I curbed my wheels and want to re paint them....I know I have to sand them but does it have to be to bare metal...and do I paint them and then clear coat them again

 

The stock rims are powder coated and not painted which help them from not chipping easily, powder coat is more durable. The best thing to do which is what I did, look in your yellow pages for a metal shop that does powder coating, look around though because prices vary. You may have to order the powder coat. When I did mine I gave them my Wheel cap and they tested it and ordered the powder coat to match the color. I had to buy the 5lbs of powder coat since it was special color order. It was $40 per wheel plus $150 for the powder. It is alot better than the alternative which was a Wheel shop that wanted to charge $125 per wheel.
Final bit of advice: Make sure youspecify that only the front of the wheel is coated else they may coat the whole wheel inside and out, which will make them heavier.

Hope this helps, Sorry I tend to ramble