unnoticedtrails

Hi guys and gals,
I just had a snafu with painting my wheels. The clearcoat on them was peeling and looking pretty bad. So I thought I would try and repaint them silver. I did all the right things: adhesion promoter, paint and clear. But, two out of the four wheels crazed and they look a whole lot worse than when I started. What do I do???

Hadtohaveit'13

Got any pics? What kind of wheels are they? You could have the striped and powder coated for a durable lasting finish. Or strip them yourself and try again..

houtex

Crazing is a sign of impurity of the surface. So the only thing you can do is do it right.

Break out the red scotchbrite
Scuff them up.
Tape 'em off if needed.
Tack cloth.
Wax and grease remover. Don't go stupid on it, just a little on a clean rag and wipe it down.
Tack cloth AGAIN.
Shoot with Bulldog Adhesion Promoter, a *very* light dusting, wait 5 minutes.
Shoot with BAP, slightly heavier dusting, wait 7 minutes.
Shoot with BAP, same slightly heavier dusting, wait 10 minutes.
Shoot with your choice of primer, same pattern of light dusting, 10 minutes wait
Primer slightly heavier, 15 minute wait.
Primer medium coat, 15 minute wait. Two of those.
THEN WAIT at least an hour before...

(If you want is just dang flat, do this:
Wetsand with 600 any impurity of surface. Drips, etc. You want it flat before you shoot the color coat. Unless you don't care about this
Tack it.
Wax and Grease Remover
Tack it.
..Otherwise, just: )

Shoot the color coat in a light coat, wait 15 minutes.
Shoot the color coat light to medium, 15 minutes.
Continue shooting as many color coats in light-medium coats until you get the depth and/or coverage you want, but four overall should be enough, unless it's Basecoat only. In that case, a few more than four might be a good idea, if you plan to sand it back for gloss.

Allow that to cure up some, about an hour. If this color is one shot basecoat, then you are done except the final wetsand, goto Glossing: If it needs clear:

Wetsand that if you desire, tack etc.

Shoot the clear coats on it. This is done the same as the color coats: light first, then light-medium, and this stuff, you can put as much as you want to make it as deep as you want to have it. 4 coats is probably good, but 6 would be fantastic. 8 might be a bit much.

Glossing:
Now, walk away, DO NOT TOUCH THESE THINGS until the next day. At that point, you can wetsand them with 1500 and 2000 (mindful that this is best on a flat surface, with a flat device such as a sanding block, or other means of controlling the paper's shape on the surface... curved? Yeah, well... good luck, make your best guess, they make spongy and flexible pads, but... ), then rubbing compound and polishing compound and swirl remover and daaamn booyyyy, that's some sweet paint job!!

Moral of this story with paint: Take your time, don't be in a rush, this is an all dang day thing if you really want it done right, and the next day if you want it glass-like. And even if you do it 'right'... stuff happens. Wrong paint color, contaminants, bugs, dirt...

And all times are to be taken with a grain of salt, READ THE DIRECTIONS and adjust for temperature/humidity. A calm 70degF day with <50% humidity is a really good thing to behold for paint in the garage, ya ask me.

unnoticedtrails

Wow! Thank you very much for the detailed information!
I actually just got it as good as I could after sanding it down and reshooting it. At some point I will fix it and use your method. Thanks again. PS- Pictures will be coming later today. I am getting new LED taillights and I'll install them and take new pics.