Wheel painting prep

[GTO MAN 311]

Guys, I've searched as I would have thought this would have been addressed, but came up empty. Your help is appreciated. Anyways, I'm thinking of painting my stock 17's (2005 type with clearcoat) like the below...

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q45/thekelsoe/P icture171.jpg

What do I need to do to prep the areas that will be painted? Do I need to remove the clear? Do I just need to sand? Are there solvents involved?

Any help would be great...thanks!

[DallasMike]

use wax and grease remover on the wheels to remove and tupe of crap that would inhibit paint from sticking......sand with 600-800 grit sandpaper wet and take your time making sure to sand them completely and get good masking tape like 3m and mask what you don't want sanded...........then remask once you are ready to paint with fresh tape and spray a light coat first then successive medium coats until coverage is good then use a clear.......my recomendation is a light coat of clear let flash for 5 minutes and then medium-wet coats until gloss is achieved and make you you get it everywhere you want it to cover b/c nothing sucks more than to untape somthing and realize you missed a spot

[zdub]

You should use a vinyl masking tape, scuff with a fine grit scotch brite, leaving the masking tape on, clean then paint. The problem with removing the tape then remasking is, if you undermask where you scuffed, youll have dull spots at the transition between the silver and black where you scuffed (can't polish if you use satin or low gloss black because the satin will start to pick up a gloss)...and if you over mask, youll be painting on a glossy surface; the paint could lift at the area.

Note: try to take the tape off as soon as possible. This let's the edge settle a little and won't be as sharp.