I spent yesterday's lunch break getting the two front barrels sorted out. These were the same pair i ran last year, which were gold. I wanted everything to be uniform and clean since I had them apart, so I took some time to repaint the inners. I had previously sand-blasted the barrels (the parts you could see with the tires mounted) just to get any road debris and grime off so I had a nice surface to paint on.

I got the old wheel weights off and went over both wheels with some 320 grit prior to giving them a good cleaning. Here's a shot of the paints I used. The Krylon semi-flat was for touching up the bolts and center caps, which isn't pictured here. I stand by this paint as the greatest trim/all-purpose paint of all time. It's been discontinued for a year or more, which is why I have a case tucked away in my basement. Goes on really nicely, great matte shine, it's money.

First came the primer. 

Then came the base coat of Duplicolor metallic silver.

Then the clear.

All in all I was happy with the results. My goal was to get everything to match, but since the wheels will be driven on and get dirty from time to time having totally perfect barrels wasn't a high priority. Here's a shot of the refinished front barrel next to an original silver rear, which cleaned up well enough to avoid refinishing. 

Tonight I am going to hit the two front lips with some rouge on a buffing wheel to get them up to the same shine as the rears. I'm also going to get all the old sealant cleaned up on all the remaining wheels to prep for final assembly. Everything is powdercoated now, so my goal is to have everything put together on Sunday. Tires will go on Tuesday.

-Ethan