Alright so I just got 5 practically new rubicon take-offs for my black jku. I wanted to paint the wheels black but am not sure which finish to go with. My main issue is durability b/c when I go off road, I play in the mud and get the circular scratches in the finish. What finish will hold up the best in this situation? Which is the easiest to maintain and clean? Powdercoating is outta the question for me b/c of the cost. I like my color options with spray paint if I want to do accents. Another issue with color is that I have body colored fenders and hardtop so I was considering a glossy or semi glossy finish to match everything else.

Some things I researched:
I heard plastidip does wonders, but can flake off.

Bed liner is durable, but b/c of the rough texture, it'll trap dirt and is hard to clean.

Spray painting with proper prep is good, but I'm still gonna get scratches (right?)

I guess scratches are inevitable in any finish... ????

 

Rattle Can BedLiner (I prefer Rustoleum brand). Durable and easy repair when scratched.

Pressure washing gets the dirt out of the rough texture.

I use it on my Wheels, Bumpers, etc .. basically everything black on my JK for easy trail damage repairs.

 

Little trick I've used in the past that works wonders...

Prep the wheel very well by sanding with 320. You want a uniform look after you're done sanding.
Wipe the wheel down with grease and wax remover then a tack cloth.
Spray the wheel with duplicolor bed liner using light even coats until full coverage is achieved.
Then once all that is dry wipe with the tack cloth again and spray the wheels with semi gloss black rustoleum.

The rustoleum will give them a nice sheen and also keep the bed liner from holding dirt. I've done a dozen sets of wheels this way and if you prep them right it will last through all kinds of wheeling including mud.

 

...you just blew my mind! I never though to paint over the bed liner. If I did go with another color, do you think I can add a clear coat over everything as the top coat, or would that defeat the purpose of trying to make my wheel "scratch proof"

Yeah I'm new to this whole painting thing.

 

You've just gotta go outside the box lol. The clear would be slightly easier to scratch but you could always try it. Worst you would have to do is sand em down and repaint them.

 

What kind of grease do you use? How many coats? And how much time to cure every coat?

 

Back to your original question, Platidip is more of a temporary solution, as it is a removable coating. Bed liner and spray paint are more permanent.

If you wheel at all, any of these will get scratched ans will need to be touched up from time to time.

The main difference in these options is prep time and the ability to 'undo' if you don't like.

 

Yeah I'm kind of curious about which grease to use as well. Ive been using the left over bacon grease method, but for some reason can't get good paint adhesion?

 

The beauty of rattle can bed liner.

First pic is my wheel after slide off a rock ledge into a protruding boulder.


Second pic is new center, new lugs nuts and a fresh coat of bed liner.

 

Thanks for the pics, dmhines and nice set up on your rig too.