I have a dilemma. I am planning on upgrading the brakes in the car, before sending it to the paint shop in the spring time (likely).

The big brakes, only fit the big nice wheels.

Is there something that I can apply to the wheels to protect them. Paint shop will use covers etc, but nothing is 100%

Otherwise I have the leave the brakes alone. I'd rather continue to upgrade the mechcanicals and drive train now, to reduce the chances of paint finish damage.

Thanks for any suggestions

Couldn't you get some junk yard wheels and turn them around backwards for the painting process?
Shane

Jack the car up, remove wheels, add jackstands lower car, paint.

How about a wax or some kind of mold release compound like 'partall'?

What I've done is take bed sheets and soak them in water so they're wringing wet, then wrap them around the tires and tuck them underneath the tire. Sounds "red-neckish" but it works well

I dont know if it is the right process or not, but i am going to do my suspension and brake upgrade to my camaro after paint and body is done, i figure i will be very careful and i wont have over spray all over my other parts by doing it after paint. This way you dont have to worry about your wheels or other parts too. JMO. Cole

I agree..Take the wheels off.It don't just save the wheels,But also make's it ''easier'' to do the painting..

I used to work in a body shop that formulated its' own product called Cal-west "slime" It is a water based sprayable mask. Whatever you want to protect you just spray product through (cheap spraygun) let dry and mask tire like normal. If you don't want to takes off tires this will keep overspray from creeping behind wheel. The beauty of this is when you want to take off the mask it turns into soap when sprayed with water. It has been quite a while and since then you can walk into any bodyshop supply store to buy it. We used to do only high-end vehicles and used to spray whole cars with it to protect from overspray when doing small jobs___ cheap insurance!

You can do this with masking paper, It wraps around wheel very well while wet and once dries it forms itself around wheel so overspray won't hurt it.

The lazy way is just to smear them with vasaline, wipe em off after.

Thanks guy, some good suggestions there.

a long time ago I worked in a dealership that had in house paint and upholstery shops. one time the painter gooped up the tires and used a different type of paint and the overspray did not come off. I would look for mini spares to have access to shoot. Most painters want to get the car out of the booth and jacking up a car when the paint is not cured is a hassel.... the helper in the shop has more chance of a smudge somewhere.

I have ''NEVER'' seen a painter,That wanted to take a wet car out of a paint booth. I would not want them Touching my car.. I guess we do things a little different here..

Unless it's maaco we're talking about. Oh wait, they don't mask anything. Paint overspray is required on everything

Garbage bags