painting chrome rims?

[902066]

I have a set of replica Amold rims, deep lug, ZR-1 size and offset, that are chrome plated. The plating and rims are in excellent, mint shape, but I want to have them painted the stock color for our cars. Any experience on how this is done, and how well it turns out? Thanks Jim

[-=Jeff=-]

I would think to have it done right you need to strip the chrome off the wheels.. however, I am not sure what the process is to strip the chrome

[Billy Mild]

Strip the chrome or the paint will never stick correctly.

[RussMcB]

Not sure if this would fit your needs, but I used Plastidip to change all of my wheels to black. The main reason I did it was because I had a mix of chrome, silver, sawblades and A-molds (between all of my street and track wheels).

[SBAquaLT5]

I've done it... Got some 17x9.5 US made A-Mold replicas for free but the chrome was going away on them. I painted them to match my factory 17x9.5's on my 1996 Collectors Edition...

I'll start off by saying, chemical stripping the chrome is best, and it's not an easy task or for someone that has not done much automotive painting

1) You're going to have the rough up the chrome surface considerably otherwise the paint will most likely not stick. This will be starting with a wire wheel or something like 100 grit sandpaper. Any surface you don't thoroughly scuff will be subject to lifting and kill the whole surface (even the back area where brake dust hides

2) By roughing the surface, you will inevitably create some deep scratches that will not be covered up by regular primer and paint. This is where you are going to need a high-build primer

3) Here's a tough part, the painted wheels have a subtle shiny clear-coated lip, in order to mimic that, I kept a chrome strip around the out edge matching the original thickness by masking a line around. Yes you will need to scuff this lightly, to get clearcoat adhesion and the finish you want. After scuffing, you will need to mask it off before really sanding the other parts of the wheel.

4)Clean the stink out of the wheel after done sanding.

5) You'll probably need a couple coats of high build primer, cleverly mixed paint to match the the factory look, and very good clearcoat. There are a lot of little nuances about when to pull the tape off the lip..

I've run mine for close to 2 years with some spirited driving. About 6k miles on them. They still look great, but I did find one small spot that I didn't prep right. I figure they have another 2 to 3 years until I have to fix a couple spots.

I am very happy with my results, and nobody can tell they are not original unless they put their face up next to the lip. However it's a lot of work, and a body shop may not undertake the task, or do a good enough job in prep. I have more pics and info if you're still curious.