Questions on refinishing original wheels

A fun winter project for me. I want to refinish the original wheels for the "natural look" of the car. The 17" speedlines will be track wheels. Has anyone refinished their wheels? If so, what process did you use to prep them, and what paint did you use?

Thanks guys,

Jeremy

I posted this same question on the old ferrari chat and got this answer from a guy who did his.
1. Bead blast
2. Zinc-Chromate primer (perhaps called aluminum primer)
3. Silver finish (satin aluminum)
4. Clear coat finish
I haven't gotten around to doing mine but the pics he posted of his looked incredible! Get a second opion but it's a place to start.

Thank you Scott and welcome to our board.



Jeremy

I have gone the "rattle can" method, with a kit from Griot's Garage...the results were acceptable, but I think for a really professional finish, you need to have a body shop paint them....really not all that expensive..maybe $150 per wheel.

I stripped my TR wheels myself.....it was A LOT OF WORK, and then took them to a trusted painter. There was minimal finishing or prep work for him to do. He then painted them a Mercedes silver, clear coated and baked them and it ended being just right, as clear coat tends to darken the color slightly. I think it cost me about $250 total including all materials. But next time I will not strip them myself because the amount of hours and toil involved was significant. But the results were great. I've looked at a couple of very low mileage TRs at a show and my wheels look much better than the factory originals did.