So over the weekend I repainted my set of steelies on the Interceptor. They had been mucked up from a few years of hubcap clips and were rusted where the paint came off. At any rate... I think this is pretty basic but it was super easy and for about $10 in paint and supplies they look fantastic. Keep in mind, I painted these with the tires on the wheels.
I sanded down the original paint down with 60 grit, paying special attention to places that had surface rust. The rusty sections were taken to metal. The rest of the good paint just got scuffed up. I went over the wheel briefly with 300 grit for good measure.
Afterwards the wheel got a good cleaning with a scrub brush and soapy water, a generous rinse, and towel dry. After the wheels completely air dried I used duct tape to tape off the tires. Take your time here, tape over the lip slighty with small strips of tape and push it back with a screwdriver. The more time you spend here the better the results will be!! I wouldn't try taking one piece of tape and going all the way around the wheel. Use like 30 small pieces and work your way around. I heard about some other methods, but found that simply taping the tires was easiest. I did one with newspaper and it was a PITFA. Also, regular painters tape will most likely not stick to the tire - especially if there has ever been tire shine applied.
Almost time to paint! I took a towel and mineral spirits to just wipe down the wheel surface one last time to get any impurities up. Even after meticulously cleaning the wheels with soapy water, the spirits still removed some more stuff.
I used 2 cans of flat black rustoleum paint for this job. You may be able to squeeze it out of one can, but ~4 coats per wheel was like 1.5 cans. The first coat was real light... maybe 50% total coverage. After the 2nd coat there was probably 95% coverage, and the 3rd and 4th coats completely made the wheel black. I think a lot of people rush it and pump on tons and tons of paint all at once, which leads to runs.
Let the wheels dry for at least a couple hours before putting them back on the car. I live in an apartment complex and had the car up on 4 jack stands while this was going on, lol. Anyways, when you put on lug nuts, sometimes small metal shaving from the threads get pushed out to the wheels. You don't want that junk getting on the wheels until the paint is good and hard. Try to start in the morning, take your time, by the afternoon you should be done, and the next morning you should be able to drive the car no problemo.
One step that I did not do was use a clear coat. I like the real flat finish that rustoleum flat gives. Its up to you on what finish you want. I'm gonna toss on a quick coat of wax on the wheels next time they are washed... good enough. If they get mucked up again it'll only take me a few hours on some weekend to respray them. Anyways, this is something a total paint beginner can pull off without any prior experience and with very minimal tools.
Now that you have read this entire thread, you may be asking yourself: "How does this relate to mustangs?". Simple... any set of wheels can be repaired like this. If you have wack chrome wheels, chipped clear over aluminum wheels, or stock wheels that you want to change color... the process is all the same.
