Painted my wheels!

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BigDaddy13440

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I posted last fall that I got a set of Denali 20's, and I was planning on having them stripped and redone. Yeah, fat chance of that happening.... the only shop within 100 miles said they'd most likely run around $120 each. Hell, I could get some brand new Raceline Gunner wheels for that price, shipped to my door!

So I decided to do them myself.

What I started with:

GMC wheels.jpg


And where I'm at now, after destroying a 80 grit nylon Flitz wheel:

Painted Wheels.jpg

Painted Wheels 2.jpg


Rustoleum Gunmetal Gray spray paint - so far, I've only used 3 cans, and that's a coat on the inside, and two coats on the faces. Planning on one more coat on both sides, should be just fine. Have some 275/65/20 Falken Wildpak AT's (the original AT's, not the AT3W's) that will be going on them, with 2 1/2" spacers on the rear, 1 1/2" spacers on the front.


Wildpeak AT's.jpeg


AND.... I'll have 5 or six cans left, and it's readily available at Lowe's and the local Ace Hardware. Thinking about doing the chrome on the front bumper, and the entire grille. Adding some smoked headlights like these:


Smoked headlights.jpg


I think the combination of ditching the chrome and darkening the front will give it a much needed change in appearance.

Thoughts?
 
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adventurenali92

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Interesting. I wanted to do something similar with my NNBS Denali 20s. I had the similar experience. Shop wanted $250 a piece to paint or powder coat. I was thinking about going this route with mine but I don't trust my paint skills to make it happen and come out with a decent result like yours did! Haha. I like the color! They look good!
 

Cattivo

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I posted last fall that I got a set of Denali 20's, and I was planning on having them stripped and redone. Yeah, fat chance of that happening.... the only shop within 100 miles said they'd most likely run around $120 each. Hell, I could get some brand new Raceline Gunner wheels for that price, shipped to my door!

So I decided to do them myself.

What I started with:

View attachment 183446


And where I'm at now, after destroying a 80 grit nylon Flitz wheel:

View attachment 183448

View attachment 183447


Rustoleum Gunmetal Gray spray paint - so far, I've only used 3 cans, and that's a coat on the inside, and two coats on the faces. Planning on one more coat on both sides, should be just fine. Have some 275/65/20 Falken Wildpak AT's (the original AT's, not the AT3W's) that will be going on them, with 2 1/2" spacers on the rear, 1 1/2" spacers on the front.


View attachment 183450


AND.... I'll have 5 or six cans left, and it's readily available at Lowe's and the local Ace Hardware. Thinking about doing the chrome on the front bumper, and the entire grille. Adding some smoked headlights like these:


View attachment 183449


I think the combination of ditching the chrome and darkening the front will give it a much needed change in appearance.

Thoughts?

Wheels came out great brother!

I powder coated a set of wheels myself a couple years ago in gun metal grey...not sure if you have an extra oven laying around but if you don't make sure wifey isn't home if you try it lol...a Stiletto thrown at you hurts like hell! :D
 

05Single

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Looks good. I'd be scared to paint chrome , never had any luck lol. Did you lay down some primer or adhesion promoter?

I think the dark blue and gunmetal grey look excellent together. And those tires will look killer.

But any worries about different wheel offsets with 4wd? Heard that's a nono.
 
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BigDaddy13440

BigDaddy13440

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Looks good. I'd be scared to paint chrome , never had any luck lol. Did you lay down some primer or adhesion promoter?

I think the dark blue and gunmetal grey look excellent together. And those tires will look killer.

But any worries about different wheel offsets with 4wd? Heard that's a nono.

I'd scuffed up the wheels with an 80 grit Flitz wheel, there's plenty of "tooth" for the paint to hold on to. Already have two coats on, going to put on a third and call it done.

I saw the gunmetal, and bought a can to try it out, painted a few small things with it. Loved how it came out, so I bought 12 cans (I think?) for the wheels. Not going to need nearly as much as I thought, so I thought about the bumper chrome, the grill, and most likely going to take off the roof rack and paint that too. Not worried about scratching the paint on it, nobody but me will ever be standing on the tires to strap down anything.

As far as the offsets, I've never had an issue. It's a definite no-no to run tires of different heights (say a 31" vs a 33"), but I have seen guys running a 35x10.5 on the front, and a 35x15.5 on the rear. As long as they have the same rolling radius and the same gearing in the axles, the transfer case doesn't know any difference. Hell, I saw a truck in 4WD Magazine a few years back, it had 40's on the front, and 54" tires in the back - it had different gear ratios in the axles, maybe like 4:56's in the front and 6:17's in the rear.....
 

ezstriper

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wheels look great, do not do the chrome on front, will not hold up to road debris and will look like crap very soon, you can wrap those sometimes with vehicle wrap(we do lots of it) and will hold up fine
 

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