What to do with stock 16's... 2000LC

[norville]

Hey all, I'm at the point where I want to do something with these wheels and tires. Locally there's a sale on 285/75/16s and I'm just about in need of replacing these stock dry rotted tires. The hesitation is these stock 2000 16" wheels look like crap. PO had these as a winter only setup and ran 18's in the summer. He would not part with the 18's as he was getting a new LC.. I've been looking for stock later model 18's or even Tundra wheels and nothing locally shows up. They really bring the LC up a few years in looks.. Once shipping is involved it makes for a bad deal. I dont mind the stock 16's but they are pitiful looking. They need a good scrubbing and are hopefully not too pitted. Has anyone not been able to save stock wheels?

So tell me do I keep the 16's and pick up these 285's on sale or just keep watching for 18s and then buy the more expensive tires? she is a mall crawler and slowly turning into my daily over my wrangler unlimited on 35's... can you post up some pros and cons? I'll get some pics later today..

 

[cmck]

16's provide more side wall to compress offroad
You can strip, sand and repaint older rims to improve the look or even plastidip them.

 

[norville]

Ok, I have to admit I didn't think of plasti dip. I thought There was only black. I see they have gunmetal and silver ... That's a real option..

 

[taco47001]

Getting wheels refinished professionally isn't that expensive either. A local Powder Coating or rim repair service could do the task for you. All you'd need to do is pick a color. Check out "Prismatic Powders" online. There should be a prismatic shop relatively close to you as well..they're all over. I was quoted $450 to media blast, prep, powder, and clear coat mine.

 

[Ohthetrees]

Plastidip looking good and holding up so far on mine. Did it in February.

 

[norville]

well, I'm sold. I have to clean them up either way. I ordered my 285's and will get them installed on Thursday. I'm going to pick up some supplies to clean my wheels and I found kits online for $70 to plastidip them...

 

[Placemotorsports]

You can buy the spray cans at Lowe's or your local auto parts store. They run about $6 a can, need about 4 cans. Save yourself the $70 on-line fee

 

[norville]

Do they have other colors than black? I have black here from another project, I'm looking for gunmetal or silver..

 

[taco47001]

Try an auto parts store for other colors but maybe local Walmart had Gun metal. Amazon has all the colors also. You don't need a kit, just 4 cans and a deck of cards. A can of the glossifier will do all four as well.

 

[Ohthetrees]

Mine was anthracite, which is a slightly shiny gray. Sold at Lowe's. I only needed three cans, and that was with four coats on 5 wheels. Our 16 inch wheels are both fairly small, and don't have a lot of "details" so it doesn't require a can per wheel like people who are working on their 22 inch rims.

Just clean the wheels really really well, then wipe them down with alcohol to get residual oil, etc. off of them.

One light coat, then three more heavier (until appears wet) coats, waiting 10 to 15 minutes between coats. I did five wheels for less than $25.

 

[Manhattan]

Don't rule out Dupli-Color wheel paint - rattle can. There are lots of colors, it's durable as hell, cheap, easy...

These wheels were black. I scuffed them, painted them to match the Ti Silver, then cleared them:

 

[Jeepster09]

I used a "Hammered Black" and they look great on a Jeep I had. Sorry...no pics that I can find. Do a google on hammered black color.

 

[REZARF]

The plastidip silver is killer, but buy the glossifier, it makes all the difference.

 

[cmck]

Plastidip looking good and holding up so far on mine. Did it in February.

View attachment 1434551 View attachment 1434552

Wow, you painted the lug nuts the hub all of it! I like the industrial look of it.....

 

[Ohthetrees]

I also did the plastic caps, haven't made up my mind which was to leave it.

 

[Clunky]

I also did the plastic caps, haven't made up my mind which was to leave it.

Some stupid questions for you:

Were you able to do this without taking the wheels off?

Did you do the lug nuts and the hub separately, or just left them on and did it all in one shot?

Any other advice to share about the process?

Thanks!

 

[tacoduck]

did you do it with the tire still on the rim? how did you remove the overspray from the rim?

 

[Manhattan]

If the tires are on, use index cards...

 

[Placemotorsports]

You can put Target bags over caliper and rotor as well and do the same index card trick and leave the wheels on.

 

[fooldall1]

Going to do this on my LC next weekend! Anthracite.... The radial tires bought with the tuck still have some good life to them, so it'll be a while for new, larger rubber- but in the meantime, this seems like a nice change to the stock 16s.