refinish options on 8 spoke 20s

[mandkole]

Has anyone redone the clear coat on the factory 20s? I need to clean them up before putting tires on in the spring. Its time to make a decision. Options--

1) strip clear, polish and recoat
2) Paint with color;

a) factory dark argent (the dark gray from F150 sport wheels)
​

b) color match to the body color​

3) paint or no paint on center caps..

Ive seen no one do this and the factory gray would tie in the grill real good and give it a unique but factory look. To try that color out I may dip them first. For long term, if painted, they would be painted with basecoat/clear.

thoughts?

 

[UNBROKEN]

if you do any color skip the paint and do powdercoat. You can get the same colors and it's a hell of a lot more durable on wheels.

 

[shmoozer]

I would powdercoat them dark argent. I've had that same thought wandering around my brain as well


-KCCO-

 

[mandkole]

Agree on powder durability. The only concern I had with powder was getting a good color match on the caps (since they cant go through the oven). The old school dog dish look of a chrome cap on a painted wheel may be ok but would have to try it with a dip color first.

Has anyone had the factory clear stripped, polished them back out and re-cleared? A couple of the wheels had a scratch deep enough that the clear would need to be taken off to clean them up.

 

[bboteler]

why not plastic dip first to get the color you want or look then peel it and powdercoat once you figure out how it looks? i did it with my tool box to make sure i wanted it black...

 

[HeavyAssault]

Good call bboteler. I agree there with the Plastidip options and colors. Give it a try before you really commit to powdercoating.

 

[mandkole]

yup, that's the plan to try the dip

 

[bboteler]

Post up some pics are you get em done.

 

[truckman1974]

You don't have to try to powder the cap....if your truck has 2 colors you could always use spray paint for the 2nd color to color the cap.

Here's my wheels....the wheel itself is powdercoated but the center cap is just spray painted.

 

[bboteler]

Sharp!!!

 

[Pockets]

I was just thinking about this earlier this week. I'd like to see just the wheels juat stripped and polished. I don't think the up keep would be to bad.

 

[Jason]

Wouldn't they basically look like the '11-'12 wheels if stripped and polished??

 

[Jason]

Like these?

 

[mandkole]

I was curious and am part way through stripping the clear off one wheel. ran out of daylight yesterday and will do another round of strip today. It's not coming off as clean as I'd like and may take some wet sanding before polish. I will say it's amazing how cloudy the clear was. The surface underneath is like a mirror -- with a little work they would look like chrome.

I saw Truckmans gallery yesterday and still leaning to color. Nice job on those wheels!

 

[mandkole]

Here's a pic of what's left. I put the camera reflection in the spoke. All of the material that you could scrape with a fingernail yesterday is hard today.

 

[Jason]

Dang, that's looking good. I'd be a little gun shy about doing that, but the results are looking bueno.

 

[drunk on diesel]

Wouldn't they basically look like the '11-'12 wheels if stripped and polished??

the 8-10's and 11-15's have essentially the same finish, just a different shape spoke

OP, I was going to vote for just re-finishing the wheels, as they are one of the best looking OEM wheel out there, but it's a lot of work and/or money to arrive right back where you were with them, so I just kinda kept my mouth shut.

But I definitely think they look best like that. I've seen them powdercoated before, and they just kinda fall flat IMO

 

[Pockets]

Here's a pic of what's left. I put the camera reflection in the spoke. All of the material that you could scrape with a fingernail yesterday is hard today.

What were you use to strip them? Brush on or spray on? and a pressure washer?...

 

[mandkole]

Dang, that's looking good. I'd be a little gun shy about doing that, but the results are looking bueno.

I was surprised that it was mirror finished. Im going to play with it some more today, but Im expecting that I'll have to back up a little with some wetpaper and polishing time before going forward. For now, I'll be getting the spacers in the next week or so to make sure on the tire size (going 295/60s or 305/55) and I'll try some dip on a wheel as well.

Next to the 5 spoke 20x8s on the 6.0, these wheels are my favorite. Ive had the thought for awhile to do the argent color but the shiny is original and less money in the long run. But, im in them real right, so we'll play with them a little. More pics will be posted.

 

[mandkole]

What were you use to strip them? Brush on or spray on? and a pressure washer?...

Used some old brush on stripper, one application, then the pressure washer. Some areas definitely need another coat, but much of the surface has these tiny bumps (feels like sand grains under your finger) that don't want to come off with the stripper and pressure washer.

Getting some new spray on stripper today.