Black wheels revisted.

[mingez]

Hey yall. I did a search, but not much to find on the topic.

Just a little while ago, you all had a thread talking about black wheels. I like the black wheel look, but I can't find any aluminum wheels like the steel type many are running on this site.

Any ideas? I also toyed with the idea of rattle canning the ones I have, but I'm worried that they will just turn out like the butt. I don't want to ruin them needlessly. Has anyone done this?

I prefer the lightness of the aluminum, I do a lot of trail riding, but I do just as much hill climbing and sand drags. So, lightness is good thing. '

Beadlock look (like 3L33T's) are preferred if you know of any.

 

[OutOfStep]

If you've got a lot of extra cash laying around there are some new aluminum rims on the market that are coated with black teflon, in theory mud and crap will fling off of them instead of stick. I saw them listed in either this month's JP or in the last quadratec, I can't seem to find either so I dunno which one it was. They've got a nice look, especially the straight 5 spoke mag.

 

[TwistedCU]

@ about $200 per wheel I couldn't afford them but I sure do like 'em:
(Teflon)American Racing "Mojave"

 

[TwistedCU]

Any ideas? I also toyed with the idea of rattle canning the ones I have, but I'm worried that they will just turn out like the butt. I don't want to ruin them needlessly. Has anyone done this?

Yes, me. I bought some polyurethane wheel paint from VHT coatings and sprayed the factory 15x7 wheels for my YJ. They turned out great! I bought "satin black" instead of gloss or flat. Not too shiny, not too dull. Satin is more forgiving to the rookie painter than gloss would be :wink:

SP-183 is what I went with...

http://www.caswellplating.com/vht/vht_spec.htm

 

[bchcky]

TC those mojave wheels from AR are sweet looking, too bad i too cant afford them. hell i just got all 5 of my wheels shipped to my house for less than one of those costs.

 

[mingez]

TwistedCopper, Holy crap those are expensive!!!!!!

Thanks for the site, I'll look into that. Did you have to repaint much??

Also, close up pic of the wheel, and any tips on the painting itself. I am very interested after visiting that site.

 

[bchcky]

oh but they're sweet mingez

 

[bchcky]

speaking of expensive, how much was your paint job? i really like how that turned out. post some bigger pics soon.

 

[mingez]

speaking of expensive, how much was your paint job? i really like how that turned out. post some bigger pics soon.

Only $750 after I squaked about the bad service (would have been around 900). But it was worth more. As soon as I can borrow my buddies camera, I'll post em. I didn't see him for Easter like I thought.

That small low res pic I posted doesn't do it justice.

 

[bchcky]

no i'd imagine it doesnt. the small res pic does look good though, but its just a teaser, makes me want more! black wheels would look pretty sick with your new paint job too. go for them!

 

[OutOfStep]

My only concern with the teflon ones would be durability, I know that my wife yells at me every time she catches me using a metal spatula in her good pans, would think that a good loose rocky mud could really do a number on the rims

 

[TwistedCU]

I only painted my wheels once, but used 3 coats. They held up very well and never needed touching up. Close up-s dont do them a whole lot of justice because the wheels were very pitted when I got them. I knocked them down to bare aluminum but they were rough before I painted them.
Not the best pic, but here goes...

 

[bchcky]

rattle can method seemed to work out well for you TC. if you really like the look of the wheels you have now mingez, then give it a shot, i mean hey, you're thinking either that or new wheels anyways. so why not give it a try, and if you dont like it, then just buy new wheels like you wanted to anyways. what have you got to lose?

 

[geopig]

Hey Twisted, did you paint those with the tires on or did you remove the tires from the rims? I may try this with my stock YJ rims.

 

[TwistedCU]

Hey never saw this question until Mingez posted a link to this thread.

I did it with the tires off because I did it before I got my lift & tires, but I imagine a good tape job would have done just fine.

 

[Tug-n-pull]

I will have to be the odd man out on this one. I am old enough to remember when it was the cool thing on off road anything to run them awful white wagon style wheels. Black wheels just look to me like unfinished stcok wheels off any of a million detroit rides before the hubcaps were applied. For years it seemed the cop cars ran basic blacks with little or no hub cap to speak of. But today the alum wheels come on about everything off the lot so I guess I can see ewhy the basic blacks apeal to so many. As for me I would not trade down to a black steel wheel from anything Alum. Much less some nice wheel like you already have there Mingez. Just my two cents. tug

 

[Sully]

Hey tug, my wheels are white wagans underneath the black paint! Alright, it looked ok for about the first week I had them, but then the only rust spot on my jeep was on one of the whheels. Roughed them up and painted them up.

 

[Tug-n-pull]

tuglys wheels got a shot of ratle can black to go along with the camo! Wrked real well, as a mater of a fact I even painted the raised white letters on the ol town and countrys. hehehe tug

 

[LadyJeepFreak]

Twisted-I missed this thread before but I like your black rims! I really am leaning towards it myself.

Heather

 

[ROGLSTUBB]

The Fab shop I work for has a powdercoating facility as well. I have seen several sets of rims come out of there. Powdercoating is really thick and durable and bonds great as long as surface is etched first. I personally agree with tug-n-pull as far as the solid black looks to plain. A crome centercap on a black rim does kind of set it off though.