Help needed painting wheels

[Okych]

So apparently I need a little help here. I'm attempting to paint a set of Pro Comp 1069's that I've purchased for a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited that I have on order. The wheels are brand new, and are "polished." I use " " because I don't know how or what they are finished with, but they are definitely shiny!

Anyway, I got two done, but ran into a problem while putting on the final coat of clear on the second one. They both looked great up to this point, mind you. I surprised myself, actually. I was looking to leave the lips polished, and paint the centers a dark graphite gray. Here's what I did:

hit entire wheel with an aggressive brake cleaner/degreaser
taped off my lips with painters tape
600 grit on all surfaces to be painted
Followed up with 2000 grit wet sand
Rustoleum self-etching primer - 3 light coats (then let sit for 12 hours)
Wet sand with 2000 grit again - then let sit for 4-5 hours
2 light coats of VHT polyurethane wheel paint, and a third/final slightly thicker coat, pulling the tape off the lip about 30 seconds later. (coats spread out by 10-15 minutes, let sit in the sun)
Very lightly wet-sanded with 2000 grit just to smooth the surface out some (metal flake in the paint was kinda rough)
2 light coats of VHT polyurethane clear, followed by a third/final slightly thicker coat
Done

Now, it had been more than 24 hours since the last coat of clear went on this one wheel. I took it out front to hit it with the hose to see how it held up. It didn't. It peeled at the lip in a couple of places, and the clear that was on polished lip started peeling everywhere (I cleared the entire wheel in an attempt to make that protective coating solid over the entire wheel, and hoping to avoid having to polish the lip by hand once/month.

So, what should I have done differently? Anything else I should have used instead? Is it possible to paint a factory-polished wheel with typical auto-parts store-bought products in a way that it holds up to high pressure washing? I'm strongly considering stripping both wheels back down and pricing out powder coating, but I really like DIY things when it comes to making my rides unique. I like to be able to take pride in things like that and not have to pay someone else to do it for me. Any help is appreciated!

 

[jeepins]

When you say the wheels were polished.. do you mean they were chromed? That clear would not stick to anything that wasn't sanded if you're talking steel wheel with chrome finish. That would be the weak point. Rattle can is ok as long as everything is prepped correctly and sounds like you did a good job of that but you may have to deal with polishing the lip by hand if you're going for the look you want. Maybe try one that way and see how the pressure washing affects it? At least you'll know if your process is working.

All that aside, i'm not sure i'd hit a painted wheel like that with a pressure washer regardless. I think you're just asking for trouble. You may have to just hand wash them.

 

[Mike_H]

Did it peel back to raw aluminum?

If so, that is a failure of your priming coat. "Self-etching" primer isn't the best on aluminum. Zinc-Chromate is your best bet. You really need to treat the surface with Alodine, but its kinda pricey and difficult to do (IIRC). ZC can sometimes work. The problem with aluminum is that it oxidizes so quickly and the paint doesn't stick to aluminum oxide.

 

[Wakeangel]

One thing that you might consider is letting the paint cure for a week before pressure washing. I used the VST wheel paint on steel wheels. I sanded them prior to painting. Then did about five very light coats. For the first several days i could scratch it with a fingernail. However, after a week the paint had cured/hardened. They've been through two AZ wheeling trips with bouncing through rock, gravel, sand every other thing the desert can hit them with. They've been pressure washed several times and no peeling or gouges in the paint.