Paint for wheels
 

My 1998 XK still looks very good inside and out, except for the wheels. No curb rash, just several stains that won't come out. The next time I buy tires (which will be soon) I want to bring the wheels back home, wash them thoroughly, sand them, and paint them. Dupli-Color Wheel Coating seems to be the most popular brand of rattle can spray; I see only two colors, though, Silver (like Argent) and Charcoal. Does anyone know if the Silver is a match or do you have a brand and color code? I plan to of course put several clear coats on after painting.

BTW, I painted other wheels, and I'm confident in my ability to do this. Thanks.

I used the Duplicolor silver about two years ago, and it is lasting just fine. A very close match to the original, just be careful with your technique since it is metalic, and be real smooth with the clear since it changes the color tone slightly. I was really thinking about new rims until I painted mine, now I'm glad I gave it a shot.
Alfred

I've been very tempted to do this, but I'm worried about the color. I love the color of my wheels as they are. I'd love to see a picture of a Duplicolor painted wheel next to an original wheel.

By the way, I used the Duplicolor caliper paint on my brakes. I was happy at first with the result, but over time the paint started to come off. And to paint the calipers I completely removed them from the car, cleaned them with a pressure washer and brake cleaner, and primered them, so it's not like I didn't do good prep work.

Maybe heat was an issue?

Check this out, it is wheel paint for european cars. The wheels on the Jaguars of our vintage are made in Germany if I am not mistaken. It is quite likely that this is the proper color. I have looked at it several times, but I just haven't gotten the nerve up to give it a go.

I used the duplicolor silver and it was very close. The one thing is the duplicolor has metal in it and my revolver style wheels was more of a flat silver. I'm getting ready to change them to charcoal. I think it might look cool with a black car..sorta understated. If not I'll just paint it back.

I recently had scratches buffed out and wheels "hypercoated". My car had both silver metallac and black metallac mixed in the silver paint. The problem is when you have to repair one or two wheels--and getting the paint to match on all wheels. The clear coat must be consistent with the paint used.

The professional wheel refinishers prefer paint the wheels on the car, after they jack the car up. If there are any chips or scratches, they'll buff them out with a small pneumatic disc sander with very fine sandpaper--and then prime where they've sanded. A cardboard template the diameter of the wheel is used to keep paint off the tires. A HVLP "touch up" paint gun is hooked to a small compressor.

Since I had scratches to be taken out, it took 1 hour per wheel--and they generally charge a dealership $75 per wheel.

As long as you're painting all 4 wheels, the paint brand doesn't really matter--if you like the color. You could go with Eastwood's Argent paint or Duplicolor's wheel paint. The German car wheel kit as noted on #5 from Autogeek looks like a very reasonable way to go, as you've got everything you need in the kit.

This is a job that most anyone could easily undertake.

The Wurth products mentioned above are the way to go. I found a great how-to that takes you through the wheel repair and repaint process step-by-step. Check it out.

Good luck with your paint job and please post pix!