I'm buying a wheel and tire package from "website" and wanted to paint the wheels a different color. I can get them in chrome or a black paint. Since the black is cheaper I'd assume go with that. The question is since the wheels will have never seen the road before I paint them, do I have to remove the paint on them? or can i just scuff up the surface? Also since the wheels should be real smooth, how should I sand them? Do I do the whole start with 200 grit and work up or can i just hit them with like a 600 or 1000 grit

I 'd get chrome wheels, I just don't want to have to deal with them in the winter and I haven't heard of any sort of protector that you can apply thats low maintenance.

 

Most painted wheels that I see end up with paint chips on them within a year and need to be repainted in 3 years time. I would suggest powdercoating them.

 

Not that I am arguing, but I wonder why they chip so easily? The paint on your vechile lasts longer than that, but than again the wheels are lower to the ground vs the body of the vehicle. I've heard of people using BBQ paint because its tougher, just colors are hard to come by.

 

Think of the centrifugal forces acting on a spoke spinning at freeway speeds. Here's a crude calculator...

http://www.csgnetwork.com/tirerevforcecalc.html

If a rock hits your spoke as it's under 250G forces it's gonna shatter anything that's weak. Paint isn't all that durable when subject to a hard impacts.
I've used BBQ paint on some of my exhaust and it works to some extent but it's still as fragile as paint. If I remember I will post a picture of a pipe that's right behind one of my tires, looks like freckles there are so many chips of paint missing.