Winter wheels?

[johnday]

OK, here's my plan. Right now I have American Racing, [made in China], Outlaw II aluminum wheels on the Ranger. The cheap clearcoat is peeling and the wheels are starting to pit after only a year and a half. I'm going to strip the clearcoat, polish them,and use them as wheels for the milder months.
For the winter, I'd like to put some painted wheels on, not stockers, but some sort of after market. Is anyone aware of some that paint won't take a dump on me when salt gets on them? I'm leaning toward a matte black. I know there has to be someone here that does this.
As an aside, are there any North American manufacturers out there? I've looked for quite awhile, but just may have overlooked them.

 

[bigtruck94]

Just get the wheels with the black paint on it. When you make your own paint job on a set of wheels that wasn't designed to have paint on it, it will peel in a heart beat. Especially where you live in salt landfield. The American Racing Baja wheels have a really nice design, especially when they have black paint on it already. Don't even bother painting the wheels. They come out ugly and the finishing look is just bad.

 

[RustedRanger]

If you use etching primer so it sticks there's not a problem. A friend has a black Mustang and he painted the American Racing wheels with gloss black and they look killer. If you use matte black the salt will stain em white.

 

[jkent]

Look for a cheap set of rims and plasti-dip them. I plasti-dipped the rims on my old 4runner and they turned out nice. Matte finish and its pretty cheap. If it ever peels off just re-spray them. If you ever decide you don't like the look anymore, the plasti-dip can be removed fairly easy.

 

[bigmark303]

If you use the appropriate primer for the type of metal and prep the wheels as directed you will have a nice paint job on the rims.

To be honest ive painted right over clear coated alumium wheels with zero prep besides a wash and the paint is still on them with no chipping 4 years later. I live in the North East and winter hasnt done anything to the wheels. I used gloss black krylon rust tough spray paint. That paint sticks to everything. All my cab floors have no carpet and are painted with 3 layers of that paint. It hold up beyond well to all the sand in my cab that my feet scrape across the floor every day.

If you get steel wheels just make sure they are one piece. Steel wheels with more than one part rot quickly and cause slow leaks and valve stem issues.

 

[johnday]

I solved the problem! I went and bought some MB Vdrive wheels, and another set of Goodyear Wrangler tires for summer. I'm going to paint/plastidip my Outlaw II's, and use them for winter.
When removing the front tires/wheels, I discovered I need new brake pads as well, so I'm just going to replace them with a better set. Can any of you guys recommend some that won't dust the crap out of my new wheels?
I just need street type, my Ranger is a pavement queen, that only occasionally sees a logging road, and I don't plan on any high speed either.
I've thought about the DuraLast Gold Cmax. Any good?

 

[AllanD]

I've never seen any aftermarket wheel hold up as well as a factory wheel.

Personally I have six sets of rims between my two Rangers ALL are factory
aluminum rims.

 

[johnday]

I've never seen any aftermarket wheel hold up as well as a factory wheel.

Personally I have six sets of rims between my two Rangers ALL are factory
aluminum rims.

Have to agree. I looked at new OE wheels, the price was sort of a shocker. I thought of salvage yards, but there aren't any around me, so, I'm just going to dip/paint the AR wheels, and just use them for winter.