Alloy Wheel Painting

[Swan Jnr]

hello, just respraying some alloy wheels and wondering whether to use lacquer or not?

 

The lacquer says that I should flat the paint back first but I'm not keen.

 

Is it worth using lacquer at all? What will happen if I use the lacquer without rubbing paint down first?

 

Cheers paul

[Guest sadjagboy]

It depends on what you are spraying, if it is a basecoat, such as a normal (silver?) metallic, then you will most likely have to use lacquer to 1 get the shine and 2 protect the basecoat as it tends to be a bit delicate. If it is a basecoat then you shouldn't need to rub down but will need to lacquer within a given time, but as it is nearly 20 years since I was on a car painting course, I can't remember how long. Within 8 hours sounds about right, so long as the basecoat has fully dried you should be okay. Paint spraying is a bit of a black art IMO. Sometimes it works great and other times its a bit of a disaster, or maybe that's just me.