Hey guys, I just thought I'd show everyone my weekend project. I bronzed my wheels and they turned out pretty nice. Here are some pics and what I did.

I bought some Rustoleum metallic paint from Home Depot and some clear coat (about 1 can per rim to be safe)

Then I sanded the wheels down with 220 grit sand paper. The middle picture is a partially sanded rim and the last picture is a fully sanded rim.

 

Then I placed some index cards along the lip of the rim to prevent spray onto the tire (nice little trick I learned from a friend). I then proceeded to spray on 3 coats of paint for each rim.

 

I let each coat dry for about 10-15 mins (they dry pretty quick) before adding the next coat.

Next I addded 3 coats of clear coat (spray it on nice and thick). Again I let each coat dry for about 15 mins.

 

Looks pretty damn good for a Rustoleum job.

 

Finally I mounted them onto my car and here is the end result. The color was exactly what I was trying to go for. I think they look pretty nice with the red calipers on a black car, but that's just me. The whole process took me about 6 hours total (2 hours to sand the rims, 3 hours for all the paint and clear coat, and about an hour to remove the wheel, clean the wheel, prep everything, and remount the wheel).

 

Thanks Shelley. The rims are rims rough right now, so I might try to smooth it out and then add some more coats of clear for a more professional feel.

 

ya good job. they look really good especially for doing that yourself. i havnt seen them in that color yet.

 

Dave, thanks for proving gold wheels look good on RX-8's.

 

Thanks Helmano.

Also, I just wanted to note that I was only able to do 2 rims. The entire process was pretty tiring (sanding the rims was killer). So at the moment, I'm half bronze, half silver. Hoping to finish up the other side this wekeend while I do my tranny and rear diff fluid swap.

 

Nice job i am impressed . :D


cheers
michael

 

Thanks Lock & Load!

 

I have to see that at D&B's....

 

****BLING BLING****

Looks great mate.
It really suits the black of your car.

I thought about painting my rims but chickened out and paid someone to do it for me.

 

They look pretty good when mounted on the car. I'd love to see some bronze wheels with a polished lip on a black car though. Go for it Shelley.

 

Good job--not my taste but I feel what you doin tho--thumbs up.

 

OMG that actually looks GREAT! I am really impressed.

 

My friend Andres and I did that to his Subaru. Looks pretty good, check out the pics.

 

not my taste, looks like it belongs to a 80's hair band groupee or something

 

not black but close.... bronze on nordic green

 

Myabe I'm tainted, but bronze rims are very subaru-esk....

 

hmmm..still undecided on it...well it doesn't look bad..but it looks pretty clean..did you do the inside as well?

 

looks pretty good
not my style

but know the car begs for more apperance pieces

 

yah, just one coat of paint and clear on the inside. didn't really spend too much time on it, just tried to make it look like the paint goes all the way through to the back.

 

Umm, are you sure he proved this?

A matter of preference as always, it just doesn't work in my opinion.

 

i don't have the guts to do that but congrats.