I'm debating on buying new black wheels vs painting my existing rubi wheels black. While i've seen a ton of solid jobs by folks on this forum, my question is has anybody f'd up their wheels or wished they just went ahead with new wheels?

cheers,

ryan

 

I did mine with bedliner following a thread I saw on here. Looked good at first, but once dirty they became very hard to clean. The bedliner also starts looking nasty over time. In addition to this, I think the black wheel fad is starting to wind back down a little.

Moral of the story: I wish I had never touched my factory wheels.

 

When I talked to the Line-X guy, he did tell me that without a protective coating, bedliner will look discolored and worn in time. I think the wheels get brake dust and salt/road grime on them pretty badly and would stain quickly done with do it yourself bedliner. I've also tried to prep and rattle can paint parts of cars carefully, and in time it does tend to chip and deteroriate badly. A good powdercoated wheel from the factory usually keeps it's color and quality longer than home made.

 

I would recommend painting instead of bed lining. I painted mine dark argent a year ago with duplicolor rattle can wheel paint - still looks great and saved me a bunch of cash!

 

Glad you asked this question as I was considering bed liner. I don't think i will.

We painted the wheels on my son's Ranger and they look fantastic after a year or so. We cleaned them very well, scuffed them with fine sand paper, primed with self-etching primer and then painted with a few coats of the Duplicolor wheel paint. We are pretty impressed with their durability and looks.

 

Let me start by saying u hav one advantage in havn ur wheels linexd is that u don't hav to worry about the armor all that will run down on the rim but seriously the whole body of my 73 cj5 was done and ur rite that only so much dirt comes off when washing due to all nooks an crannys but a big bottle of armor all will make it look brand new again.

 

I recently painted mine and crossed bedliner out exactly because of its texture, which will grab all road dirt or worse. Besides, I do not like the rough bedliner's finish anyway.

I used Rustoleum matte black over a layer of primer. It has been holding up quote well.

 

The first time i painted mine, i sanded it down, then primed it.. let it sit for 24 hours then painted... after painting and letting it sit for another 48 hours i could scrape the paint off with my fingernail
After that i stopped using primer. Just sanded and painted. Done it to two sets of wheels and it hold up great


btw ive found rustoleum semi gloss black to be the best.. ive tried duplicolor and BBQ hi heat spray paint and they didnt seem to adhere as well

 

If you want black and are unsure then use Plasti-dip. It's flat black and holds up shockingly great but can be pressure washed off to return to your factory look. I didn't believe it would work so well until I saw it in action.

 

thanks for the responses!

Second question: Anyone have any issues with salt/snow and self-painted wheels? I'm in Chicago, so salt is a given.

thanks again,

Ryan