painting on billet wheels?

^thanks tucky thats the response i was looking for. ill use fine line tape, other then that any recomendation you got to keep a hard line down. i just painted a chrome bumper, hit it with 80 180 epoxy primer, regular primer, sand then paint. i really dont wanna have all those paints up against one tape line you know. i wonder if i could sand it with 320, epoxy it and put 2 coats of black single stage right over that to try to keep that edge down.

--------------------------------------------- Originally posted by tucky tape it off. sand with 220. Acid etch primer then continue just like painting any thing else.

--------------------------------------------- 220?!?!? WTF?  wow!!!   i wouldnt hit it with anymore then grey scotch brite pads..  220 your goin to dig huge scratches in the billet and itll look like poo...   they are aluminum you need aluminum etching primer (yes there is a difference between steel and aluminum so check your paint supplier) mask and spry your green, couple of light coats of clear and your good to go. dont get carried away with the clear, 2 medium to light coats and thats it.   also before id do that, id get out the polish and polish the crap out of those wheels... in the pics they look terrible, like they havent ever been polished.. 

reason why there not really polished up is all the wheels have curb rash from previous owner. ima wait till i get that fix to get them polished and sealed up. as for polishing before painting, that doesnt seem to make sense to me. when we paint cars we try to get all the contaminents off before we paint. it seems like polishing before would just be putting more on and putting a coating over it making the scotch brite not scratch the actual billet it self as well.

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by BK2LIFE

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by tuckytape it off. sand with 220. Acid etch primer then continue just like painting any thing else.

---------------------------------------------220?!?!? WTF?  wow!!! i wouldnt hit it with anymore then grey scotch brite pads..  220 your goin to dig huge scratches in the billet and itll look like poo... they are aluminum you need aluminum etching primer (yes there is a difference between steel and aluminum so check your paint supplier) mask and spry your green, couple of light coats of clear and your good to go. dont get carried away with the clear, 2 medium to light coats and thats it. also before id do that, id get out the polish and polish the crap out of those wheels... in the pics they look terrible, like they havent ever been polished.. ---------------------------------------------

ok guys so ill be painting them next week some time. heres my plan on prepping.-wash with dawn soap to try strip the wheel.-tape up -hit with a grey scotch bright-wipe with wax and greese remover.-etch primer-sealer-then 2 coats single stage black.hows that sound?         

thanks for the correction I was thinking the way i do chrome rims. Wasnt paying enough attention. dont think you should need the sealer just give the etch primer proper flash time

^only reason im putting sealer on it is because thats what the tech sheet says. it has a list that you can top coat right over the etch. not to mention ill have a better adhesion to the sealer then i would the direct etch and i have a reason thats why there saying to seal it first. i know that epoxy primer is pretty hard for base to stick to and has much better adhesion when sealed and im pretty sure thats some of the reason there saying to seal it too.what ill do is put a light coat of sealer on, i really didnt want to since ill be spraying a coat or 2 of etch and then 2 coats of sealer up to a tape line but i wanna make sure it sticks.