12/28/2011
I finally was a able to work on the LX rims this weekend. After further inspection of the rims I found out they were chrome plated and in rough shape. A lot of the chrome was flaking or bubbling unfortunately. I looked into sand blasting them or dipping them, but those options were too expensive for what I wanted to do with them. I decided to just clean them up as much as I could and paint them. I got them more for the function and I'm not super picky anyways. Plus I was trying to go the cheap route. I got the tires mounted before painting because the place I was taking them to get mounted isn't the highest quality shop and don't care about your finish, but I got all 4 tires and rims mounted and balanced for $40, so I can't complain.

I scuffed them up with some 400 grit sandpaper and a red scotch pad. after that I took some 100 grit sandpaper and smoothed out some of the more rough spots. I didn't get all the spots, but most. I also had a little help wiping the rims down. My 14 month daughter loved wiping the rims and was going back and forth for a while. She got pretty mad at me when I took her away, but it was time to paint.





I started with plasti-dip because I wasn't sure if I wanted an easy way to reverse the paint if I end up repainting. Also it sticks better than primer on the chrome.

1st coat


3rd coat


Since I work all day and get home at night, plus I have to wait till my daughter is asleep, so I have to work in the dark. Not my favorite thing to do, but I'll take what I can get. All 4 rims are plasti-derped with 3 coats and ready for the paint. I had a tough time deciding what paint to use as I intended to use satin black. I liked the color on my 2nd gen and figured it would work well, but after seeing the bubbles and imperfections I decided to try Rustoleum Hammered Finish Black. I figured it would hide some of the imperfections better.

Ready for the Hammer time!


I finally finished after putting 2 coats on. I will check them in the morning, but they look covered.



I will be putting them on before work and will get some mounted pictures as well. Unfortunately I was loosening my lugs nuts tonight and my stupid locking lug nut decided to strip. So now I have to head to a shop and get the lug of. I will never run locking lugs again. They have been nothing but a pain.