Painted black steelies on BFGoodrich KO2 245/65/17

[notfast]

Looks great but you should have paid to have them professionally powder coated.

I agree, especially since the wheels are, well, steel, so they can use regular (durable) high-temp powder coating without any worry.

Alloy wheels should use low-temp powder coating since the high temp coating is close to the temperature that aluminum starts to anneal. High temp probably won't cause any issues, but I'm pretty risk averse.

This looks great, I wanted to do this myself, but I have never painted wheels before. I am worried it will look like crap.

I'd call up some local powder coating shops. Gloss black is a common color so you shouldn't have to wait long and it shouldn't be that expensive. Heck a local place told me $40 a wheel if I brought them that day cuz they were doing a batch of gloss black parts already. I'd expect normal price to be $75ish a wheel.

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[ldkuffel]

I agree, especially since the wheels are, well, steel, so they can use regular (durable) high-temp powder coating without any worry.

Alloy wheels should use low-temp powder coating since the high temp coating is close to the temperature that aluminum starts to anneal. High temp probably won't cause any issues, but I'm pretty risk averse.



I'd call up some local powder coating shops. Gloss black is a common color so you shouldn't have to wait long and it shouldn't be that expensive. Heck a local place told me $40 a wheel if I brought them that day cuz they were doing a batch of gloss black parts already. I'd expect normal price to be $75ish a wheel.

My local place told me about $500 total and it would be awhile because they have a long wait list and low supply because of COVID... So I did it myself for about $10.

 

[JASmith]

My local place told me about $500 total and it would be awhile because they have a long wait list and low supply because of COVID... So I did it myself for about $10.

The other advantage of DIY is that if you bounce some rocks up and chip, you don't have to worry its just a rattle job that you can touch up yourself easily enough.

 

[Decayed]

Looks great! Not a fan of the silver steelies - it looks unfinished. I've seen the gloss black aluminum rims on an fx4 and the gloss black looked great on that, too.

 

[James St. Patrick]

I was planning on painting my XLT hybrid wheels gloss black when it came in. Hopefully, I will be the first to do it

My delivery is 11/1- 11/7 and I have an appoinment scheduled, for my XLT rims to be powder coated gloss black

 

[reciprocating_ravioli]

Looks great but you should have paid to have them professionally powder coated. New rims with no residue all over them are perfect for powder coating.

i’m a diy type of guy myself but can spray paint isn’t going to last very long without chipping or scratching off..

Meh - I used plastidip on my Honda Pilot steelies. They still look great 5 years later.

The whole point is to keep costs low. Getting them professionally powder coated - you might as well just go buy new rims.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

All else equal, the aluminum wheels are usually lighter than steel, but who knows if all is equal. The aluminum ones might be overbuilt like a tank, and the steelies to keep costs down using thinner steel so are light.

For example look here, the OEM 16" steel wheels are lighter than the OEM 16" aluminum ones on an F150: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2003,f-150,4.2l+v6,1414673,wheel,wheel,7644

Steel 16x7 OEM: 25.5lbs
Aluminum 16x7 OEM: 29.3lbs

Eventually someone will just have to throw them on a scale for us.

There's also two ways to look at the hybrid, a tool to be more ecofriendly to use less fuel, or the most economical way to Maverick. The XL with its steelies is a massive value, and IMO a little bit of wheel weight difference isn't likely to show up in fuel economy.

Also need to be satisfied with steelies load limit. I saw one for $79-$89 that was rated 1500 lbs.

 

[sthomp]

My delivery is 11/1- 11/7 and I have an appoinment scheduled, for my XLT rims to be powder coated gloss black

Dang... will definitely beat me to it. Pictures please whenever you do

 

[AngeloInSC]

Nice Job, looks better than all the alloy wheels!!

I don't think so! Better than the stock steelies, but you should have stopped with that.

 

[Mikknj]

Directions on painting the XL steel wheels:

You want to pressure wash the rims first to get any debris off then sand it with 600-800 grit sandpaper and the factory silver color comes off very easy.

Then pressure wash again and wipe clean.

Let it dry then place index cards in-between the rim and tire to protect the tires from over spray.

Then just use a rim specific spray paint and put 3-4 coats of paint on.

Wow - I got to say that's it - that's the look. I love it. Better than aluminum XLT - I wasted my money. Except I needed cruise control. - which is a thumb in my eye

 

[Mikknj]

Don't heavy A/T tires, and their intended purpose, defeat the purpose of getting a hybrid? Curious....

Yes - but I don't think this one is a hybrid. I ordered a hybrid and I'll probably go with snow rated AT's because of - well snow. All seasons suck. I don't want to swap summer and winter tires either so I guess AT's make sense. ( have to be snow rated.) In that case there is no fooling anyone - it's not going off road - just working in the snow. ( with front wheel drive only )

 

[Sandstorm]

Meh - I used plastidip on my Honda Pilot steelies. They still look great 5 years later.

The whole point is to keep costs low. Getting them professionally powder coated - you might as well just go buy new rims.

$300 is in the range of nice take-offs, granted finding take-offs in this wheel pattern is going to be tough.

 

[ldkuffel]

 

[sseiler]

Directions on painting the XL steel wheels:

You want to pressure wash the rims first to get any debris off then sand it with 600-800 grit sandpaper and the factory silver color comes off very easy.

Then pressure wash again and wipe clean.

Let it dry then place index cards in-between the rim and tire to protect the tires from over spray.

Then just use a rim specific spray paint and put 3-4 coats of paint on.

Wow, those look great!

 

[ldkuffel]

Some people wanted to see what it looked like with the original hub cap covers so here they are. I'll be going with these hup caps I bought off Amazon.

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