How to paint wheels with tires mounted

[pinzwheeling]

Since I sell a bunch of cars (sometimes) I occasionally have to paint rims that are scraped, rusted, funny looking, etc. Usually this is a real pain in the rear end since trying to get masking tape to stick to a tire can be an exercise in frustration. Most of the time, I'll make a cardboard template and try not to get any paint under the cardboard and on the tires, but it almost never works perfectly.

this week, while painting some wheels, I tried a new approach a friend recommended. Spend a couple of bucks on a jar of petroleum jelly (Vasoline) and wipe it on the areas that you don't want painted. Paint the wheels, and wipe the petroleum jelly off and you can't see a spec of paint on the tires and the prep time spent is less than two minutes per wheel.

[David Dunn]

dish soap.... wipe on, wash off

[westernair]

I have used the vasoline trick before and it does work well. I like the idea of using dish soap, I will try that next time.
I also always use Moutain Due to as a tire cleaner when washing vehicals as the tires come out black and shinny.