I have these rims off a 2000 model Pontiac GrandAm. I have them up for sale locally, but nobody was biting. So I decided to make them nice and keep them for myself.

did you deflate the wheels before taping?

They look deflated.

Great looking paint job! Wanna come paint my GS?

Quote from: seamax on January 21, 2011, 03:52:36 PM
did you deflate the wheels before taping?

There is no tape 

I have done many sets of wheels, and have a process down:

1. Deflate
2. Take to Pep Boys, have the bead broken off the face
3. get all sanded down, bondo if necessary (only needed a little here)
4. Stick the entire wheel/tire inside a giant thick trash bag (of the contractor/landscaping variety, Husky brand works nice)
5. Poke a hole in the middle where the face is, and slowly stretch it in a circle until it fits around lip of the rim
6. Fold the edges back and tape to the bottom/back of the wheel
7. Shrink the rest of it down with the heat gun so there isn't excess 'flappage'
8. Prime it and paint it and junk
9. Ball on a budget

Quote from: tt_four on January 21, 2011, 07:10:35 PM
Great looking paint job! Wanna come paint my GS?

Thanks, it wouldn't be the first one I've done

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50319.0

Explain process #2? I don't understand. I'm getting ready to paint my wheels too when the temp gets above 30 here in Iowa.

Quote from: seamax on January 22, 2011, 08:42:12 PM
Explain process #2? I don't understand. I'm getting ready to paint my wheels too when the temp gets above 30 here in Iowa.

Step number 2, beaking the bead from the face of the tire, is very important whether you use my patented 'shove it in a trash bag' method or not. Even if you were to tape it off, you would want some kind of gap between the tire and the lip of the wheel. It is nearly impossible to tape in a perfect circle, and if you have your tape edge right up against the lip of the wheel, these inconsistencies will be very obvious in the finished product. You will have a wavy, jagged line around the lip, and often paint on parts of the tire around the edge. By breaking the front edge of the tire loose from the edge of the wheel ('breaking the bead') you create a gap, and have an inner part of the rim that you can mask to. This means you have no tape line around the lip of the wheel. I have heard of people using index cards around the edge in between the lip and the tire, but even doing that causes a place where something is against the edge of the surface you are painting.

You see the ridges on the rim where it says 'safety bead'? those ridges are there and keep the tire from being able to slip inward on the rim. Whenever you deflate your tires, you have to force the inside of the tire over that little ridge, otherwise you'll never get enough play in the tire to do anything with it.

For his step 2 you need to get the tire over that little ridge so there is a gap between the tire and the rim so you can take it off for painting.

^Bingo, simply deflating the tire is not enough. Pep Boys popped mine for free, it takes all of two seconds. It is very difficult to do it yourself if you do not have the appropriate tools.

I'll remember that about pepboys. I actually made a bead breaker out of a 2x4 stud and a smaller piece of wood. There's plenty  of videos on youtube about it. It's not too complicated, you just need something you can get some leverage from.

Cool, I learned something new today. I used to use the index card method. So reinflating the tire would bring it back across the bead line?

It does, but you need an air compressor. Once it starts to get up around 30psi it'll suddenly pop over, scaring any pets that are around. If you tried to use a bicycle floor pump or anything like that I think the air would seep out the sides quicker than you could pump it in. 

Quote from: tt_four on January 23, 2011, 11:57:06 AM
It does, but you need an air compressor. Once it starts to get up around 30psi it'll suddenly pop over,

Yeah that's what I thought, but every one of these popped over at about 10. Made me jump every time.

But yes, it will pop back into place when you inflate it, if you are doing it with a bike pump you better have arms like pistons.

Ummm, is step 2b "remove wheel weights"?

Quote from: Paulcet on January 23, 2011, 07:32:18 PM
Ummm, is step 2b "remove wheel weights"?

You know, I thought about it, but just decided to paint over them. I'm not gonna keep them around long anyways, as soon as I get a real set they are probably scrap metal.

Hey, You think those would fit a 99 sunfire GT? If so where are you again? If your gonna scrap I'd pick 'em up if your relatively close. Prob to expensive to ship I'm sure.

Mary

Quote from: tt_four on January 23, 2011, 09:33:32 AM
I'll remember that about pepboys. I actually made a bead breaker out of a 2x4 stud and a smaller piece of wood. There's plenty  of videos on youtube about it. It's not too complicated, you just need something you can get some leverage from.

a homemade plate that bolts to where the lug bolts go through. ive done this too

nice work.  grandammit wheels are hard to get rid of. ppl want aftermarket ghetto size krap  in their place. no one wants stock sadly

Ether is the $h!t if you only have a small air tank or Small Air Compressor. It doesn't work too good on small Mower tires or Wheelbarrows.ETCThe bigger the tire the better it works.Spray Inside the Tire all Around.It doesn't take much.Stand back and toss a Match,Burning Paper or spray a trail of ether away from the tire to set it off.

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on January 25, 2011, 05:04:10 PM
Hey, You think those would fit a 99 sunfire GT? If so where are you again? If your gonna scrap I'd pick 'em up if your relatively close. Prob to expensive to ship I'm sure.

Mary

If it's a five lug, then yes they would fit. I am in Atlanta, a little out of your range iirc (florida somewhere, right?) but anyways, I kinda like the way they look on the car and may just leave them. It's nice to change it up every once in a while.