Painting My 1998 16" Lexus LX 470 Wheels

[OG 91 LC]

Okay fellas. I'm gonna get new tires on my wheels, but before I do I would like to paint my wheels.

I have read a few threads to get some ideas. Not sure if I'm going a flat black or the good looking Graphite Mica I have seen on a few trucks.

I have a few questions and would like your opinion/advice.

Here are the wheels.

Two wheels are in great condition. The two wheels pictured have some scratches. The wheel on the first pic has light scratching near the bottom. The wheel on the second pic has two 1/2" or less gashes.

1. Prep. Do I clean wheels, primer, and then paint or do I use the Klean-Strip Aircraft paint remover, clean wheels, then paint? Kind of sketching on the strength.

2. How do I remove some of the scratches or gashes? Is there a product I may use to fill the gashes? Thinking of using some wetsand product to smooth out the scratches. 2000 grit???

3. Color. OG color? Are our wheels your typical alloy wheel silver color or are they hyper silver. I keep calling them hyper silver, but I saw the Duplicolor hyper silver color and it looks a bit shinier or more metallic.

Duplicolor Graphite Mica. I searched and got the Mazda BMZ1160. Is this correct?

Thanks fellas.

 

[SWUtah]

Take them to a powder coat place. Will be more durable

 

[OG 91 LC]

Local shop wants $340. I think I can do the above mentioned for less than $50.

 

[Fuge]

Have you considered Plasti-Dip? I Plasti-Dipped all the faded gold emblems on my 99 LX with the Anthrocite Grey and it looks great. Really easy too. Sounds like you might not be sure on a color. This would allow you to try a color and if you don't like it you can peel it off. I bought enough for my wheels but I haven't done it yet so I don't know how durable they will be offroad. Here is a youtube link on it . I watched a bunch of these videos to figure out how to do it.

 

[Ole Colony]

My wheels had a lot of pitting so I had them blasted. I would use bondo to fill and prime and paint. I used a self etching primer and VHT wheel paint.

 

[duggy]

Do not plasti-dip, they will not stand up to offroad abuse. I have had great results with Rustoleum Universal paint and primer in one. It is easy to apply and will stand up to offroad abuse once dry.

 

[ponytl]

sand/clean & paint.... never strip if you have good factory paint that is well bonded to the base material, No different than if you were painting a car... keep the good stuff and bond to it... when painting aluminum anything you can not paint over oxidation, sand the scratched areas smooth I'd start with a 220 on the real bad spots and go to a 320, clean the whole wheel with acetone (clean it well) spot prime the areas you sanded with a primer that says its good for aluminum, then lightly wet sand the wheel with 500... wipe with clean cloths that have NOT had contact with dryer sheets !!!! and spray...
I like to force dry... place wheel in a large cardboard box and duct heat in from a heat gun or hair dryer... I say duct... meaning use a couple feet of pipe/fence post... dryer duct... something that gets the hot air in and keeps the heat source away from your cardboard... you don't have to seal up the box just close it... 20-30 min and you will pretty much have a baked on finish far better than just air dry...

 

[Scotch]

Okay fellas. I'm gonna get new tires on my wheels, but before I do I would like to paint my wheels.

I have read a few threads to get some ideas. Not sure if I'm going a flat black or the good looking Graphite Mica I have seen on a few trucks.





Thanks fellas.

what did you end up doing?

 

[OG 91 LC]

It's funny how things work/don't work out. I looked for a while to find the above wheels. I had spent $240 on the four wheels. I was going to spend $340 on powder coating. I realized I was just throwing my money away. I sold the wheels and got my money back. I left the original chrome wheels on my truck and painted my center caps a flat black. Sorry. Not exciting at all.