Topic: Need advice on Painting my wheels

[Slow_lane]

The original mags on my 2005 Mazda are suffering from some curb rash and a few other misc scrapes. I was thinking about doing a bit of sanding and painting the set to spruce them up a bit. I do not plan to get too anal about the this job. I just want to freshen things up and do away with the obvious blemishes.

I have some dupicolor auto body paint kicking around. But I suspect I should be using a true wheel paint to hold up to the heat wheels are exposed to.

I was also wonder is after a light sanding if it is necessary for me to apply a primer coat before the paint.

I plan to apply clear coat to finished job.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Fobroader]

Light sand, make sure to work out as much of the imperfections as you can with a file/die grinder, couple of light coats of a good primer and then paint with a wheel paint or Ive heard a lot of guys doing plasti-dip.

[Brig]

Weels did it recently, before getting rid of his leased S60.  Some good learnings here:  http://www.autos.ca/forum/index.php/topic,87049.0.html

[Firm]

In my experience you shouldn't need to prime, being alloy rust isn't a concern and I doubt primer would bond any better to the material that standard wheel paint would (?). I've actually done the color step in whatever paint I happen to have available (usually tremclad or similar) and then make sure I use a proper wheel clearcoat for the final coat. Never had any problems with the numerous sets I've done like that.
I've found that the issue isn't really the heat affecting the paints bond...your wheel don't get THAT hot, unless maybe if you were tracking the car or something. What does cause an issue is the brake dust and grim that gets baked onto the rims, thats why I like to use a proper wheel clear coat for the final coat, as standard paint is not resistant/durable enough and ends up getting stained easily.