Sprucing up steel wheels

[buck91]

Picked up a set of fairly decent steelies to mount winter tires on, but they do have some surface rust. Considering a good cleaning, a half-reared sanding and then a coat of rustoleum rust reformer primer before laying top coat. This process has worked well in other applications, though maybe not "restoration" quality. My question is do I need a special wheel coating like they sell or is a regular rattle can of semi gloss or gloss paint adequate? Not sure the price difference even matters, but just curious what others have seen success with.

 

[2010Civic]

The rattle can is just fine. I've done it to all of my cars and it last many years before it needs another coat. Just sand the rust off, clean the surface good and spray a couple coats.

 

[bdcardinal]

Ford sells "Argent Spray Paint" p/n PM-19K207-AA that is made for wheels.

https://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.c...;category=Paint

 

[eljefino]

An angle grinder with cup brush makes quick work of this. It's especially good for getting under the lip where wheel weights clip.

 

[ronbo]

I was in Tractor Supply today and I saw that Rustoleum has paint for wheels. I saw both silver and black.

 

[Kira]

How much was it?

 

[buck91]

I've seen that, too. Its about a buck more than the automotive gloss enamel but I wonder whats particularly different about it besides the marketing?

 

[HerrStig]

Wurth makes a nice silver.

 

[19jacobob93]

These were just plain black steelies. I sprayed them satin black, added chrome rings, center hub caps off a Falcon Ute/pick up, little Ford stickers, chrome lug nuts and chrome valve caps. I reckon they came up nice

 

[Nick1994]

This is what I used to paint all 5 wheels on the 1970 Beetle. 1 can did 3 coats for all 5 wheels. I bought 2 cans, maybe it took a little more than 1 can, can't remember. Looks great.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Kinda resembles a Jaguar sorta. Looking at the weather made me almost sick lol. It was 33c at 19:00 hr in Kansas on Friday. Heat and humidex was terrible...

 

[stephen9666]

I used the Plastikote brand wheel paint a while ago and it held up really well.

I used a wire brush in a drill to knock off the rust, scuffed all the paint, degreased and sprayed two coats. It took one can to do four wheels.

 

[bigt61]

Trim rings, center caps and black or gray wheels - always a classic look.

 

[buck91]

Well, I'm doing a the following:

heavy cleaning with wheel cleaner
light hand sand with medium grit sponge (3M brand)
another cleaning with wheel cleaner
prime with rustoleum rust reformer primer (1 or 2 light coats)
top coat with rustoleum profession gloss black (1 or 2 coats)

I'm sure this will work plenty well for a set of winter wheels with only minor surface rust to start with. Was going back and forth between their automotive gloss black and the wheel coating, but after crunching numbers the profession comes out to less cost/volume.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Ford sells "Argent Spray Paint" p/n PM-19K207-AA that is made for wheels.

https://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.c...;category=Paint


Cool, I didn't know they had that.

Do they have a dark argent version, like you would see on 1990s painted pickup bumpers?