MarbleheadGuy

I'm thinking of spraypainting my factory MOAB wheels a darker color to complete 'all black' look. I've heard some people use Rustoleum metallic midnight black. I also like the mineral grey used on the Mountain/Call of Duty wheels. Any suggestions?

scouter4life

here's some advice from someone that has done this, I used spray on bedliner btw.

I have run into some issues:

• Adding the paint changes the wheel & tire balance, make sure to have them rebalanced after you paint them.
• Your best bet is to remove the current weights when you paint so your entire rim is painted. Just had to get new tires and now my wheels look like crap because they had to redo all the weights, so it's silver in places along the edge.
• New weights will be silver, so you lose some of the affect, but don't paint them as that will throw them out of balance. it might seem like a small amount of weight, but over thousands of miles and rotations, it will cause issues.
• In the long run, they don't stay very black so you lose some of the afect
• Even with proper prep I'm starting to get some peeling, though that is after 2 years. I don't dare touch up the paint though as it will throw off the balancce again.
• If I were to know then what I know now, I would not have painted them as it caused a lot of balance issues. Save your money and get aftermarket black steel wheels

Christine

I think it depends what you're expecting from your rims. I didn't have a few hundred even to spend on cheap rims. Paint is cheap and can be touched up. I used Rustoleum Hammered Black paint and clear coat. As long as you sand REALLY well and degrease, you'll be fine. I've been doing painting for 30 years even custom paint jobs. I haven't heard of just paint unbalancing a rim. I personally didn't experience it. I guess anything is possible.
I'd say go ahead and paint, I'm glad I did.
Side note: I painted my brake calipers black too so the silver wouldn't stand out with a black rim.

nikbass

I wonder if Pain or Enamel goes on lighter than the bed liner? Thus causing fewer issues with balance. I agree with taking off the weights 100% and I have no experience to contradict the balance issues but with an even coat over the whole wheel it should be close to balance even if you have to re-balance after paint.

Also I already have some etching primer and Matt Black Rustolium Engine Enamel just waiting on time. Also football is causing some distraction. <<< Auburn fan lots of weekends in big crowds lately.

MarbleheadGuy

Your wheels looks awesome - EXACTLY the look I want. Do you mean sand and degrease the stock rims? Also, you put on the clear coat after the black, correct? A super brief 'how to' would be mega appreciated!

John_B

MarbleheadGuy I followed the directions here:
Spidertrax spacers / painted stock wheels
and 6 months later I am as pleased as the day I first did it.
Even mud coated they look superior to the stock look

MarbleheadGuy

All the images on that link are broken...argh! Yours look awesome though. I think I will test it on the spare and take it from there. Saturday afternoon plans confirmed!

John_B

Thanks and my suggestion is to either sand or wire brush the wheels (anything you want the paint to cover) and for me the Rustoleum Metalic Black paint worked great on my wheels
Post a pic to show us how they came out

higgins14

i have been thinking about using the duplicolor graphite wheel paint for my moabs.




i also have a black unlimited... i love the mountain wheels, i am hoping the color of the graphite is similar (or at least good looking against the black on a jk). i might get a can and test the color to see if i like it. i will probably wait til spring to give the paint one less new england winter.

if you go black, i would go with more of a satin than a gloss black, i just think it looks better with less shine.