LM: Plasti-Dipping new steelies

Short version: Inner city car, granite curbs. I ordered the cheapest new tires mounted on the cheapest, strongest new wheels. Black steelies. 
 

Admittedly, I did order the cheapest, E36 M3tiest plastic hubcaps, but I expect those to be short termers. I may or may not even use them, but I would expect the clips to dig into the paint. I may not want that for corrosion reasons. 
 

I'm thinking about spraying the wheels with gray or silver Plasti Dip. How do I prep the wheels? Wax? Scuff with Scotchbrite? Prime? If I'm going to do this, I know that this is the time  

If I Plastidip, I don't ever plan to remove it, but I might respray them when they are off the car for the winter. 
 

This is about endurance on a budget. 
 

Teach me. 

Plastidip starts to look pretty crappy over time and exposure to elements ime. I recently stripped the crap off a set of Miata wheels. Wouldn't bother with it but ymmv 

I went with primer and several coats of silver from a rattle can when I painted some steelies. They looked decent and then I could quick scuff and recoat every year or two when they started to look shabby. I liked that better than plastidip, which seems to fade, hold dust, and just eventually look like garbage.

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

If I Plastidip, I don't ever plan to remove it, but I might respray them when they are off the car for the winter. 
 

This is about endurance on a budget. 
 

Teach me. 

The only benefit Plastidip has over paint is that it's removable. If you're never going to remove it, then just spray paint them the finish of your choice.

Rustoleum Hammered finish paints are my go-to for hard-wearing wheel paint. The finish covers up imperfections well too, which is not an issue for you right now, but it could be down the line. Brush application is heavier and probably more durable, and looks fine with a couple of coats. If you're never going to remove it, why Plasti-Dip?

STM317 said:

The only benefit Plastidip has over paint is that it's removable. If you're never going to remove it, then just spray paint them the finish of your choice.

This. Plasti-dip is faster-wearing and more fragile than paint. +1 for Rustoleum Hammered.

Disregard  

Tire Rack callled and said both the wheels and tires are back ordered. Order cancelled. I need to find another option. 

I only have access to this car from Tuesday to Thursday of next week, and the stock Honda alloys are in such bad shape that I don't want to put new tires on them. 

GameboyRMH said:

STM317 said:

The only benefit Plastidip has over paint is that it's removable. If you're never going to remove it, then just spray paint them the finish of your choice.

This. Plasti-dip is faster-wearing and more fragile than paint. +1 for Rustoleum Hammered.

I've had good luck with both actual automotive paint (hey, I was painting car parts anyhow) and the Duplicolor wheel paint sold at NAPA. But I wasn't trying to cover up any surface imperfections.

John Deere Blitz Black is what you are after.  Get it from your equipment dealer.  

In reply to 02Pilot :

I don't know why I didn't think of that first. I use Hammered paint on everything, and I love it. If I can find some wheels, silver Hammered is what I'll use. In fact, I'm sure I already have some.

93gsxturbo said:

John Deere Blitz Black is what you are after.  Get it from your equipment dealer.  

I don't want black wheels.

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

I only have access to this car from Tuesday to Thursday of next week, and the stock Honda alloys are in such bad shape that I don't want to put new tires on them. 

Car-part.com to find a JY with some better looking Accord Alloys

Not black but a gunmetal or hammered dark gray looks great spray painted onto most alloys

I did a quick Hammered dark gray spray on a set of beat to death Miata alloys that I used for snows on a Civic I had, turned out way better than I was expecting.

The original alloys are way beyond paint. This car lives in the land of granite curbs, which apparently have the ability to move suddenly into your path while attempting to park in the city. They have big chunks of aluminum missing. That's why cheap, strong, easy to match if you need to replace one steelies are so appealing in this case.

I've given up on searching for a set of used Accord alloys. Honda alloys don't seem to age well. Even if they haven't been curbed to death, they tend to get pitted and ugly over time.

What diameter are you looking at?

There seem to be a bunch of 17 x 7.5 on ePay for 475ish:

17" Accord

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

The car came with 17s (currently on the car), but I run 16 inch snows on it and I'd like to stick to 16s for some extra sidewall.

Yeah I kind of figured you were going for more sidewall; I just saw the plethora of 17" this week looking for wheels for my daughter's car & was surprised how that style seems to be widely available for cheap.  For some reason, not so much for the 16 for some reason.