This project started with a used set of black steelies.
There were a few bent lips...
...meticulously hammered back into shape...
I had the wheels sandblasted (and neglected to take pics)
I also removed my bezel and sanded it down.
I painted the wheels with multiple coats of the closest "over the counter" roof-matching color I could find (Rustoleum's white metal primer).
I painted the bezel with the plastic edition of same
I put about 2 or 3 coats everything with the respective paint.
Both of these primers are a flat textured paint. I wanted a hard, glossy finish on both the wheels and bezel. After the primer had dried on both wheels and bezel, I then applied multiple coats of clear enamel finish:
This has made it much easier to remove bugs from the bezel, btw. The hard enamel also protects a little bit from chipping.
Now there was one problem with all this I didn't anticipate, and that was drying time. I did the painting in late March in my garage, and it was cold and rainy outside. Consequently after 2 weeks, the enamel was not yet fully cured - it was dry to touch, but 'soft' underneath.
The bezel would just have to wait. But to expedite drying of the wheels, I put each into a 175 degree oven for about 12 hours. I used a remote thermometer w/ alarm to monitor the temp, to make sure I didn't fry the paint.
This worked rather well, hardening the enamel significantly. The house smelled like paint fumes for about a week, even with the windows open. It also discolored the white primer so that by pure accident, the wheels ended up matching the roof even better than they did before.
After a vacation to Japan followed by a month of fartin around, today I finally got it all mounted up.
Before
After
Oh yea, I also had a leveling lift put on the front while I was at it, just for fun.
Before
After
Stock tires replaced with Nitto Terra Grapplers (kept the stock size)
The End!
Linear Mode
