Well I love the Rolling Stones so I heeded their advice and painted my rims black. And I thought it'd make my Sub look a little more masculine.

 

I used a wire brush on a drill to get rid of the flaking clear-coat, then I sanded them and used steel wool and paint thinner.

 

I used Rustoleum Self Etching Primer to start with, two coats of that and two hours to dry. Then I used gloss black Rustoleum paint. I would've used their wheel paint but they only had matte black. I did three coats of the black, and should have done four but I ran out. I let that dry over night.

 

This morning I tried to clean up my lug nuts but some are too rusty to even bother with. Oh well. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the result. Unfortunately, I made some pretty deep grooves with the wire brush and didn't sand them out well enough. But it looks good from 5 feet so I'm happy.

 

I parked next to my neighbors Subaru for a little comparison. Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think or if you have any questions or tips for next time.

they look good..

Nice job.........you can find replacement acorn type lug nuts for sale at auto parts store. They are not costly.

Looks awesome! Did you black out the grill as well?

Looks awesome! Did you black out the grill as well?

 

No I didn't. Perhaps that will be next on my list. I have a friend building me a small push-bar for the front of it, hopefully that will tie in nicely with the wheels. I'm thinking gloss black for that as well.

Edited February 24, 201115 yr by willdeh2

You shouldn't have any trouble with the regular Rustoleum. I painted the steel wheels on my sisters car with that about 3 or 4 years ago and they still look great. And I used plain Rustoleum primer at that. As long as the wheels are 100% clean Rustoleum will stick like white on rice.

Looks good! I like the center caps being silver on the black wheels. Makes it look like a cop car. haha

i like the looks of that. i've considered painting mine also. i'm stuck between black and white. nice job. looking forward to seeing that push bar. curtis

i like the looks of that. i've considered painting mine also. i'm stuck between black and white. nice job. looking forward to seeing that push bar. curtis

 

I think it'll be a little while on the pushbar, I'm going to Nicaragua for 6 weeks so you and me will have to wait... Hopefully I'll take care of that once I get back, and pictures will be the first thing I do.

Looks good! I like the center caps being silver on the black wheels. Makes it look like a cop car. haha

 

I think the opposite. With the silver center caps it looks tacky and half-finished. Paint em' black