two quick questions about painting rims and valve cover

ASSISTANCE Exterior
1

okay so heres the deal… the guy that owned the car before me got these miata rims… apparently didn’t like the factory colour so he decided to paint like 3 coats of gunmetal right over top the factory colour with no prepping what-so-ever and i’m pretty sure no clear coat either. so basically when pressure washed certain spots would just chip off. so here i am re-painting them now. the thing is i’m in the process of stripping everything off them right now down to the bare metal and heres a picture of one of them so far.

http://home.mountaincable.net/~jameslin/RandomStuff/rimsworkinprogress.jpg

now i don’t mind the shiny look, and i’m thinking i might get them all nicely stripped and then keep them that way. the thing is, i have to drive on these all year round, and i live in southern ontario so we get snow… snow means salt… salt means bad for everything lol. so if i strip these all nicely and then lay down a few coats of clear coat will that be good enough to protect them all year round? or do i HAVE to paint them?

my other question is about painting the valve cover… i haven’t been able to find any high-heat primer anywhere (i’ve checked parts source and canadian tire so far) i still have a few more places i can check but it seems to be pretty rare up here… how bad is it to paint it without the primer? i’m guessing its a really dumb idea…

2

Rims…try a few coats of anti-rust inhibitor. If you want to rattle can it the cans will provide you with the proper heat tolerance it provides. I recommend aircraft paint stripper w/brush on application. Slap some of this on and in 10-15 mins you can literally wipe the rims with a rag and the paint will come off. You can add a second treatment if needed.
As far as the valve cover if I were you I would just bring it to one of the local paint shops and get an estimate. NOTE try not to enter through the front door, there are more then enough guys that will accomidate you if you pay them under the table without “boss/owner cost”. Drive around back when the boss/owner is not around and ask one of the fellas what they can do for you.

3

yup