Paintin the wheels today

So after months of research and searchin the web, I finally began the process of painting my 09 tacoma rims. I know this thread is useless without pictures but ill have them on here soon enough. I started today by removing a wheel and sanding the heck out of it. Took me about 2 hours to sand just one wheel and i think its sanded good enough, well i hope. I plan to use adhesion promoter and then painting them tomorrow, hopefully ill finish by tomorrow, so far they already look better without the gloss finish so they are going to look great satin black. Pics to come soon. Got some sweet new center caps to finish it off. This is my first mod and i know ive started something that will most likely never end

 

Hey why dont you do a step by step write up on your first MOD ? It will be helpful and awsome... just a sugestion thanks

 

Ya i can definetly do that, I just dont want it to be redundant as I have followed another write up that was already posted on here. But ya ill post my two cents worth

 

Good luck with the paint shoot tmrw!! Can't wait to see the photos!!

 

It's a great idea. After taking off my black steel winter rims, my stock 09 rims don't look so well on my white truck. i'll be painting my rims too I think.

 

Finished product

 

nice job... I like the TRD centercaps... nice touch...

 

Looks good!

 

I'm glad you came back with the finished photos...Looks great!!

 

So basically this is how I painted my rims. Total time it took was 11.5 hours, bear in mind, I was not working fast or cutting any corners. I wanted this paint to stick and to last so all in all i think of that 11.5 hours only about 1.5 to 2 hours was actually spent painting the wheels. The first step was to mark on the tire where the weights were and which ones went where and then remove them. The next step was to remove a wheel and to sand with what I believe was 400 grit sand paper. I sanded all the wheels for quite sometime until almost all the gloss was gone. I then wet sanded them all. After wet sanding I used a scotch bright green scrub pad, this worked very well getting around all the curves and in the crevices and edges and removed the gloss and dulled the aluminum quite well. This is where the majority of my time was spent as proper prep work is essential. I am sure what i did was overkill and some steps could have been bipassed but i figure I only wanted to do this one time if possible. After this the wheels were basically ready for paint. I washed all the wheels one at a time as thoroughly as possible. When I thought they were clean, I washed them again. I then wiped them down front and back with alcohol and clean rags and let dry. The next step in my process was to wedge the playing cards down in between the tire and rim to prevent any overspray. After this I applied the Bulldog adhesion premoter to the backs of the rims, I used 2 to 3 light coats to prevent running. Follow the directions on these things as different products require different times as well as weather conditions will have some effect. After this it was time for the paint. I did all the backs of the rims and then the fronts in order to avoid wedging the cards on each side more then once. Also, paint the backs first so once you do the front, if anything goes wrong it will mess up the side that no one sees. Several light coats is essential to the paint sticking. The paint I chose was rustoleum universal paint, it had some special trigger that worked well on only one can so beware, after all the prep work the second can started spitting drops of paint on some of the rims ruining some of the finish, but whatever. While the wheels dry, paint your wieghts. Reassemble. The TRD center caps had longer tabs that you can see in the pictures, I simply sanded them down on a bench mounted belt sander. I removed enough material until they were the length of the center cap tabs I was taking off. They fit very tight as if made for the rims and look great. They have been painted for a month and I have had no problems, they look incredible, they have held up very well so far. They completely change the look of the truck, you will love it and I highly recommend. Since then I have added a magnaflow 18" muffler as well to stock piping, also sounds awesome. Any questions just ask. Total cost: Center caps: $18 each, Paint: $6/ can(used two), Adhesion promoter: $15/ can (only needed 1) Sand paper $5, 11.5 hours of my time.

 

Looks great and good use of playing cards lol !!!!

 

ya the only thing that would make it look better would be better tires, but its kind of funny, in person, even the lame dunlop grandtreks look pretty badass on a black rim lol

 

Great job, like the playing cards

 

I cant take credit for that ingenious idea, saw it in another write up. worked great

 

very nice, i was wondering what the part number on those center caps were, thanks

 

Awesome job!

 

good job on the wheels man.......they look great!

 

Looks good! Just a question on how durable it is. Does it scratch easily? Thanks!

 

Found the part number

$25 PTR20-35081 TRD Center Cap

PTR20-35081

 

You used a whole deck of cards to paint the rims..i must admit ive never seen that..why not just masking tape and newspaper? i guess index cards would work also..interesting