Refinishing Steel Wheels.

Fester the F150 has steel wheels. I want to repaint them. Why not just get some cheap takeoffs? Because these are the bastard 7 lug wheels. (Yes. Seriously.)

So, I want to repaint what I have. The front wheels especially,  have a rash of chipped paint from all the gravel roads in Yellowstone, where it came from. These chips have surface rust.

How to get rid of the rust? Sand down all the paint to bare metal? Wire wheel? Rust converter, then fill the pits? All those will work, but what is the best use of my time?

Nylon stripping wheel in a drill. 

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-80-grit-nylon-abrasive-wheel-with-14-in-shank-60325.html

Take the rust in the paint chips to bare metal and feather out the edges of the paint chips, but don't bother taking the entire wheel down to bare metal. Just give everything a scuff with the nylon wheel and then prime.

Sandblast, then powdercoat.

I should have mentioned the tires are staying on the rims. I don't have the logistics to pull the tire, paint, remount the tire... and get to work.

How much do aesthetics matter? I'm just about to start painting the steel rims that hold the snow tires for my Volvo, which are considerably worse that what you're describing. I went over one with a twisted wire steel cup brush on an angle grinder, which took off most of the rust and loose paint, but the surface is far from smooth. I'm planning rust converter, high-build primer, and Rustoleum Hammered finish paint over the top. It ain't gonna be perfect, but good enough for winter wheels.

I know you didn't ask this, but there are tons of 7-lug wheels out there - factory and aftermarket.  I would personally buy a set of takeoffs and prep/paint them and use them when you get tires mounted next.

Otherwise, I would just clean up the rusty chips, scuff the paint you have on it, and rattle can it.  That's what I did and they look great.  Not totally sold on the color I picked, but otherwise it's great.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Where did you find them? It's a work truck, so new steelies would be just fine. I'm near Chicago and Milwaukee, but Craigslist turns up nothing. I assume Faceballs?

Edit : Faceballs turned up 2 pairs within 80 miles of me. One set looked like it was painted with corn flakes.

Not a fan of powdercoating for this application.  There's a lot to be said for rattlecans, because when you inevitably scuff them up again you can just hit them with another shot of paint.

With steel wheels, I feel you either go grassroots or high-end, nothing in between. I've brush painted hundreds of wheels with almost no prep and Rustoleum or equivalent with great results. They look good from a few feet away and hold up for a couple of years (in Michigan) and then they get another coat. At the higher end, I've dismounted, sandblasted, and gone epoxy primer and catalyzed paint or powder coat. That's a lot more work for slightly better results.

By the way, I have also sandblasted rusty wheels with the tires on, then primed and painted. The sand just bounces off the tires and doesn't damage them. But once you're that far, you might as well dismount the wheels and go all the way.

Appleseed said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Where did you find them? It's a work truck, so new steelies would be just fine. I'm near Chicago and Milwaukee, but Craigslist turns up nothing. I assume Faceballs?

Edit : Faceballs turned up 2 pairs within 80 miles of me. One set looked like it was painted with corn flakes.

Summit only shows 8 options.  They used to have a pretty good selection of Soft-8s and Wagon Wheels for $50-80 each

Tire Rack has a few, but nothing cheap.  car-part shows about 20 within 2 hours of me and at least a few sets within an hour of you.  They don't have pictures, but they're listed as A-0

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks for reminding me about Car-Part. I forget that wheels are parts, too.

In reply to Appleseed :

For my rusty steel wheel Ford Truck I went with plastic full wheel covers. 

Before

After and in this picture the caps are 5+ years old

I'm not sure if they are available for 7 lug but I'd scoure eBay, Amazon and more looking for them. Mine were $15 per wheel.

Samples  https://hubcapmike.com/replica-wheel-covers/ford-hubcaps/ford-truck-hubcaps/

https://www.hubcaphaven.com/c/7195/chrome_wheel_skins_hubcaps_wheelcovers.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ez2BRCyARIsAJfg-kv986um9E9o6S721KKfCZh-tFDI6H0VkR3WUGFcqZlu1EJQD7QdIUUaAhHMEALw_wcB

I wondered of anyone would mention that you don't have to remove tires to blast wheels (Carl nailed it).

OTOH, I have seen a bunch of bent wheels reconditioned still bent because they didn't demount tires and spin the wheels up to check for concentricity

So, as noted above, I painted up my steel winter wheels. Slight deviation from the plan - I did not use a high-build primer, or in fact any primer, mostly because I was pressed for time and because the Rustoleum Hammered paint I used has always adhered quite well with or without primer, so I didn't feel like I was jeopardizing the final result. I used Ospho on the rust, wiped down with rubbing alcohol, scuffed, and painted. I brushed the backs of the wheels for a heavier coat, and sprayed the fronts for a smoother finish; looking at the end product, I probably could have brushed both sides and it would have been fine.

Before:

After:

Perfect? Hell no. But quite a bit better than they were. We'll see how they hold up next winter.

My brand new Krylon wheels.

They look great