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Try to Refinish, or toss?

  • They are toast.

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Black Rhino Wheel Woes

10K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  FJtest 
#1 · (Edited)
2 years ago I purchased a set of Black Rhino Rockwell wheels at discount tire, they looked perfect on my rig.

Fast forward a year and 6 months, I started noticng the clear coat flaking off of one of the wheels, I went to discount and was told the wheels only carry a 1 year finish warranty, tough luck. Now another 6 months later, all 4 wheels are shedding their finish, and look like absolute garbage.

I called BR directly and explained the issue and immediately got the blame game.. They told me it must have been something I washed them with, or the car wash did it to them etc etc. I knew they were out of the listed warranty time, but I figured I would give it a shot, as some companies will occasionally stand behind their products and make things right, regardless of the fine print, not this one.

I asked about removing the metal studs that are in the wheel in the event that I decided to get them refinished. I was told the studs are not metal, but plastic, and that removing them will damage them so they would need to be replaced, and I would have to purchase new ones.


So at this point, I'm just basically out of luck it seems. The wheels look horrid, no support from BR, just excuses..

Is it even worth messing with trying to repaint these or should I just move on and get some new wheels... again?
 

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#2 ·
I've painted several sets of Toyota wheels over the years. After 12 years my 4Runner wheels were flaking and had corrosion spots. I lightly sanded the corrosion and scuffed the rest and painted with semi gloss. They have held up very well after 4.5 years. They have lost a little sheen but still look good when clean.

I've just recently painted a set of FJ wheels after cleaning and scuffing and they came out nice.

Picture of 4Runner wheel when freshly painted, after 4.5 years and freshly painted FJ wheels.
 

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#4 ·
I should add that I would try painting your wheels after sanding any loose paint and scuffing any good paint. Protect the tire with note cards while painting. I find "gloss" paint too shiny and "flat" weathers too quickly. That is why I use "semi gloss". My son used "satin" on his wheels and they looked good initially but looked "flat" after a year or so. It usually takes less than 2 cans to put on several coats on a set of wheels.
 

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#6 ·
Paint the studs black too, it will look great!
 
#11 · (Edited)
NUTT -

This is not criticism of your initial choice in wheels, but any wheel that uses plastic fake fasteners is a very inexpensive, low-end product. I'm not surprised that the wheel finish has disintegrated so quickly.

Because of the rather severe corrosion that appears to have been taking place under the paint, if you're going to take the time to refinish these wheels you really need to sand-blast them before priming and re-painting. As long as you either have, can rent, or know someone with an air compressor, you can pick up a cheap sand blast gun (think Harbor Freight), a bag of fine sand from Home Depot, and blast all the remaining finish and especially the underlying corrosion off the aluminum. The freshly sand-blasted aluminum creates a clean but rough surface finish that will allow the primer to bond very securely (probably much better than the original factory finish, where they might not have even used any primer).

You can pick up a couple of feet of soft vinyl tubing of the appropriate diameter(s), cut it into short sections, and slip them over the plastic bits to protect them from sandblast damage, and to mask them while painting.

If you think you can just wash the wheels and hit them with a rattle can without stripping and priming, you will probably be disappointed in how quickly the finish again deteriorates.

Unfortunately, there is a chance that regardless of how you repaint the wheels, the solvent in the paint may cause stress-cracking of the fake bolts/studs and you may find them breaking off.

By the looks of the corrosion, is there any chance that you live (and drive your FJ) where the roads are salted during the winter?
 
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