Here we go again - and another set of Thethys are resurrected. These are Matt's old wheels, and while I didn't bother to take picture of the sanding, my laptop's fingerprint reader no longer recognized my index finger! Ouch - they hurt a little. I got the wheels done in a day. Tomorrow is suppose to be raining, so I had to get the wheels done today. They were in OK shape with some curb rash and a few gouges in the finish.
The powder on these things is really hard - so it's not easy to get them scuffed. This time around I used some primer surfacer to fill in the light sand scratches. The barrels got shot first, then the tops. I'm trying a new urethane paint instead of what I've shot in the past. It has more "body" and I was much happier than last time. The stuff would just barely come out of my touch-up gun and I really should have changed over to something with a bigger needle, but with all the damn spokes you just can't do it with a big gun.
So, this time I papered the work table and after the barrels had tacked up (there is no way to keep the overspray off the inside) I flipped them over into the "corner" position. This allows the air coming off the gun to have somewhere to go and minimize the bounce of paint off the table top.
Close up of the wheels - a little darker than my other set.
Directly above - looks a little lighter.
They have a bit of orange peel - but that's to be expected with a thick urethane.
Each spoke void get's painted from three different positions in the first coat to make sure it is covered. Then the second coat (there is only 2 coats called for with this product) - is sprayed by starting at the edge of the rim and follows the arc of the wheel going over the spokes. I've got it down to a science, but there really is no way to do it perfectly with it nicely wet everywhere.
Next wheels will be five spokes - if I'm lucky
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