Painting wagon wheels?
 

Hello all
I have been working on my 68 gmc longbed step. Started off going to replace the brake shoes. During this operation I found I needed wheel cylinders, hoses, hard lines, master cylinder, ball joints, bent lower control arm, etc.... My budget is going away fast.

I have learned not to cut corners on safety and I will not spend my tire money on anything other than tires. I find I will no longer be able to afford new wheels however, and have not been very successfull at finding any used 6 lug rims that look much better than the rusted wagon wheels I currently have.

Has anyone ever tried painting wagon wheels a different color? And if so how did it look? I eventually want to paint the truck flat black and thought I might get away with a red color for the wheels. What do you all think?

Joe

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

if you got them blasted, you should have no problem painting them, although if i was going that route, I'd get them powdercoated, as they will be more resistant to chipping and fading, making them look better longer.

If you are interested in chrome rims, Green Machine has some for a very nice price.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=221144

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

BRAK thanks for the reply.
I had saved money to do some repairs to get the truck on the road after christmas. Unfortunately I have a tree I must pay to be taken down, and more damage to the truck than I originally thought I had.

I have allready let go on the idea of getting a new seat cover and dont think the money is in the budget for "efabmans" DVD. (much needed by the way). THEGREENMACHINES wheels are a good deal but I just cant do it at this time. I will be getting new tires and hate putting them on ugly wheels, but I am at the point of using what I have and make the best of it.

I have access to a bead blaster at work and since I dont think I am in love with these wheels anyway, I thought I might just blast and spray them with spray can paint. This time next year I might be able to afford new rims.

I just dont want to go through the effort if it will just look silly. New tires on rusty rims or ugly rims, wich is better?

Thanks
Joe

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

I would bead blast them or some stock rims.I think I would try to do stock ones.I would go with a gloss or semi-gloss paint.If the budget allowed in a couple of months then I would do some beauty rings and baby moons or stock dog dish hubcaps.JMHO since I've always had to make do with what was cheap.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Gman69 has his painted body colored and put trim rings on them. They look excellent far as I am concerned

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

id just blast them,,then spray bomb them,,if they start to look bad,,get another can of paint...

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

PanelDeland, I went to 4 junkyard's today looking for stock rims. I like the look you are talking about. None were to be found. Not many 6 lugs available. I did find 3 15X8 rally's but they wanted $50 each.

Palf70step, Thanks for the pic of Gman69's truck. It does look excellent and makes it seem worthwhile to go forward with this project.

68GMC454, That is the plan!

Thanks to all for your comments.

Joe

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Find a pull a part or pick and pull. Usually cheaper at those yards. I think around here at our pull a part the wheels go for under 20 bucks each, and that is with tires to. Especially if you are after cheap wheels. Or go buy new wagon wheels. I got mine from big O tires for $25 bucks a piece new, probably higher now but just some examples. As for painting your old ones. My naighbor just used air craft paint remover and painted the with spray bomb paint. They looked good for the 2 years he had it. Hope this helps.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

I know... old thread.

I do like what he did with those wheels.
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Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

I've scuffed up powder coated wheels and painted them with excellent results. As long as the powder coat id stable,you sand well,and use quality paint it works fine. Powder coating is a bear to remove.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Actually it isn't. Paint this on: Eastwood Powder Coat & Paint Dissolver Item #12849, let it sit for 30 min or so and hit it with with a hose. Stuff washes right off!

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Wagon wheels....used to run 'em, but it's been a while.

However, I found myself in need of some rollers for the paint process and picked these up for $30 (for the pair). They are 6-lug and will clear my disc brakes up front, so they are the spare wheels that will work when I need 'em. Here's a pic I pirated off of a website. I don't have centers/rings, but that's not a biggee. They're mid-late 70's GM wheels.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Well, joescott,...
I also came up short on budjet $$$...and I bought a set of swampers for my '63 which were mounted on wagon-wheels....my least favorite rim in the world.
So I spent some time with a roll of masking tape and engineered some mounting hardware and now I like 'em a lot more.

Hubcaps from a wreckin' yard...........................................$15.00 for the set
Roll of masking tape and 6-pack of bud..............................$9.00
1/2 rattle-can of white enamel.........................................$0.00
2 hours searching through my hardware for the right stuff.....$0.00

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Hey RockDriller,how did you fasten those hubcaps to the wagon wheels?

I wasn't being all that technical. I should have said it is a bear to get off without a chemical stripper. Is that Eastwood stuff for epoxy or poly or both? It's a bear to sandblast off s what I was thinking. You need to run a grinder across it to break the surface,then it goes much better. Believe me,I now. I've been having parts powder coated since the '80s. I've tried aircraft and marine strippers and they didn't touch it.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

I had to dress mine up because of a budget too. One pair was chrome and one pair was white so I sprayed them flat black first then Rustoleum Dark Bronze. I gotta respray my truck flat black for a little while so this pic will show what the color combo will look like together.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

Agreed!!! Im not a fan of wagon wheels HOWEVER...you can sure dress them up with some trim rings.

Re: Painting wagon wheels?
 

I saw a set on a station wagon, painted black, trim rings, and center caps off a 96-02 Chevy Astro/Safari mini van... looked awesome!
These are the caps I'm talking about...
http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/350867...DbML8Q___1.JPG