[MrsRover]

Does anyone have any experience either painting, powder coating or anodizing their rims? What do you recommend? Anyone better than the other?

 

[rover7]

Does anyone have any experience either painting, powder coating or anodizing their rims? What do you recommend? Anyone better than the other?

I was wondering the same thing. Wanted get my extra wheels ready for some off road tires. I heard and read a lot that powder coating wheels can be bad for the structural integrity of the wheels due to the heat cycle needed to powder coat. Supposedly makes them brittle.

 

[CG89Classic]

Not too highjack a different forum (I'm one of the old guys from the Classic side), I read from all forums for knowledge on all yrs of RRs. I painted my rims on my Classic in my one car garage with regular old spray paint with the tyres still on. It's an easy task, one that is not to be rushed! Temps in the 70's and low humidity is best. Clean, clean, clean and then clean some more. Scuff up the area to be painted with steel wool or green scratch pad. Clean some more. Mask off what you're not wanting to cover, shoot with some primer, couple light coats of color first, then spray away. "Push" the paint for a good gloss. I used no clear coat on mine. There's a few pics in my garage if you're wanting to take a look (the '85 not the '89).

 

[SEOMike]

I bought a set of RR wheels for offroad use and painted them myself. They came out pretty well. I washed them really well, sanded them thoroughly to give them a dull finish, washed and rinsed again and then I put down two coats of acid-etch primer. For paint I selected high-temp grill paint because it's supposed to be pretty tough. I put down three coats of it. It came out a wonderful, even matte black. I did not yet have tires mounted so I did not have to mask anything. Before I started I pried off the LR emblems and cleaned of as much of the sticky stuff possible. When the wheels were all dry I used adhesive to put the emblems back. Also, don't forget to remove wheel weights that are stuck to the inside of the wheels because when they come off later there will be unpainted spots. The entire project took two days and was pretty easy. Don't skimp on sanding - be patient and get it all. I looked into powder coating them and the cost was about $90 per wheel in my town. All-in I think I spent $50 painting the wheels myself. I'm glad I did because I didn't get very far down my first trail before I put pretty decent scratches in the wheels. I would have been furious if I'd paid $400 to have them powder coated. All I had to do when I got home was wash them and shoot them with more paint.

 

[laxplyr]

Powder coating rims is the best option. It holds up to the elements and heat better then paint. Anodizing is expensive and doesn't look that great on cast aluminum unless the alum is polished before hand...

 

[Madtown]

Plasti Dip them is by far the cheapest & easiest way. It's durable & if don't like it peel it off. Tons of DIY on YouTube/internets.

 

[woodsonc]

I recently had my OEM Manchester Type remanufactured and powder coated and they look fantastic. Only had them on for about a month now but the finish looks great with no signs of wear etc.

-Chris