[patmur]

Proud owner of a 2004 Forester 5 speed with 153,000 miles.
Exterior is great, interior is likewise.
The only blemish on this old lady are her wheels.
Silver + rust. Ugh.
What are my best options?
Purchase new or refurbish?
Regrettably cost is a factor

 

[2.5x_sleeper]

I see this is your first forum post, so welcome to the forum from Oregon! :biggrin:

Your easiest & lowest cost option may be to paint those wheels. Many have used Plasti Dip. Unlike regular paint, the coating can be peeled off when you're tired of it. :wink:

Here's a thread on Plasti Dip: Plasti Dip Post all pics here

Bobby...

['07 FSXT MODding Journal] ['03 X MODding Journal]

 

[LanceForester]

Another option would be to powder coat the wheels. Lasts longer than paint. A little more costly, but I think it's worth it.

 

[Scooby24]

Repainting wheels is really not terribly difficult if you have some spare time on your hands. Without seeing how bad they are I'd take a wire wheel to them to knock off most of the surface rust, then I'd liberally apply iron-x, then use a rust coverting primer (rustoleum rust reformer maybe), then lastly use a wheel paint (Rustoleum high performance wheel).

This is all considerably less than powdercoating...I'd recommend powdercoating if you were working with something other than the mundane looking wheels that came with these vehicles to begin with. If you were going to spend the cost on powdercoat I'd say just buy new wheels.