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Need advice on rim paint color/ type

Woodsplinter

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Phoenix/AZ
I'm replacing the tires on my 1983 A2 deuce and while I have them apart I want to clean and paint the rims and lug nuts. My primary dilemma is what color to paint them.

Option 1: Sandblast and powder coat with satin black. Con- they are currently painted to match the truck, Marine Corp. forest green semi-gloss and people that have seen the truck really like the green rims. Pros- the powder coat company has rattle cans of touch-up paint made just for use on powder coated items. This could also be used to paint the front and rear hubs to match the rims. No painting labor on my part!

Option 2: Sandblast and powder coat with green. Cons- the only green available is a close match to the current paint. Hard to tell from a 1" paint chip. (No other samples available to better determine match). No touch up paint available from powder coat co. Would have to try to color match and apply touch up paint with a brush or HVLP sprayer. The hubs would also need to be painted with a color matched paint or they could be rattle canned with black. This would provide a contrast to the rims but I'm not sure how good it would look. The "sheen level" of the green is described as 5% as compared to the satin black which is 20%. This would leave the rims looking flatter than the rest of the truck- big deal? I don't know.
Pros- green would match the rest of the truck better. Minimal painting labor on my part!

Cost of options 1 or 2: $715.00

Option 3: Bead blast everything at a cost of $350.00. Spray them myself with primer and color matched Behr paint. Cost of paint and primer, about $100.00 for a total cost of about $450.00. Cons- lots of back breaking labor on my bad back. :-( Behr paint is slow to cure but really hard when fully cured.
The tire shop doing all the work won't let my deuce sit in their yard on jack stands for more than about a week.
Pros- the color will match perfectly and be easy to touch up.

I'm leaning hard toward options 1 or 2 because option 3 would have me spending lots of $$ on my chiropractor.

Comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. I've had no experience with powder coating so I don't know how much abuse from the tire guys it will endure before needing touching up.
 

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M35A2-AZ

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If you want you can bring your truck out here and leave it on the jack stands as long as needed.
I can help you take all the tire and wheel into town.

I think the black would be ok, But I would like the green better so 1 or 2.
You could get some paint mixed and put in cans for the hubs at a paint shop.
Do not know much about the Bear paint.
 

Wildchild467

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Personally, I don't like powder coat. It always seems to chip and flake off and rust from underneath. I would spray Rapco enamel paint all day and love the results. That is just me though. Nice looking truck!

Touching up is super easy with paint. either use a brush or mask off or use a touch up spray gun. Easy peasy. I love the way my truck turned out. I painted the whole truck, trailer and soon a M1061A1 Trailer all for a little over $300. I couldn't be happier.
 
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Woodsplinter

Member
723
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Location
Phoenix/AZ
Thanks guys! I'm getting 1100 X 20 G177's. I'm aware of the "death wobble" issue with them and hopefully I won't have any problems with that.

I have never dealt with powder coating before. The only reason I'm considering it is they will blast and paint the rims for $40 each. Lug nuts for $2 ea. Just blasting the rims will run $30 each, and they need it- several layers of chipped, peeling paint need to go. So powder coating will add $110. I could save that by spraying them myself but my back is voting "no" to that option.

My $715 quote includes doing all 62 lug nuts.

If I get enough info that powder coating won't hold up, then I'll bite the bullet and do it myself.
 

muthkw25

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Sayre, PA
I took my rims down to bare metal with a grind wheel and re-primed and painted semi gloss black. Looks great in the sun. The deeper black looks nice and is easy to clean. I really like how it looks when its partly cloudy, the semigloss doesn't shine and gives it a flat black look.
 

Woodsplinter

Member
723
6
18
Location
Phoenix/AZ
I took my rims down to bare metal with a grind wheel and re-primed and painted semi gloss black. Looks great in the sun. The deeper black looks nice and is easy to clean. I really like how it looks when its partly cloudy, the semigloss doesn't shine and gives it a flat black look.
The black definitely provides a different look that I like.
 

Karl kostman

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Woodsplitter just a word of caution if you have the lugnuts powder coated and you install them you ARE going to chip the absolute crap out of them with a lug wrench! Powder coating is great and extremely durable in lots of places but lug nuts are most definitely NOT one of them! Be prepared for what your going to end up with if you powder coat the nuts!
Karl
 

Woodsplinter

Member
723
6
18
Location
Phoenix/AZ
Woodsplitter just a word of caution if you have the lugnuts powder coated and you install them you ARE going to chip the absolute crap out of them with a lug wrench! Powder coating is great and extremely durable in lots of places but lug nuts are most definitely NOT one of them! Be prepared for what your going to end up with if you powder coat the nuts!
Karl
I think I will either just paint them or find a fur-lined lug wrench! But I did hear once that powdered sugar was ok...
 

dawico

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Location
Lampasas,TX
I like flat black rims but the green looks sharp as it is.

I have had good luck just sanding rims and using flat black spray paint. I spray a few light layers then spray clear over it. That brings out the right amount of shine for me and is very easy to touch up especially after taking a lug wrench to them.

Of course I haven't worked on a MV rim with all that paint and any rust on them yet. That may take a grinder with wire wheel to clean up properly.
 

Woodsplinter

Member
723
6
18
Location
Phoenix/AZ
I like flat black rims but the green looks sharp as it is.

I have had good luck just sanding rims and using flat black spray paint. I spray a few light layers then spray clear over it. That brings out the right amount of shine for me and is very easy to touch up especially after taking a lug wrench to them.

Of course I haven't worked on a MV rim with all that paint and any rust on them yet. That may take a grinder with wire wheel to clean up properly.
Under MY layer of paint is 2 layers of CARC. I wore several wire wheels to the nub trying to get through it. I finally gave up and sprayed over it.

I think whoever blasts them clean will be cursing for awhile..
 

Karl kostman

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Woodsplitter what I did on my Deuce wheels is wire wheel any rust off and put a good SCUFF on the existing paint, wipe the wheels clean with alcohol to remove any possible oil or grease residue and spray them, I painted mine green and when done I had Wished I had gone with flat black, OH WELL! After wheel prep then just spray paint them with at least two coats of the color of your choice, install them THEN paint the lugnuts after the wheels are installed. if you scratch them who cares clean the scratch a little and give just location another spray! Its the easiest way to keep you wheels in great order!
Karl
 

Woodsplinter

Member
723
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Location
Phoenix/AZ
Well, black it is. If I don't like it I can always paint over it. :-(
Pics, of course, will follow. Probably 2 weeks away at this point.
Stay tuned!
 

Woodsplinter

Member
723
6
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Location
Phoenix/AZ
Well, it's finally done! The rims were powder coated satin black and the lug nuts were sand blasted but not painted. I rattle canned the front lugs black and left the rears unpainted. They actually look pretty good unpainted.

The tires had some CARC overspray I couldn't remove so I cleaned them as best I could and painted them black with a commercial tire paint/ dye- now they look new! The 1st pic is the "before".
 

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