Painting Sheels and peeling primer?

[buddylindsey]

This is the first time I have painted anything I care about and want to do well.

I wire wheeled off all of the rust and as much of the old paint as I could (most of it).

I then primed it with rustoleum, that seemed to go well. Next I taped off to do the center in red. When I peeled the tape off some of the primer came off too, ack.

The other wheel I did not have a peeling issue with

So to questions:

1. Is it because I didn't get it clean enough in those spots? I did mineral spirits and wiped it down well.
2. What is a good way to fix this without redoing the whole wheel?

Attached is a picture of the peeling primer.

edit: I am rattle canning this because it looks decent enough and this is going to be a work cub while I eventually work on a more show cub. I just want to paint things I work on.

[Glen]

Hi,
I guess you used a wire wheel to remove rust and old paint. I think you still should have used fine sandpaper to sand the metal everywhere you wanted to paint. 400 grit automotive sandpaper, or a little finer is good, as far as I know.
Use masking tape for automotive painting, NAPA sells it, as far as I know.
Don't put masking tape on fresh paint, it can pull the paint off when you try to remove the tape.
To fix it, I would let the wheel sit until the paint is hard, a few days may be needed for it to get hard. Sand the areas where the paint pulled off, using 400 or finer sandpaper, sand the edges of the paint where the paint pulled off, so the edges aren't sharp, wipe off all sanding, clean it with a little thinner on a clean rag, let it dry, then repaint.
You didn't say the year of the Cub. Cubs in the earlier years have red front wheels, no white on them.

[buddylindsey]

Thanks that is great advice. I didn't think about sandpaper. Now I know for the future.

It is a 47 cub. The white is primer. I plan to do it gray. I like the look better so it matches the rear tire. The all red front tires just look odd to my eye.

I am going to wait a couple of days and see how things go. Just take it slow.

[Pothole31a]

Peeling can happen for many reasons. If you primed quickly after using mineral spirits that could be your problem. Mineral spirits are a slow flashing / slightly oily thinner. Using something like acetone is much better. It flashes off quickly and doesn’t leave a residue. Or you could use a duplicolor spray foaming cleaner. That also flashes quickly and doesn’t leave a residue.

As for tape there are many types of tape which all have different adhesion properties. A “low tack” tape is the way to go. It will still stick but won’t peel fresh paint. A general purpose masking tape is the worst to use, as it has the highest adhesion properties. Usually a blue tape with a green core (3M) would be the best bet. Or Yellow Frog Tape. These are made for coatings that a fresh and need taped quickly. Remove the tape as soon as you can post painting.


Wire wheels work well for a lot of things but normally they don’t leave a profile for the paint to bond to. A sandpaper like 220 grit is perfect if you’re using a general purpose tractor paint. 400 and finer is perfect for an automotive application.

If you have any further questions let me know.

[tst]

paint is mostly about prep, surface needs to be clean, slightly roughed up for paint to have something to grab to, mineral spirits will leave a film that will make paint peel, laquer thinner is ok to clean with but make sure its dried before painting

[radioguy41]

Never use mineral spirits, use denatured alcohol to wipe down before priming. It dries instantly so there is no residue. As a heads up, if you go to buy denatured alcohol at Lowes they changed the name on the can to "Fuel". Don't ask me why but if you read the contents it says "Denatured alcohol". It's the only thing I ever use in prepping for paint.

[Gary Dotson]

I do the masking for the 2 colors differently. First, without masking, I paint the outer, gray, ring of the wheel. After the paint has hardened, I then mask it to paint the red. I never mask primer and I only mask once. You’ll have to mask twice with you procedure.

[Matt Kirsch]

Conventional paint can take 30 days or more to fully cure and adhere to the metal. If you can smell paint, it ain't cured.

Where you see these guys spraying paint and immediately going back with masking, they're using a catalyzed paint which is very expensive and requires special tools and equipment to handle.

[buddylindsey]

Thanks everyone I have learned a lot from this. Some of my takeaways

1. I should have asked before trying it
2. I should use denatured alcohol or waited longer with mineral spirits
3. Take 220 or 400 grit sandpaper to scuff up the metal
4. Wait longer before taping I was hoping 2.5 days was enough on the primer
5. Should have painted gray on the outside, waited then taped off the gray. (would have saved me time and effort)

I learned a lot from this. Now I know better for the next part I work on.

[Jim Becker]

I do masking the way the factory did it. -- Never put two different colors on the same part. No masking required.

[buddylindsey]

I got the tires painted. They look pretty good not amazing, but i learned a lot on the way and will do better next time.

Now to let them dry and get the rubber on.

I am excited to what they will look like on the cub.

[Waif]

This is the first time I have painted anything I care about and want to do well.

I wire wheeled off all of the rust and as much of the old paint as I could (most of it).

I then primed it with rustoleum, that seemed to go well. Next I taped off to do the center in red. When I peeled the tape off some of the primer came off too, ack.

The other wheel I did not have a peeling issue with

So to questions:

1. Is it because I didn't get it clean enough in those spots? I did mineral spirits and wiped it down well.
2. What is a good way to fix this without redoing the whole wheel?

Attached is a picture of the peeling primer.

edit: I am rattle canning this because it looks decent enough and this is going to be a work cub while I eventually work on a more show cub. I just want to paint things I work on.

You have created "rework".
Nothing wrong with that as you learn that way.

Your lifted paint is from improper prep. If you had drawn your name with a small paintbrush using grease it would peel similar. So what was on the metal ? You might use that to your advantage elsewhere. What if you put something paint didn't want to marry on rubber near metal you paint?

It was mentioned to smooth the edges where your paint lifted.
I'd try to loosen any other poor adhering paint first. But those edges as mentioned really need to be "feathered" . And that will usually expose metal again. So you prime again. But any paint you reprime needs scuffed first. A piece of green scotchbrite can work if you clean the results well enough.
220 paper cuts paint well enough. then 350 and 400 eventually if you want smoothest finish under your paint.

See where your rim bolts go? What is going to happen when you tighten fasteners against multiple layers of paint there? And what can be done to reduce having fractured edges of paint beyond those fasteners edges?

[Ole90633]

Buddy, your topic had me scratching my head at first: Painting Sheels or did you mean “Steels” ?

Upon opening it and reading further, oh: WHEELS; the WHEEL ASSY, DISC TYPE FRONT ! Sometimes, called the Rim. The steel part that the Rubber Tire fits on !

I had a bit of a laugh when you said, “I got the tires painted.”

Just like many of the other parts and implements of the Cub, it helps everyone when we use the right name of the part we’re posting about, or even the commonly used name

Regardless, as you saw, we’ll sort it out and happily help !