Can I paint a rim?

The paint will mess up the pads. If they are worth messing with, I would have them
blasted, tape off the brake surface first. And then polish them after the blasting.

If they are not worth the trouble, just spray them. But do tape off the sides.

will the pads eventually wear the paint down off the rim? that is fine if they do and I have a cheap extra set of pads so if i wreck them it's not terrible, seems like taping off the round brake track with square tape will be a tiresome project

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Motobecane [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

will the pads eventually wear the paint down off the rim? that is fine if they do and I have a cheap extra set of pads so if i wreck them it's not terrible, seems like taping off the round brake track with square tape will be a tiresome project

... but not as tiresome as picking your teeth up from the backseat of the car whose back window you just smashed though or being scraped up off the floor with a shovel and bucket at a busy intersection because you couldn't stop worth a damn.

Cools coloured rims and Darwinism. A fine Monday morning combination. Would sir like one sugar or two with that?

Take one roll of 3M painters tape - 3" wide. You can tear and cut it very easily. Tear 6" to 9" strips and center it over the edge of the rim. Do this all round the rim and use a razor blade to slice it around the edge of the rim. If you have a wheel jig (or bike upside down) you could turn the wheel while holding the razor in place. I'm guessing a whooping 5 minutes would be required. A significantly shorted period of time than either facial or dental reconstruction and it took Christ a few days to rise from the dead so I'm guessing that it'll take you a bit longer than that.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by swampy1970 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

... but not as tiresome as picking your teeth up from the backseat of the car whose back window you just smashed though or being scraped up off the floor with a shovel and bucket at a busy intersection because you couldn't stop worth a damn.

Cools coloured rims and Darwinism. A fine Monday morning combination. Would sir like one sugar or two with that?

Take one roll of 3M painters tape - 3" wide. You can tear and cut it very easily. Tear 6" to 9" strips and center it over the edge of the rim. Do this all round the rim and use a razor blade to slice it around the edge of the rim. If you have a wheel jig (or bike upside down) you could turn the wheel while holding the razor in place. I'm guessing a whooping 5 minutes would be required. A significantly shorted period of time than either facial or dental reconstruction and it took Christ a few days to rise from the dead so I'm guessing that it'll take you a bit longer than that.

I appreciate your concerns
i suppose the comparison i'm trying to make is to a deep v with a non machined sidewall where everyone says the pads will simply wear through the brake track and get down to the metal and take care of it. I also don't want to tape the brake track because if the tape isn't applied perfectly it can let paint run underneath it. I think i'm going to paint the entire rim, brake track included and then when I'm done I'll lay the rim flat and sand down the brake track. the rim has already been taken apart from the hub so I can lay it totally flat.

There is also a possibility that I'm going to rebuild this wheel with a disc hub which will make it a moot point.

Why don't you just buy a rim in the color you want - VelocityUSA has rims in the following colors.

Non-machined Colors: Black, Silver, White, E. Red, Yellow, E. Blue, Purple, Gold, Orange, Lime Green, Ti. Grey, B. Silver, Pink, Celeste
Machined Colors: Black, Silver, White, E. Red, Yellow, E. Blue, Purple, Gold, Orange, Lime Green, Ti Grey, Pink, Celeste, Sid Blue

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by swampy1970 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Why don't you just buy a rim in the color you want - VelocityUSA has rims in the following colors.

Non-machined Colors: Black, Silver, White, E. Red, Yellow, E. Blue, Purple, Gold, Orange, Lime Green, Ti. Grey, B. Silver, Pink, Celeste
Machined Colors: Black, Silver, White, E. Red, Yellow, E. Blue, Purple, Gold, Orange, Lime Green, Ti Grey, Pink, Celeste, Sid Blue

Can of Krylon $6.99
New Velocity rim $59.99 each

These were wheels that I already had that had spoke issues but the rims themselves are structurally solid. no hops in them and plenty of meat left on the brake track so it's worth reusing them, I just wanted to try and make them look a little nicer. I suspect the wheels came off of a delivery guys bike here in nyc so they probably got a lot of exposure to the elements.

I've also never built a wheel before and I want to have a cheap experiment in doing it, I won't be upset if these don't turn out well. It's a good learning experience.

If you have a tube of grease kicking around you can lightly coat the braking surface with grease and spray away with your rattle can. Let the paint dry overnight then take a shop rag and wipe the paint right off the braking surface. This is a trick we used in the electric motor rebuilding trade back in the day. We would coat all the ID tags on the motors instead of masking them because it was quick and easy. Another trick would be to get a permanent marker and color your rims by hand.

+1 for davereo and the grease. If you start sanding on the braking surface, you will reduce the life of the rims, not to mention the possibility of causing bad braking due to sanding more heavily in one spot than in all the others. But if you do use grease or any kind of lubricant, make sure that you clean it off well. I use rubbing alcohol to clean my rims after painting them and have not had any problems.