MTFCA Forum

I would like to get comments about painting wire wheels by brush. Is this practical, type of paint, etc.?

I used this product on my wires and the car. The high flow tip allows for you to lay the paint on uniformly and much less apt to run, and it's dry to touch in 90 mins.
I highly recommend this stuff.

I have been a champion for brush painting for a long time. Slow drying enamels can flow out as nice as any spray. You can coat evenly with a brush while a spray comes from one side. Enamels will not chip as easily on wheels as harder paints. Wheels flex more than we often realize.
Go for it.
Rich

Did by Brush using finish is hard. The color of the wheel looks like its picture and not the paint chip. The paint flows well

In some ways brushing is a better way to do it than spraying. Unless you are methodical in counting spokes, attacking form 4 different angles on each spoke, there is a good chance there will be thin patches somewhere. Bushing enamels is not difficult. The enamel can be extended with products like Penetrol to make it flow even better and give a smoother finish. Whatever way it is done, it makes for a far more manageable job of it by using a hub/spindle on which to rotate the wheel, and it helps if the wheel can then be turned to paint the other side.

I made some neat little hangers to hold the wheels while the paint dries. A large washer on a foot long length of wire is threaded through the valve stem hole and a loop in the other end of the wire is hung over a nail. The washer leaves just two tiny divots in the paint at the valve stem hole and these are easily touched up later if necessary.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

Frank, Nice looking wheel, that is the color I want.

What do you mean "using finish is hard" ?

Bruce

BLB27 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 07, 2022 10:58 pm

Frank, Nice looking wheel, that is the color I want.

What do you mean "using finish is hard" ?

Bruce

was either dyslexia or Yoda - Did by using Brush, paint cured to a hard finish.
Needed several coats because of the light color. Pipe mounting shown is what I used to rotate the wheel (less the tire).

I like the color of Frank's wheel. I would appreciate photos of other light color wheels and any color information associated with them.

I painted my speedster wheels with a brush and POR-15. Light “dry brush” coats are great. Covers very well. I’ll be painting my TT stake bed with rust oleum professional thinned down out of a horrible fright $10 sprayer. Thinned with acetone and an catalyst hardener, it’s still glossy and hard as nails.

Brad

I would appreciate more photos of light colored wheels with any specific information associated with the color.

Waiting for replies.

My 2 cents worth was gleaned from researching wire wheel colors for my last '26 Touring. Factory wire wheels were to be supplied by the dealer on an exchange basis. For a nominal charge dealers were to offer color to be applied by the dealer with a brush, with a stripe to match. Thus, brush painted wheels are in fact the most correct option for finish painting.

OK, I know these are wood spokes but the brushing is much the same. I brush painted the yellow Speedster wheels in 1985 when Dulux enamel was available. This Buick wheel was brush painted with Centari® Acrylic Enamel with a slow-drying agent in about 2004. Setting the wheel hub on a table I can paint one side of the first spoke, then flip the wheel over and coat the second side of the first spoke and this side of the second. Back and forth until they are all painted. The paint flows evenly on each spoke that way. The felloe can be done between each spoke as I go or all at once after the spokes. Upright on a bar would work just as well if chosen. There are no runs and everything is coated evenly. I put two coats on. After painting a dozen sets of wheels this is how I like to do it.
The pin stripes are fun to and add a lot to the look. The could distract from any imperfections too if there were any.
These pictures were just taken today so you see the paint has held up well since applied.
Rich

Sprayed the wheels on our 26 with single stage enamel with hardner. Had the local paint store mix up a quart using the original straw paint code.

Lorien, What was the "original straw paint code"?

Paint Codes