics I posted above in my last reply: In the first pic with the tub setting on the frame, the tub (a MD Juan repro) had just been blasted and was just now being fitted to the drivable running chassis. �I wanted to do all the fitting, cutting and welding prior to paint. �I live in the dry southwest so bare blasted metal had no thread of rust. �It was painted just a few days later. It was good that I tried did the trial fit. Several items had to be altered, especially the hole above the transmission, as seen in the second pic.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[F Bill]

When you sandblast rims, sand tends to get stuck between the rim halves...take some time before priming to use a sharp tool to scrape the seam between the inner and outer rim  free of any foriegn particles. Blow it off well with an air gun too. Also this is where the rim will start to rust first, so you need to get a good solid coat of primer in there.. Brushing the primer in that area is the best way to soak the metal in protection..... We use a small acid brush or tiny paintbrush to make sure we get this area primed., using the thinned primer right out of the spray gun  cup before we spray the rims. Don't worry about runs and drips, you will sand these out later.


If you have an old bar stool or something similar to use to hold your rime while spraying topcoat, and you can spin the rim while spraying, you will also get a better coverage. It is tough to cover ALL the rim without getting dry spots otherwise...

Good luck with the project...sure makes any jeep look nicer to have shiny clean rims!