Thermo-Aesthetics

Well I've just finished the beginning of a long project of painting my wheels. I started with the spare tire. I muscled off the tire, then sandblasted the wheel, using the spiffy new media-blaster I got from santa. Here is what the wheels look like to begin with.



Starting on Thursday Jan. 11, I sandblasted and primed my first wheel.



I'm in love with this sandblaster. Now that I have it I want to sandblast everything. This wheel is down to bare metal.



On the 12th I added a second coat of primer, white this time. and let it dry for 48 hours



Sunday the 14th, 48 hours later, I added color; it's the same as the bumpers, Ivory gloss. I sprayed multiple coats, then let it dry 48 hours. Tuesday the 16th I added the clear gloss coats and let it dry another 48 hours.



Thursday the 18th it was dry and ready to put back on. I muscled on the tire being very mindful of the new paint, but still I managed to chip off a good strip on the front of the wheel, down to the first coat of primer. That really ticked me off, but this wheel is the practice run for the rest of them, being the spare. I'm going to practice painting bare metal, because I've had chipping on my bumpers too. I think it is from not sanding the primer coat before painting, which I didn't think was necessary, but we'll find out with my experiments. Anyway, I patched up the scars so they only look a little lumpy, and then stuck it on. I'll admit I'm not as stoked on it as I first thought I would be. There is just something wrong with the aesthetics.



In this picture I Photoshoped the rear wheel, running board, and blinker to match. This should be pretty close to what they will look like. I'm undecided about painting the running board, but I think that is another aesthetics problem.



On to other projects! I finally found the use for my tranny-hatch!! because my transaxle leaks so much gear oil, I have to refill it every now and again. Before, it involved jacking up the car, removing a wheel, climbing under, and squeezing into very tight, oily spaces. but now, I just pop the hatch, and BAM! its done! I am so very stoked.



and I also painted my stick shifter. I did it in a hurry, since my daily driver is useless without it, but it looks good. This was prompted by the rattling noise it made while driving. I had only planned on re-greasing it, but I went a step further and painted it too.