Bob's 414-8

Now that the engine was pretty much wrapped up it was a good day to do the wheels.  It's a 2 step process, has to be timed just right, and the metallic is picky stuff.  The base coat determines the look when finished because the metallic is just basically clear coat with good size metallic flakes.  It would take 10 coats to cover bare metal.  I've used other colors for other things but most of them get the gray.  The gray needs 2-3 coats to make sure the metal is covered and has a high gloss.  After the gray dries between 1 and 1-1/2 hours (no longer) the metallic can be applied, any longer and the acetone in the metallic will pull up (wrinkle up) the gray.  The metallic has to be just right as to not eat into the gray enough to run, and the metallic has to be put on heavy enough for a high gloss without any runs.  If you get a metallic run in this stuff you will see it from a mile away lol.     

It's a tricky process but it's worth it in the end.  The camera cant really get a good pic of what they look like but they really sparkle, especially in the sunlight.  In the last pic they look like plain aluminum but that's just a camera thing again...     In every pic the paint is dry enough to handle and put on the rack.  They will stay on the rack until next week so everything does well when mounting the tires.

 

Bob is all done and picking up tomorrow.  The only pain is it looks like Deestone is following China in the fact they band the turf tires down to get more in a container.  I had to put old tubes in them, pump them up and let them set for about 3 hours to get the creases and beads out to where they weren't a pain to get mounted.  Not much else to do since Deestone is about the only tire left not made in China...  

I got a few more rim pics that show the metallic a little better but the best pic looks about half as good as what the eye sees.  They also have a candy color like appearance depending on how the light hits the metal flakes.  I think they're pretty cool looking.  

 

Geno wrote:

Bob is all done and picking up tomorrow.  The only pain is it looks like Deestone is following China in the fact they band the turf tires down to get more in a container.  I had to put old tubes in them, pump them up and let them set for about 3 hours to get the creases and beads out to where they weren't a pain to get mounted.  Not much else to do since Deestone is about the only tire left not made in China...  

I got a few more rim pics that show the metallic a little better but the best pic looks about half as good as what the eye sees.  They also have a candy color like appearance depending on how the light hits the metal flakes.  I think they're pretty cool looking.  

GREAT JOB..LOOKS LIKE NEW.....


 

Thanks Nappy.