Step-by-step TRD wheel paint project

So, I decided to paint my TRD OR wheels with tires mounted. I think they are great wheels, but I also think that a gloss black like the TRD Pro wheels looks amazing. I have painted a bunch of wheels with rattle cans before, so I decided to do a step by step painting my 18 TRD OR wheels. I was originally thinking painting the wheels all gunmetal, but frankly metallic colors don't often lay down even on wheels in my experience. The metallic flake usually lays down unevenly.

I'll give a few tips/tricks first:

1) This is an at-home garage project, it isn't going to be show quality. It's going to look amazing, even up close, but let's face it, a piece of fur, hair or fuzz may make it's way to the painting process. Then again, show wheels are going to cost a lot more than $40.

2) If you make a mistake, i.e. fingerprint, or something falls on the wheel while spraying- don't try to fix it while you're painting. If you make a mistake, you either decide the mistake isn't too bad, keep going and maybe you can fix it in a few weeks when it dries or you stop, wait for it to dry, sand/clean up and start over. Once paint starts flying, don't touch the wheel, pick a hair out, or try and fix small blemishes. See tip 1.

3) I can use pretty close to a can of spray paint a wheel. It's excessive BUT I want it laid down super wet, just before it is going to run. I want the paint to lay down evenly because it's going to give the most shine. It's $5/can. Just go with it.

4) Inspect the spray cans before shooting and test shoot it. I've had cans with bad spray nozzles. Nothing worse than doing all the prep work to have the can shoot poorly or too much and ruin your prep work.

5) Don't shoot a wheel with 2 different spray cans. The batches may be slightly different between cans and I've seen interactions that made the paint come out poorly.

6) Follow the cans instructions for temperatures, humidity, and application. They paid some engineer a lot of money to come up with those numbers.

I have all of the stuff I used so you can follow me step by step if you want.

Ok, wheel off. First thing, I scuff the wheels up with a 3M pad. The very fine purple pad. One per wheel.




Scuff the entire wheel. I'll spray the wheel while I'm scuffing it and let it dry. You want the scuffs to be even on the entire wheel. Rinse it and keep inspecting it until the wheel is evenly scuffed up including the corners. Don't worry, they aren't rare wheels. Just go with it.



Next, really rinse and dry off the wheel. Make sure you get all of the water out around the lip of the wheel and tire. Just tuck a corner of your rag in there and get all of the water out. I use this Duplicolor grease and wax remover after the wheel dries.


After that dries, use a tack cloth and wipe the wheel down really good. This picks up anything that settles in the wheel.



Find some index cards and carefully tuck them in between the wheel and tire; they'll sit snug in there. Then tape over the tire valve.


Time to shoot. Very light first coat. Get it nice and sticky for the following coats. For these wheels, I did 2 light coats 2-3 minutes apart and then 1 pretty medium coat and then one very heavy and wet coat for the final coat. You don't want the paint to drip but you want the paint to flow over the surface of the wheel evenly. It will end up looking very smooth and very reflective.

Me and my friends have had really good luck with this Rustoleum universal paint and primer in one. It lays down so nice and is very durable. Conversely I have personally had poor luck with Duplicolor paints.




Look at that beautiful finish!

 

All 4 done and drying.


Center caps painted.


The pièce de résistance, I painted the toyota emblems gunmetal because I think the chrome would be too much for the gloss black.



Stay tuned, they are drying, I'll post mounted pics up later.

 

Subbed to see them on

 

Are you planning on shooting a clear coat on them?

Looks awesome BTW!

 

...ditto

 

Nice work, I would probably mess one up and then give up after that and kick tire.

 

Finished.

 

No clear coat. If they get banged up or I have a tire unmounted, I can just scuff and reshoot them with black. Also, the black should hold up really well.

 

Those look great! Too chickenshit to do mine but how long does the paint normally last?

 

I'm in socal. It will last years. I can always touch up if I want. It's easy. After they're all done, you can just touch up one at a time if you have to.

 

Did the same with Tan Plasti-Dip. So far so good!

 

Awesome job, they look great!

 

That came out really well! Any plans on blacking out the badges on the doors?

 

Looks great!

 

Couple more shots.

 

Love it. 100% going to do my stock rims the same way...hoping they hold up to a good old Canadian winter....

 

Looks really good OP, nice work!

 

Adding to my to-do list

Edit: The logos just pop off with a little pressure?

 

For dust nibs use 2000 grit sandpaper with a little water. Does not take much pressure. Take your time and watch or feel to see when it is smooth. Rinse then polish.

Let the paint fully harden before doing the sanding. Few days should do it