I thought y'all might like to see how my wheels came out and how I got there. For my '69 GTO convertible project, I decided to go with stock style Rallye II steel wheels but instead of the stock 14"X6", go with 15"X7" in the front and spare and 15"X8" in the rear. I acquired 3 used later model Firebird Rallye II wheels and bought 2 new Wheel Vintiques 15"x8". Pontiac didn't put 15"X8" Rallye IIs on any cars so I had to go with aftermarket for the rear.
The used wheels were in very good condition except for some mild rust. The Wheel Vintiques wheels come with a very good silver powder coating on them but some cheap paint for the center portions that comes of easily and is totally the wrong color.
I blasted all the rust off on the used ones and lightly blasted 2 the new ones to remove the center paint and put a good scuff on the powder coating to accept epoxy primer.
I then sprayed the rear sides of the wheels with black SPI epoxy, waited until the next day to flip them and paint the front sides with gray SPI epoxy.
Whoever made the 7" wheels for Pontiac, didn't cast them with the spokes totally flat. However the Wheel Vintiques spokes were perfectly flat.
So I added some finishing filler to the spokes on the 7" wheels and blocked them flat then followed that up with 2 more coats of gray epoxy and a final block sanding.
Next I sprayed the wheels with Argent Silver base coat followed by 2 coats of SPI Universal clear. The base coat paint I'm using is Automotive Art Motobase.
Next I put the wheels in my blasting cabinet one by one and very lightly blasted them just to etch them enough to dull the clear. I did this because it was a lot easier than scuffing them with gray Scotchbrite. Here's the first one ready for taping:
It took me about an hour and half to tape each wheel.
I then sprayed the wheel centers with Charcoal Gray Metallic basecoat.
After letting them dry for about an hour I removed the masking tape and sprayed the wheels with 2 more coats of SPI Universal Clear. I've got a lot of hours in these wheels. I wasn't sure what was the best way to attack painting them and questioned myself a few times on the way I finally chose. Putting them in the blasting cabinet after spraying them with clear I'm sure seemed a bit odd. I did it that way because I was afraid of getting tape residue on bare base coat and what it might do to it in getting it off. Anyway, it worked out great and I'm very pleased.