WHEEL PAINT

Looking to paint a set of 4Runner TRD off road wheels that I bought used to put on my Tacoma! Looking for some input on the best brand for wheel paint and trying to decide if I want to paint them bronze, or gunmetal gray! Let me know what you all have done. I’ve got a Barcelona Red Tacoma that is leveled and will be putting 275/70s on it this week, so hoping to get this wheel thing figured out ASAP!

 

Get the powder coated by a shop

 

Chrisfix is an awesome resource, he's a great guy. This could help, but I'm not sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-TNsO33eqQ

 

I painted my motorhome rims and my winter rims with rattle can. I sand blasted them, wiped down with a high quality paint prep degreaser, primed with self etching primer and then painted with multiple coats of Duplicolor wheel paint. Very happy with how they turned out. Prep is the key to a quality looking finish.

 

Thanks, I surely would like to get them powder coated. However, that’s a little more expensive than I’d like.

 

Rustoleum paint/primer works well too.

But as @Speedfreak says, prep is the key.

 

Dibs on your stock sr5 wheels

 

Hey Speedfreak - those look really good. What color duplicolor is that?

 

Before....


After.....


Full strip and prep. Used Sherwin-Williams 2K Urethane Automotive paint. Black primer, Gunmetal color, Satin Clear. 2 coats of each.

Cost pushing $400 for paint.

Rattle cans likely are not as durable.

Ignore the picture dates....I haven't set the camera.

 

Did you do a chemical strip or just sand them down?

 

Tried Chemical, specifically Aircraft Stripper, wouldn't touch it.

Used wire wheels on 4.5" small angle grinder and drill. Final prep was 180 grit AlO2 paper. Final clean with Acetone.

All work done on bare wheels, no rubber, no weights, no TPMS.

BTW, the Toyota OEM paint is tough stuff. Each wheel took 5-6 hours to strip. All surfaces.

 

How do these diy paint jobs hold up against the changing tire process? Does the paint come off along the rim of the wheel? Or is the spray paint strong enough to prevent the paint from coming off?

 

Powder coat is strongest period.
Next would be a urethane automotive paint with proper prep.
Last is rattle can with proper prep.
If the shop changing tires is really really careful and uses the tools gently, maybe a rattle can will hold up. Probably not.

A few years ago I did an experiment... I pitch horseshoes a lot and it seemed I was painting my shoes every month. A buddy has a powder gun and an oven so I had two shoes powder coated and left two shoes in rattle can blue. Powder coat lasted around 5x the time of a rattle can.
However... taking off powder coat is a bitch compared to sanding rattle can. It took me forever to clean up the powder coated shoes so now? They get rattle can paint.

 

Totally agree. If I was to paint my wheels it would 100% be powder coat. Moreso just curious about people's experience with rattle can paint jobs and the durability of it.

Question was kind of two fold. 1. What are peoples experience. 2. PSA for those looking to paint thier wheels. I'd be really annoyed if I painted the wheels and after getting tires the shop ruined the paint. Lets face it, tire shops aren't exactly gentle no matter nicely you ask them. Haha.

 

The paint on my wheels was allowed to "cure" for 2 weeks before the rubber was installed. The local Toyota shop did the work. Zero (0), NADA, zilch damage to the paint. If you look close at the picture (about 10:00 o'clock position), there is a white schmear on the outer edge. This is not primer, the schmear is the lube the shop used during install. The balance weights are the stick on type on the inside of the rim, in line with the wheel centerline. The tech who did the work for the mount, TPMS, balance did a superb job on the balance.

Sorry, I can't say the strength of rattle can. The damage can be aggravated by a careless gorilla on the tire machine.

 

Thats awesome to hear!

 

Painter Here. Durability 1st powder coat 2nd Urethane finish properly prepped and refinished.

 

Thanks. Yes, I understand most folks don't have spray equipment. Although, I won't suggest a rattle can job. I also have experience with powder coat. Lets just say that powder coat is sensitive to materials, prep and cure temperatures. Powder coaters in this area didn't want a job this small.

Yes, it was a lot of work. ON the other hand, I have a set of wheels with custom color and match the truck.

The stripping was the most difficult part. I have the equip to spray automotive grade paints. My first paint job was my motorcycle, see avatar, that paint has held up to fuels and weather for over 10 years. Still has mirror shine. I used the 2K Urethane paints on it. I had confidence these wheels would be great. I must credit the people at the local Sherwin-Williams Automotive paint store. Very knowledgeable, very helpful, very patient.

FWIW, Sherwin-Williams has multiple groups of auto paint. I used the Sunfire line of products. All the paints were from the same product line, so compatibility was not an issue. The color choices are mind boggling. If you choose this path of high quality automotive paints, be prepared, the cost is surprising.

Compatible products is where most paint jobs fail. Primer, Color, Clear must be compatible with each other. Otherwise, your chances of bubbles, orange peel, not setting........get multiplied. Then the only fix is to strip back to bare metal.

 

On truck......

 

Here’s how the 4Runner wheels look like powder coated matte black for your reference. It ended up being just under $500 for the coating IIRC.