[fozzytimmy45678]

Finally tackled this mod as I hate hate hated the stockers. I really like them now. Wife and I were SUPER pleased to see how well this turned out. Was WELL worth the time and painstaking effort for proper prep work.

Start by removing wheels.

Clean the snot out of them. I cleaned with dish soap and a brush first. Then a Scotch-brite pad, then SOS, then soap and water again. REALLY get in there to get all the brake dust/rust out.

Now sand with 320 grit paper.

I decided to paint the center caps and the inside of the wheels black, while painting the outside graphite. I used Duplicolor primer (3 coats), then Duplicolor wheel paint (graphite) 3 coats, then Duplicolor wheel clear coat (3 coats). Came out perfect.

Remember to mask area off.

Painting back black.

Painting center caps. Helps to balance them on a beer bottle to allow all angle access.

Inside

Prep inside to paint outside (only if different colors)

Prep outside to paint outside... (I fixed the messed up playing card before painting.)

Done.

With caps...

On the car (crappy night pics, will get better later.)

All in all these two wheels took me about 10 hours. This was with VERY careful prep and taking time between LIGHT coats. I also wrote a paper and did some work between, so it's not all work.

SO worth it. Will do other side on Tuesday.

 

[bigjay]

Very nice. Now I'm tempted to try this...

 

[fozzytimmy45678]

It's a lot of work, but it's very much worth it.

Just prep it right and use good paint.

 

[Nacherboy]

Nice job man, They look much better than they did from the factory.

 

[jason3114]

very nice man, I have been wantng to paint the steelies on my 07 sports. This gives me some good ideas! Looks great and very nice paint work.

 

[jstawgn]

I really like it. Just remind me that I have to do the same for my winter set. Why you did not remove the wheel weight?

 

[EvilDan]

Nice job. Turned out great! I like the idea of the darker insides than out.

 

[max6spd]

Looks great. I did the same with my winter wheels (black inside, lighter color outside).

 

[mike5335]

Wheels look great...brings up the topic I see mentioned here. Folks have winter wheels.

I'm thinking that would be appropriate. What is the best way to get steel wheels? Junkyard or ???? Then I assume folks mount a pretty aggressive M & S and live with the noise?

I'm in a warm winter area (left coast close to the water) but travel to snow country frequently but it will always be at least 150 miles before there is any snow.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[MudRunner]

Excellent job! I kinda want to paint my alloys sometime, or get another set of wheels to mess with. lol

 

[WNC Forester]

looks good. I did mine a few weeks ago and they are holding up great. no chips in about 1000 miles of driving.

 

[fozzytimmy45678]

Thanks guys! Good to hear about the durability. I still haven't driven it since I wanted to give it a good 36 hours or so.

 

[fozzytimmy45678]

So I did the other two wheels today. When I mounted them they look sweet. HOWEVER, I noticed that the two I did today are not quite as shiny as the ones from the other day. I did the same prep, the same amount of coats for each part, and the weather was the same.

So I want to polish them to bring out a shine. How long should I wait to insure that I don't polish the fresh paint right off?

Can anyone think of anything that might have caused this?!?!?! It is barely noticeable at all, but I am a perfectionist, so it will bug the crap out of me.