Hello

I lost one of my rims this summer, and the replacement doesn't match the colour (I have not found anyone who sells black rims).

Has anyone here any experience painting rims? The one I have might be painted. It looks almost like steel, but I think it's a colour on it.

I've got a 5-stage HVLP turbine spray system. Is that overkill for this project? Also I don't want to put oil-based paint into it because of amount of time I'd need to spend cleaning with solvents.

For the process I'm thinking something like:
  1. Leave the tire on
  2. Wirebrush the whole thing
  3. Sand whatever I have the patience to reach
  4. Mask off the tire
  5. One layer of primer
  6. Sand
  7. Second layer of primer
  8. Steel wool
  9. First coat of paint
  10. Steel wool
  11. Second coat
Am I going to have to repaint all the rims in a few years anyway no matter how hard I work on paiting this one? I've driven several cars with steel rims, and all of them looked like crap after 3-4 years. Plenty of salt on the road here. And the trailer wheels are not exempt from it, I take it out in the winter too.

Thanks in advance.