Finally Painted my Steelies

[8kGoodENuff]

So I bought the products that I needed back in August and only really got around to finally painted the wheels in the past 2 weeks or so and here is the final product. Not perfect but came out better than I had originally thought. Hopefully the pictures get uploaded successfully... lol. I picked these steelies with Winterforce tires from a member on the boards here a few years back which I have in the Gallery Forums somewhere, but they needed some TLC.

The process was a bit long (at least for me since I get pretty anal), but I had a good time doing it. All said and done, everything took about 10 hours, which consisted of sanding, cleaning, priming, sanding misc spots, cleaning, painting, and then clear coat. Initially, I was going to paint them with the existing clip balancing weights in place but then decided to take them off cause a flat occurs or new tires are needed, it would have looked horrible.

Cost Breakdown:
Sanding and Painting Supplies: ~$50
Newspapers: FREE (how nice)
Rebalancing of Wheels: $72.55
New Gorilla Lug Nuts (Small Diameter Acorn Black 5 Lug Kit - M12 x 1.25): $35.15

Also, before I forget, I made the tire place use the sticky weights on the inside of the wheel so that the wheels can keep a consistent clean, simple look. The Steelies are 15", so the weights actually came pretty close to touching the brake caliper. They have 1/4g and 1/2g (pretty sure it's grams) weights and I made them use all 1/4s as I think the 1/2s would not have worked since they are a bit thicker.

BTW, Rust-Oleum spray cans are amazing!! I originally wanted Dupli-Color but they didn't have what I needed and got Rust-Oleum in place of it and so glad I did. These cans spray in all types of positions... flip the can upside down, not a problem, keeps a consistent spray going... just amazing!! I've used another brand before I think made by VHL or VHT (something like that) and it is such a POS... horrible spread... pain to work with. So... Rust-Oleum will be my choice of paint from now on!! In the picture below you'll see the "Undercoating" paint... I eventually plan on using it to re-touch all the plastic pieces that are supposed to have the "rugged" look... just not sure when I'll get around to that. Probably not until next spring or summer since it's getting a bit cold out now.

I can't really think of anything else at the moment, but if I do, I'll post it up.

Thanks for looking,
Andre

Pictures:
Products Used were the 100 Grit Sanding Block, 400 Grit Sandpaper, Wax and Tar Remover, Primer, Enamel Paint (High Temp), and Perfect Match Clear Coat (in that order):


Picture of wheels all taped off with a coat of Primer already applied. I had more pictures of the process, but for some reason I can't seem to find them. I have a feeling they ended up at work somehow because I also use my phone for work photos:


Ended up with extra paint, so decided to also paint the axle nuts so that I wouldn't have fresh painted wheels with new black lug nuts and then and rusted axle nut... just wouldn't look right, so I rigged somethign up really quick and pained them as well. I should have used Primer first, but just painted and that's it. If the paint comes apart, I can just do it again with primer... no big deal since it doesn't take long and I also kept the cardboard template.


Before (lots of rust in odd places as you can see):



After (car washed and a little Meguiar's Tire Shine to keep the clean look consistent):

[8kGoodENuff]

Bah... not sure why those pictures are rotated like that... lol. I'll eventually fix them.

Also, I will eventually use the "Undercoating" to repaint the front and rear windshield wipers since they look similar to what the wheels looked like, faded paint and rusted.

Andre

[Bigcee]

very nice job!

[Cobalt]

Look nice.

[JAvendan]

great work!

joel

[AWDFTW]

Well gone.

Nice black steelies just look good on a first gen.

[8kGoodENuff]

Thank you everyone.

Yeah... I know what you mean about the black steelies on the 1st gen OBW... it just pulls off the look so nicely.

I'm actually thinking about doing the OEM wheels as well whenever I get new tires but might get those powder-coated... we'll see. The only thing that stinks with the OEM wheels is that I was looking at the clearance on the inside of the wheel in reference to the brake caliper and I really don't think the sticky weights will fit in there, even the 1/4g ones.

Andre

[Scooba Steve]

beautiful,
how much did those fire stones run you/ how do you like them? just got new mastercrafts AT's and could not be happier ( as a winter/ rain tire) but looking for a nice set of steelie's to put some rough terrain's on, for those extreme winter camping trips.
thanks,
Steve

[8kGoodENuff]

Originally Posted by Scooba Steve

beautiful,
how much did those fire stones run you/ how do you like them? just got new mastercrafts AT's and could not be happier ( as a winter/ rain tire) but looking for a nice set of steelie's to put some rough terrain's on, for those extreme winter camping trips.
thanks,
Steve

I actually didn't buy the Winterforces by themselves. They came already mounted on the steelies when I bought them from a member here on the forums. He sold me the wheels and tires for $300 and the tires were still new (only a couple hundred miles)... I got lucky.

The snow performance of these snow tires is amazing!! Granted, I don't really have a reference to any other snow tires, but I feel very confident with these tires and to me that is enough to say that I like them and highly recommend them. The only gripe I have with them is that they are a bit noisy and hum at all speeds. The benefit to these is that they don't wear down like your average snow tire due to the rubber used. It's not the typical softer rubber, which allows for more mileage before having to trash them, but also lowers the ice driving performance a bit as seen on the Tirerack ratings, but not really by much. The other benefit is that they are quite a bit cheaper than the competition.

Not sure I've ever researched those Mastercraft tires but will look into them cause I will be needing new "all other seasons" tires. I was looking at the Grabbers or the Geolanders ATs but was leaning more towards the Grabbers.

Andre

[97scooby]

im considering doing my 97 outback like this, its white with grey trim. it has the oem alloy wheels, do you think they would look good in black?