Can you spray clearcoat over bare aluminum?

B

beanbag

New member
Hello people. Long time no see.



I was thinking of getting some new wheels, but the ones I wanted didn't come in the color I want. So I thought I might just sand and polish them up to a bare aluminum shine, and then put some clearcoat over them. Is it possible to get wheel paint in a spray can to stick to smooth aluminum? I was thinking of using Duplicolor Wheel Coating. I know that clear over bare aluminum is possible, because my current wheels seem to be this way. Most wheel painting guides I have seen involve scuffing the surface, then spraying primer, then color, then clear.
 
I just the other day had my polish lip that was previously clearcoated from the manufacturer (volk) sanded down and repolished because I hit a curb.



I've tried Duplicolor car clear coat and VHT wheel clearcoat and it turned the lip flaky silver. It doesn't seem to work or adhere to the surface at all.



Guess i have to prime/ajt it at least once a month to keep it looking nice from now on.
 
It CAN work, but without the ability to bake it on I'd be concerned about the long term durability.



It's possible to get them powder coated clear and it's certainly more durable. Most places up here charge 50-100/wheel, but if you're willing to do your own prep work it should cut the price.



I'm just looking into all the options for two sets of wheels and I've come to the conclusion that the duplicolor kit is fine if you just want colour but don't care about the overall finish. If you're going to invest the time to get duplicolour to look good (clean wheel, buff, degrease etc, paint/wetsand/paint again) you're likely better off looking at a different approach.
 
So here's an update with some new info I got



I asked Duplicolor, and they said that it would not work well.

I also asked VHT, and they said it would work fine. Not sure if it is a difference in paints, or the VHT guys are more sleazy.



As for powder coating, one powder coater mentioned to me that there is more than one way to do it. He said that wheels from the factory tend to have an acrylic coating, which is thinner, and maybe clearer. The type of service he could do was some other material (maybe it was polyurethane?), which he mentioned might "take down the shine a bit". He said that the acrylic powder was a lot more expensive.
 
Did he offer you prices for the different options?



The place I'm looking at specializes in race wheels/components and I have a contact so 50/wheel is steal. The other place isn't as high quality but quoted me their normal rate of 100 per wheel (including prep work).



I guess you're going to have to get quotes, see a sample of each process and decide if the acrylic powder is worth the premium. If you can take some pics as I'm sure people have similiar questions that can be answered by having this thread show up in a search.



Good luck!
 
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