Help with Wurth wheel paint

[Greg Scallon]

Hello all,
I'm finishing up the restoration of a set of drum brake wheels and am having trouble getting a good clean finish with the Wurth silver wheel paint. I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on what I might be doing wrong.

The wheels were bead blasted, washed and fully degreased before painting. The problem is that I can't get a nice smooth coat of paint all over the outside face of the wheel. I end up with some smooth sections where the paint is laid down thicker but then some other areas end up with a sandpaper feel to them. Laying the paint down really light gives me sandpaper and laying it down thick gives me some good sections but then the overspray leaves sandpaper.

Any thoughts? Should I just give it a heavy clearcoat? Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thank you,
-Greg

[Frank Jaklic]

Here we are, 11 years later and I'm wondering as I resore my 58 coupe, what should I do with the drums. Leave bare aluminum, clearcoat lacquer, or aluminum paint? Greg, are you out there, yet?

Any thought from those under the scrutiny of judges at car meets?

Frank

[Martin Benade]

Vapor blasting is the best way to make them look like new. My friend that restores 356s for a living said that a fine bead blasting followed by some hours with steel wool or a fine ss brush gets a pretty good approximation of the new look. I have not found a vapor blaster here in Cleveland. If your drums are really not in nice shape silver paint would be a big improvement. If you don’t have to paint them I’d skip the clearcoat, they were bare originally.

[Greg Scallon]

Hello Frank,
I'm still here, but I'm afraid I've never refinished my brake drums. The original post was about painting the wheels themselves. The drums I've left as is.

I have heard good things about the vapor blasting that Martin mentions so you might give that a look.

Regardless, good luck with your project.

-Greg

[Dave Lagerstrom]

Hi Greg,

I am refinishing my drum wheels and came up with the same issue you posted about years ago. Small sections with a rough finish.

Did you ever come up with a solution?

Thanks,
-Dave

[David Jones]

If you drive your 356 as often as I do there is not much point in spending much time and effort on painting wheels. Mine get lots of abuse on country roads even in nice weather so I just use a can of aluminum #207 spray paint which seems to be a close match to original and more than adequate for a car that will never be entered in a show. The attached picture is about what most people will see unless they get on their knees.

[Dave Lagerstrom]

Hi David,

Good point. I was just wondering if I was doing something wrong in laying on the paint. I have only done 1 of 5 so there is still hope for me to figure it out. Certainly not trying to create a 100 point car. More interested in driving!

Cheers,
-Dave

[David Jones]

Dave, being in MN doesn't that mean you only get 2 weeks of driving weather? May make it worthwhile to spend a month on each project on the car or you will run out of things to do. At least social distancing is easy up there. I am no painter but if it looks OK from 10 feet away I am good with that. I also have to maintain 15 wheels if I include spares so no expensive paint jobs for me.

[Martin Benade]

You will have better results if it is not too warm and you aren’t working in the direct sun. Holding the can fairly close and keeping it moving is the best way to get the whole wheel wet at one time. The problem is when one part is already dry when you come back to it.

[Norm Miller]

I've used the Wurth and after one good base coat drys for an hour apply two good coats of clear letting the first coat dry for maybe a half hour.
Don't let the base coat cure before you spray the clear.
To some affect they will flow out and look good as David says.
Norm

[Greg Scallon]

Hi Dave,
My 356 wheels came out OK when all was said and done. I clear coated them which helped to smooth things out and they're still going strong on my speedster which gets driven a lot. That said, when it came time to restore my next set of wheels, for my 56 VW, I sent them to Bolton's Wheels in Southern California. (I think they go by a new name now). They painted them perfectly.

For what it's worth, I think Martin's suggestion is a good one. Paint them in a cooler environment so the paint doesn't dry too quickly. I think the warm weather we were having when I was painting mine so long ago was part of the problem.

And man, has it really been 11 years? I just saw that half-used can of wurth silver on my shelf the other day. .

Cheers,
-Greg

[Adam Wright]

Anyone using spray paint on anything bigger than one small spot should use one of these handles. It helps to mimic a paint gun, and you can get good even sweeping spray. A lot of the inconsistency in a finish comes not from the paint but what your hand is doing. Fisting the can with one finger on the button limits your range of motion.

[Martin Benade]

Greg, the Porsche wheels on my 56 VW are brush-painted with silver basecoat, no clear. They actually don’t look bad.

[Dave Lagerstrom]

Great ideas. I will give it a try. It usually isn't too warm here in Minnesota!

Thanks