Finally painted my wheels

[79cord]

Finally painted the '77's dowdy rusty wheels.
http://carphotos3.cardomain.com/images/0016/53/84/16033548_large.jpg
http://carphotos2.cardomain.com/images/0016/53/54/16033545_large.jpg
I went for a darker grey instead of the original bright silver but it's really strange how much the colour changes with light, sometimes looking far darker than others, with my camera really exaggerating the contrast & making it look darker than it is. I emphatically did not want black, and was also considering painting the styled 'spoke' bulges a slightly lighter silver to exaggerate them further but haven't yet...

I also repainted the hub-cap centre bright orange-red (tried some Red metal-flake adhesive film first but that was too dark), for added flair and thought I'd try putting red-lines on the tires. Next time I'll try doing it with a brush rather than spraying through an ill-fitting stencil which was a bit of a mess with overspray everywhere, & initially I did them a few mm oversize which looked too obvious. I'm wary of cheap paint pens since I bought one once than faded badly towards pink with sunlight so I just used some leftover automotive paint I had, and was wary of brushing it on as well incase application was too thick causing it to crack & flake off but either might be better...
before
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3327/249/33315124001_large.jpg
& after
http://carphotos2.cardomain.com/images/0016/53/64/16033546_large.jpg
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/images/0016/53/34/16033543_large.jpg

Just the back tyre done so far.
I'm not convinced the red stripe was a good idea but I'm really happy with the darker wheel & brighter hub-cap logo, exaggerating the wheels offset nicely & giving the car a subtle flair befitting it's character.

I also removed the side-trims I had made, replacing the incomplete & rust swollen originals & mounted further from the body for additional door protection. Unfortunately my mountings & adhesive tape weren't strong enough to retain them properly as my 10mm Acrylic backing strips expanded & contracted with heat & cold leaving them hanging off messily.
So there's just a strip of electrical tape currently hiding mounting holes.
May try making/mounting some different trims or graphic stripes there.

[Hazwan]

I'm digging the darker centers. Not sure about the red lines though

[import racer]

I always like to try different things,stuff other people won't.Looks good!

[Dr_Snooz]

I like it all! Way to think outside the box and execute it nicely.

[Rendon LX-i]

sexy. that's one clean accord

[2ndGenGuy]

Sweet dude! Love the color of the wheels. The red stripe is a cool idea. It was definitely worth the shot. Maybe white stripes to match the car, and the classic look?

[lostscotiaguy]

Wow! I was thinking that some time I'd break down and paint my rims black, thinking they'd set off the Oslo Ivory, but that paint looks great! Those rims look like new! What color/brand did you use, and did you just clean and scuff them? Or did you sand and/or prime them before painting?

[79cord]

I'm thinking White stripe tyres would be a step too far, seen an early BMW 5-series about with them though. :~
Getting used to the stripe. Bought some tyre-shine spray I guess I'll have to use once done -never used that before.

Tried brushing on another redline yesterday & wasn't happy with the results of that either, inconsistent. Haven't tried pinstriping before.
Might have to mask up the next stripe properly with tape for spraying. Made a start but getting a good consistent 5mm line all the way round isn't so easy either with tape resisting the curve. So started wondering about buying Oil pastels to use to 'mask' the tyre (bit expensive). Grease? PVA 'white' wood glue? All could hopefully be washed off after painting.
Idea of buying tyre paint pens getting more tempting.
Distracted by grinding & removing the filler falling out of the side of a friends Accord & attempting to replace it with depressing amounts of fresh filler... Wheel-arch shapes & side creases are not that easy to recreate accurately. Definitely makes me appreciate this car.

My wheels still had a most of their original paint so were washed & scrubbed with a 'heavy-duty' scouring pad which proved quite able to get areas of the wheel back to their primer.
I bent up a piece of thick wire to hook over the wheel rim & hold the tyre valve out of the way, and thankfully had a set of Honda stainless steel trim-rings to refit so I didn't have to be careful about masking the wheels for painting (just careful to remove the trims by levering at areas reinforced but the 5-mounting strips & not the trims ).
For paint I had some leftover black and silver automotive acrylic paint to mix as desired. I went for a medium shade as I had on on my window trims previously but didn't use another primer as the wheels still had theirs.

I also considered a few more detailed ideas like painting the rings around the wheels vent holes silver, orange (that looked rather clown-like), or black. Still haven't ruled out those ideas. Silver tape could cover black...