Well, it was raining today and I was really bored. I was so miserable, in fact, my lovely wife banished me to the garage. Like that was really a punishment?
Anyway, I decided to give the Plastidip a try on my SR5 wheels. I did some tests on various surfaces, and this stuff is really neat! It seems pretty durable when dry, and it pulls off like a latex balloon if you want to remove it. Hey, wait a minute, wasn't I the guy that started this thread:
CHROME LOVERS? Well, you crazy people are slowly dragging me to the dark side I guess. After looking at all your sweet, blacked-out rides I'm starting to think a little differently...we shall see.
So, I figure I'll do 2 wheels to see how they hold up, and also to see if I actually like the look (opinions welcome!). I guess I'll have a "Dark Side, and a Light Side" like some sort of Star Wars Edition 5th Gen.:vader: All for the sake of research and development for this forum....yeah right.
Right now, I'm sporting the black steel spare on there which looks surprisingly cool! IMO
There are some really nice writeups on here from some folks that Plastidipped their Trail Ed wheels, so I'll just share my experience.
I am not a very good painter. My Dad was an awesome painter, and whenever he saw me trying to paint something he would shake his head and take it away from me. :nono: Luckily, Plastidip is very forgiving! I used 2 coats, with 45 mins dry time between each. It's not perfect, but I can always peel it off easily.
The "playing cards inserted around the edge of the rim" trick works perfectly. Just
try to get tape to stick to your tire if you have even a
hint of tire dressing left on there. Not happening. I found some big fender washers to put over the lug holes. Make sure you remove them carefully as soon as your finished painting with some needle nose pliers. You don't want to paint this area, or you'll pull the PD off when you tighten the lugs! A 12mm deepwell socket works perfectly to cover the valvestem while painting. Due to the relatively "open design" of the SR5 wheels, I think I may need to paint the back of the wheel. It's pretty obvious off the truck, we'll see if the brakes make it harder to spot when they are mounted.
I removed the Toyota Logo from the centercap before I painted it (see- still like
some chrome ). You need to cut the melted plastic off the studs- I used a sharp chisel- to remove it. I guess I'll put a few dabs of epoxy to keep it on there.
That's about it. I'll mount this wheel and paint the other wheel in a few days, after drying is complete. I'll be sure to post some pics of the "Dark Side" of my rig then...BTW my wife is currently yelling at me because "That @#$* wheel is stinking up our bedroom!", which is over the garage, so YOU may want to paint outside. Gotta keep the boss happy.
I'll post pics on the truck next...
