to get to the point, is it possible to paint a pair of rims, and still use the breaking surface, without despoking it? Would it be worth a try? Has anyone attempted, or failed miserably…
thanks
you could do it, but it’d be fiddly as all fcuk.
- give the wheel a good clean
- use some wire wool or fine sandpaper to rough up the areas you want to paint
- mask up the brake rim, and the nipples/spokes with masking tape
- give the wheel a REALLY good clean with solvent or prepsol
- spray the areas you want, many light coats give the best result
- spray clear over as necessary
Haven’t done it myself, but that’s what i’d do…
yeah, thats what i was thinking, the masking tape would get a work out,
but how many coats of spray would you need, if too many, wouldn’t the braking surface become to wide for calipers?
nah, wouldn’t you want to mask the braking surfaces off - so you don’t paint there?
in the event that you do paint the braking track, it will just wear off over time as you brake onto it - like the Velocity coloured rims.
i imagine the braking would be quite ordinary onto the painted surface though.
the alternative I would say is to paint the whole lot, then file or sand back the braking area - effectively removing the paint from the brake track…
ask Ross
dude’s bike is held together with paint.
Calipers can be adjusted, you know… :?
hypothetically speaking… ha scratch that then
who’s ross? and where can i ask him shortsie, cheers
You can paint the rims easily enough with some masking of spokes and hubs.
If you paint over the braking surface, the brakes probably won’t work as well and you’ll wear through the paint eventually anyway. Otherwise, you can mask off the braking surface (which would be a huge pain in the arse) and paint the rest.
yeah, ha that is too much effort, thanks everyone, i’ll try my luck, and give it a shot,
p.s. who’s ross haha and what’s ross’s bike like, or snowflake, are you ross???
NO! Snowflake is like a relative that you see every Xmas, only coz you have to.
But at least Snowflake knows that he’s
touche craigC
This is true, but my bike has no brakes, therefore painting brake areas is not an issue 
Paintint rims is extremely easy, so is taping off parts you don’t want painted.
whats your tip to paintin ross?
primer…sand…layer…sand…layer…sand (repeat)…gloss…sand…gloss?
can control is a good tip, and pretty much the only thing that you could fuck up on.
I like to get whatever Im painting COMPLETELY raw, that is no paint, no anodizing, no clear cover, nothing. There are various ways to do this depending on what you are doing. You don’t need to do this, you can paint it ghetto and get decent results, but its piece of mind+ a little bit of extra quality I reckon. Preparation will determine how good your final coat is no matter what, if the surface isn’t completely sanded and smooth this will show up to a degree.
Paint quality also helps, I don’t use cans with male valves except for priming with aussie export sometimes, but I use a different cap because stock caps are horrible and spray inconsistantly. There are plenty of good paints out there, try to avoid anything overly thick like ironlak, or overly thin like the cheaper stuff.
There is no perfect formula for painting stuff, everyone does it differently and has their own ideas on what is good and what works. The best method is to go out and experiment and you will learn it all for yourself.
My own formula is: remove all crap…sand perfectly…prime…wait 24 hours…paint coats sparingly, and allow to dry between coats, its better to do thin yet accurate and good quality coats, then try to go all out in one coat and get drips, or paint over wet coats and fuck the whole thing up.
I don’t sand inbetween coats as if you have prepared properly and sprayed properly there will be no need, it does more harm then good in my opinion.
But just do what works for you basically and dont be afraid to try stuff.
do you suggest hitting the streets to get these can skills up…
but thanks Ross for all your help, i’ll just give it a shot, cheers
I here graff paint like Krylon gives excellent results. Wide range of colours and plenty of options for tips.
Ha! I knew it.
Just paint it and then use your breaks. After a week the paint will have worn down. I painted my last set of wheels and used a brake on the front and it gripped real well with paint onthe rim, but obviously wore off and went back to regular braking.
But it is hard to beat Ironlaks range of colours Ross! Ive always wanted a franzetta frame.
When painting a bike do you a pink dot or stick to something like an outline or NYC fat?
Cheers