Hey everyone, last weekend I painted my wheels, calipers and the chrome grille surrounds on my MINI. I used Duplicolor self etching primer, Duplicolor graphite wheels paint, and the Duplicolor clear coat.

My DIY is very similar to everyone elses

• I sanded the wheels with 320 grit sandpaper
• then wet sanded with 400 grit sandpaper to remove everything and get it down to a nice dull finish.
• I then used the duplicolor prep cloth that removed all oil, grease, dirt, sanding dust and everything else from the wheels. I had a tack cloth but didn't use it much as its just sort of nasty and sticky and I didn't need it.
• I used the index card method of protecting the tires, it worked well but was a little time consuming when you are turning the wheels over. I started with 2 coats of primer on the back, waiting 10 minutes between coats and hit the front with 3 coats of primer. I then did 2 coats of paint on the backs then 3 on the front. Remember to use very short quick sprays to keep everything even and smooth, resist the urge to just go at it cause it will run and look like crap. after the paint I did 2 coats of primer and 3 on the front finishing with a semi wet coat of primer.

I did the calipers red with the G2 caliper paint kit and it was really really easy. You just mix the whole bottle of hardener in the little can of paint, mix, and wait 5 minutes. The paint goes on really well and covers great. I also taped off all rubber parts and plastics before cleaning the breaks and then I left the tape on to make sure I didn't paint anything that didn't need it. The paint said do 1 coat then wait 15 minutes and do the second coat. I ended up doing 4 coats on the calipers just because I had the paint and what could it hurt. Each coat after the first took more paint as a little stopped going a long way, but thats ok, hopefully I won't have to touch them up for a long time. The finish on the calipers is a very smooth feel with a wonderful hard coating look(kind of reminds me of a nice red peanut M&M).
So heres the pictures of the wheels and calipers on my 2007 astro black MCS. I will also say that the wheels are not smooth and glossy, the graphite paint seems to have a little bit of a metallic to it so it is just slightly textured, the clear helped even this out but just know that its not as smooth as a powdercoat or a gloss paint. I painted the grill surrounds as well and it was quite easy. Used 2-3 coats of primer, 3 coats of astro black match paint from minspeed.net(didn't really match well, its too black) and then 3 coats of primer. Came out really well except for the paint color. Also keep 1000 grit wet sandpaper handy to sand any primer/paint/clear that you mess up.

 

Very nice!

 

very cool. Looks much better than black IMHO

 

Yeah I thought it gave it a little something extra instead of the standard blackout. Thanks for the replies. And it really wasn't hard if your ok with a spray can and take enough time to properly prep.