Got some rims that are black with bare aluminium braking surfaces ( for rim brakes ). As they’re used with disc brake hubs i was wondering about getting the whole rim black by “colouring in “the braking surfaces but don’t want the expense of powder coating or anodising. apart from spraying the bare areas are there any other methods i could employ…? the more durable the better.
thanks in advance
Bill

Marker pen

Yep, I used permanent marker pen to make a rear rim match a front. It’s not brilliant as it’s a kind of dark purply black but it looks okay. Not sure how it would stand up to repeated bike washing etc though.

Spraying won’t be particularly durable, but Lidl occasionally do can’s of metal paint intended for garden fences etc for not much more than a couple of marker pens.

Mask off the spokes and do several think coats.

I just painted mine years ago.

If anyone has a Marin Palisades trail with a mavic 321 front rim and WTB rear rim with the braking surface painted then it’s mine (was stolen many years ago but I bought a much better bike from Merlin).

You could use an etch primer first following a good degrease to give it a better chance of staying put. Then use a matte or gloss black to match the rest of the rim.

Another alternative is those plastic strips you stick to car paintwork for creating detail lines. They are quite stretchy for curving.

Ride with rim brakes on a wet day. That’ll turn them black.

I sprayed one on my commuter, didn’t take long and I got a decent finish but quite chipped and scratched a couple of years later.

CA ..did you etch it first?