I have finally decided to paint the extra set of NX2k wheels I bought alittle while ago. So I tested painting one of the caps first.
I have 2 how to's and even spoke to Ian on the phone a bit about it.

but I have some questions.
I am using sandable primer, low gloss engine enamel and duplicolor wheel paint clear.
How durable is it? how many coats of color paint and how many of clear should I do?
is there any way to avoid excessive chipping?
and how long should I let the paint on the wheels cure before taking them our for a spin?
I am painting these wheels without the tires mounted is there anything I should do to make sure the wheels dont get chip or scratched when getting the tires mounted and balanced?

I did mine like two weeks ago. Have a look.

http://homepage.mac.com/benitomalito/PhotoAlbum96.html

That's 8 coats. It looks ok, but I am gonna do it again, and put clear coat on it. Seems like it will chip no matter what. After all it isn't powder coating. I let it cure for about 30 minutes after the last coat before taking it for a spin. Seems that was enough. I did mine with the "Serban college course" ( gets a huge :biggthump ) then got them balanced with weights on the inside.

-first are these striped to bare metal? if so use self etching primer first
-never use any paint courser than 600 grit
-once you have the sandable primer smoothed to your likeing get some primer sealer and spray a coat or 2 over top. to get a real good finish.
-spray nice even coats, remember you dont need to completly cover the primer with color in the first coat, take it slow.
- once you are done with the color coat you could A. follow directions and spray the clear coat on in 30-40 minutes or B. let the color dry completly, then wet sand the surface with 1000 grit to get rid of orange peel and let the clear stick.
- the duplicolor clear is SUPER HARD. unless you hit a curb it wont chip. i choose this over powder coating because if you hit something hard enough to chip this stuff you need a metal, and you can touch up powder coating.

i started with this, 100% sandblasted se-r wheels blasted with aluminum oxide. CLICK ME (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/nissanpete/SE-R/Picture.jpg)

and now i have this, used duplicolor bronze. thats not so much orange peel as it is the metal flake playing with the camera. CLICK ME (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/nissanpete/SE-R/Picture153.jpg)

These are going on a bright red classic. ill post pics soon but i just bought it from NEEDaSE-R and i havnt done much to it yet. so pics are kinda pointless.

the key to a good paint job is the prep work, if you cant get them sand blasted (my paint stick like freaking super glue) really scuff it up with 450 grit then use 600 grit.

I sanded the rims to scuff the surface real good with 220-320 grit since I had some dirt to get through. I did not sand the rims down to bare metal. Then I washed them down with some acid wheel cleaner, then im going to degrease them to make sure I got everything off them.

So should I sand with 1000 or 1500 or 2000 after the color coats? or does it matter?

if you would like, it depends how anal you are :biggthump dont use 2000 grit because that is way to fine and wont let anything else stick. use 800 grit and sand it down nice and smooth (it dosent matter if you sand down to the primer on the first color coat, you will get rid of that bare spot when you paint next)
on your second coat inspect it and only 800 grit if you really need too (speckels and orange peel every where) if it looks good use some 1000 grit when its dry and then hit it with the clear coat. this is what i did;
-coat one, dried over night then 800 grit to bare metal in some spots (didnt really do it with care, just went at it.....its the first coat)
-. coat two, color to cover bare spots, dried over night.
- sanded with 1000 grit then used duplicolor wheel clear, let dry over night.
- this is up to you now. if you want an ultra smooth finish you can sand it again with 1k grit and re-clear then 2k grit for final finish, or be like me...accept that they are wheels, and live with a tiny bit of orange peel. i think they look pretty damn good and in the sun you wont really be able to notice it.

nah thats way too anal, I was thinking,
Primer,
a bunch of light coats of color, 8-12 coats
let dry overnight
sand 1000 grit just to smooth out some, wash them down
then spray several coats of clear.
this should be enough to keep the orange peel at an acceptable level.

I did mine about a month ago with the same products you are using. Duplicolor engine enamel black and wheel clear. All i did was clean them with prep sol scuffed them with a scotch bright the real coarse ones and put about 6-8 coats of each on it oh yeah and the duplicolor primer. I put mine on the same day and drove it. The next day hi pressure car wash to give them the strenght test. No chips . My parents live on a gravel road and i go see them at least once a week. Holds up well.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/nismoclassic/26ecf0f8.jpg
There u go. The finished product. They still look like that by the way.

^that actually looks pretty damn good..*** have to paint my se-r wheels like that now:)

^^ I second that. Looks good. Could use some closed end lugs.
I keep wanting to paint my B13 wheels as well now.

b13 magoo, thank you! you have given me renewed hope :D

im also probably going to buy some black closed end lug nuts to finish these off.

I did mine like two weeks ago. Have a look.

http://homepage.mac.com/benitomalito/PhotoAlbum96.html

That's 8 coats. It looks ok, but I am gonna do it again, and put clear coat on it. Seems like it will chip no matter what. After all it isn't powder coating. I let it cure for about 30 minutes after the last coat before taking it for a spin. Seems that was enough. I did mine with the "Serban college course" ( gets a huge :biggthump ) then got them balanced with weights on the inside.


what kind of lug nuts did you buy for your car and where did you get them? are those black?

Mine are stock lugs and i need to move the weights inside as well im getting new tires soon so thats why they was not switched .

I have finally decided to paint the extra set of NX2k wheels I bought alittle while ago. So I tested painting one of the caps first.
I have 2 how to's and even spoke to Ian on the phone a bit about it.

but I have some questions.
I am using sandable primer, low gloss engine enamel and duplicolor wheel paint clear.
How durable is it? how many coats of color paint and how many of clear should I do?
is there any way to avoid excessive chipping?
and how long should I let the paint on the wheels cure before taking them our for a spin?
I am painting these wheels without the tires mounted is there anything I should do to make sure the wheels dont get chip or scratched when getting the tires mounted and balanced?
Charlie, if all possible, try and use Duplicolor wheel paint. All the priming is not necessary. Besides, the Duplicolor will be dry in about 1 hour tops.

what kind of lug nuts did you buy for your car and where did you get them? are those black?

Those are black muteki super tuners. You can often get them on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33749&item=7969484159&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

This guy had some dodgy feedback though, so I went online. I think I paid about $40. I forget the site, but I googled "muteki super tuners". I ordered from the cheapest place where a person answered the phone and they had them.

nice i need some black lugs. call me the anti chrome police.

well since Im planning on using the caps, and I already have a nice set of factory chrome closed ended lug nuts I cant see spending money on a whole new set. we'll see.