I learned this tip of the day 25 years ago in one of the first shops I ever worked at, a full on restoration shop.

We painted a LOT of early Ford wheels there and my boss had it down pat. He even made a "rotissery" for them out of an old hub. He welded 1/2" tube to three of the studs that was about 8 inches long. They were going out at an angle slightly from the correct 5 1/2" pattern on the wheel. He ground a ridge in them on the outer side at about a quarter inch in from the end. So what you did was press these tubes together bending them slightly in while someone put the rim on and you let go and it would grab the lip of the hole in the rim on that grove. Pretty neat idea, he was full of them.

But the real tip here today is how we wouldn't paint the rims before the tires were mounted. We had them in primer, mounted the tires but didn't "bead" them with air! So, I would mask the tire off with paper stuffing it in between the tire and rim.

You could paint around the back of edge of rim along with the rest of the rim. Then after the paint cures, unmask the rim and fill the tire with air. It looks like the tire was off the rim when it was painted!

Brian

Good tip Brian, this saves the rim from the installation of the tire while clear is fresh..... I have a set of rims that need to be re done for my wifes truck during winter months, but am too lazy to sand them all down and work them out