Painting wheels

[Gregor 4,846]

Wasn't sure where to post this, so I landed here. I am out of parts for my engine rebuilds, so I moved on to my other project. Whenever I am rebuilding a tractor, one of the jobs I hate most, is prepping the wheels for painting. After they are cleaned up, sanded, and ready for paint, you have to tape off the tire, with several pieces of masking tape, going around and around til it's covered. At least that's the way I always did it. A tedious and time consuming task. So I got an idea. Maybe others have been doing this forever, and I am just a little slow. That's possible. I got a roll of contact/shelf liner paper and covered the entire wheel and tire.  Then with a razor knife I trimmed out the center, cutting along the INSIDE edge of the wheel. Using a pick or something pointy, tuck the extra material in around the OUTSIDE edge of the wheel. In no time at all, your wheel is ready for primer and paint. The contact paper comes off in one pull, not stripping off little bits of masking tape. This may not be as good as removing the tire, but some tires, like these, are semi-pneumatic, and don't come off. Just an idea.

[WHNJ701 4,165]

Whatever works to get to end result, the last rims I painted, I had my kids tape them up so I didn't have too,   There is a lot tricks, playing cards, card board cut outs, a farmer trick I saw once was to grease around the tire the wipe off.  

[DennisThornton 4,769]

3 minutes ago, jabelman said:

Whatever works to get to end result, the last rims I painted, I had my kids tape them up so I didn't have too,   There is a lot tricks, playing cards, card board cut outs, a farmer trick I saw once was to grease around the tire the wipe off.  

Rough mask with tape and paper and brush "paint" Vaseline on carefully and spray away!  I've seen the card trick but not tried it.

[JCM 9,206]

I have had very good luck with the deck of card trick learned on here. Just the rears on the 418-A.

[Gregor 4,846]

Never heard of that, may have to try that next.

[squonk 41,166]

I do the same thing except I have a roll of plastic sheeting I use on my porch in the winter. I lay it on the wheel, cut it with a razor and tape it down.

[ebinmaine 67,711]

My Paint Department (Trina) has used the card method with good success until we wanted to paint the wheels on Cinnamon Horse. The back tires are Carlisle commercial grade and have extra rubber around the circumference of the rim called Rim guard. Keeps from damaging the wheel as easily. 

Well there's NO space to put a card down between the rubber and metal and the tires are fluid-filled so I couldn't just deflate and refill. 

 

I posed the situation here and the solution was to use very thin metal to make a tube the same size as the rim. 

Sprayed inside the tube an' whammo! Done wheels. 

[pacer 3,174]

13 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

I posed the situation here and the solution was to use very thin metal to make a tube the same size as the rim. 

Sprayed inside the tube an'

 

 Similar to my method --- except I use a sanding belt....I have a 48" belt sander and for whatever reason I always keep 3-4 of the 'getting slick' belts hanging on a nail. Since I had tried - I think - all of the above solutions and still wasnt quite satisfied, soooo - I grabbed one of the worn belts to see if it wouldnt fit in that groove around the tire. Yep, did pretty well. I cut it to overlap only 2-3" as a long 'tail' wanted to pop out. I've now got 2 for the 12's and 2 for the 8's. Takes a couple mins per tire.

[Gregor 4,846]

I can't believe I'm the only one whose been wasting time taping up all these tires over the years. Well yeah, I can.

[Rusty Tinsnips 477]

Just finished these yesterday using the card trick that I learned here.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Rusty Tinsnips