Repainting Kent Wheels

My aftermarket wheels, having cost me so many points at the Bellevue ABFM, simply had to replaced with the original Kents for show purposes. My Kents were polished with a clear overcoat and were certainly on the scruffy side. Something had to be done. Hours of debate regarding the correctness of painted vs. polished vs. chromed led nowhere so I took safe route- -repaint instread of re-polish. Here's how I did it.

My original plan was to have them media blasted but I was unable to find a shop to do this within my timetable. I decided, then, to simply paint over the clear coat and spent about 10 hours sanding out the various injuries and prepping the wheels for paint.

Using my nearly virgin spare wheel as I guide I purchased a variety of spray paints trying to match the original light gray/dark gray colors. The light gray was especially difficult and most of the paint I bought looked too much like dime store "spray chrome" instead of the desired light gray with just a trace of metallic content.

I ended up at a Schucks Auto Parts in front of about a ka-jillion different "Dupli-color" paints. Now I had some real selection and decided to try the "Steel Wheels" color. Not perfect but darn close. Perhaps just a bit too "silvery" but not at all cheap looking. I was up to about $35 in spray paints by now.

For the dark gray center sections I used dark gray primer which, after clearcoating, darkened very nicely to just about the right shade.

I'll pause now for just a minute so you can catch your breath and wipe your brow. Ok, back to business !

I used light gray primer as a base and then shot the light gray color with a light sanding bewtween each of several coats. After letting them dry for a couple of days I masked the center sections and used a razor to trim away the curved areas. Then the dark gray, and then several coats of the clear.

End result ? Not half bad. I'd call 'em "four foot wheels".......look damn good from four feet away. At the Portland ABFM both Averill and Andrachuk complimented the appearance but, then again, they are too gentlemanly to do otherwise.

Ok, now they really heady stuff....paint numbers ! Steady on, Steady on ! Here are the Dupli-color paint numbers: WP316 "Steel Wheels" DAP1692 Gray Primer T99 Light Gray Primer WP319 Clear.

Now, what to do with all these cans of leftover paint ? maybe I'll gather up all the kids on the block and see which bikes need repainting.

BACK