I finished painting the steps last night. Planning on putting them on tomorrow afternoon. I'm a little worried already because I had a small chip from where I had masked off the ends of one. I didn't think the paint overlapped there but I was wrong. When it dried and I pulled it off it chipped it a bit.

If it starts chipping it's no big deal. We have a sand blaster at work and that should do the job of removing all the chrome. For now I'd rather not do that, so we'll see how it holds up. I didn't get to the flares today as it's been raining off and on all day. I am gonna try and pick up a trim tool tomorrow and see if I can't get them off. The small pins at the bottoms of the flares don't want to come out no matter how hard I try. Hopefully going to have it all finished up by tomorrow.

 

Great write up im really thinking of doing it to mine!! but one question do you spray paint the backside of the wheel? or can you not notice it being factory paint vs black on the front side? thanks for the great info!!!!

 

Looks great. Excellent write-up and pictures also.

I have the same truck as you and have been thinking about doing this to my FX4 wheels. This should make it much easier. Thanks.

Couple of questions:
1. Any problems with the paint on the lug nuts chipping when you've taken the wheel off. (If you have yet?)

2. How bad does the brake dust show up on the black? (More noticeable than before you painted, less, same?)

Thanks.

 

Hey alex, personally, I like the silver on your wheels, it accents the chrome from your bumpers, emblems and etc.. I think if you make them black, it might stick out a little bit.. Now if you were to have your bumpers ptm green, and you blacked out your headlights, emblems, tails and etc.. then black wheels and etc would look sweet.. get a better pic of your truck and I'll do some photoshopping on it later

btw.. I don't think he painted the inside of his wheels, but you can't really tell unless you crawled up underneath his truck anyways..

 

Hey Flyer, I have black wheels, and the brake dust is going to be somewhat more noticeable on the black, but that's only because it's black.. everything shows up on black.. I clean my wheels about once a month and they look fine.. only the front wheels get dusty from the brakes.. then again, I have a matte finish to my wheels, and I think dust sticks to my surface more readily than a glossy finish.. so if anything, the smoother glossy finish should repel dust better, atleast in theory..

As far as the paint chipping on the lug nuts, since those lugs were painted black, a neat little trick I've seen is that if you place electrical tape inside the socket/tool removing the lugs, it helps to prevent any chipping..

 

hey man thanks for the help. and yeah i know they accent the chrome but im thinking of PTM the front and back chrome bumpers and also blacken emblems thats all that is chrome on my truck. but the question is does it look better the way it is? or with all the other stuff u mentioned? ill try to get a better pic later today after im done with school hopefully i can get a good one.

ps your turck looks sick man

 

Alex, that's entirely up to you.. but if it were me, and I had a little extra cash to spend, I would do it.. I've heard of people on here getting there bumpers PTM powdercoated for about $250-300 for the pair, and that sounds extremely reasonable, but you might end up paying more.. call around and get some prices. I think the black/green look would make your truck look awesome.. it would give it a real mean stance, and it would definately be unique. Aside from the bumpers, you might spend about another $100 on paint and supplies for blacking out your trucks wheels, emblems, and etc. So realistically, you may be looking at spending around $400 to get rid of the chrome look on your truck.

I say go for it.. I think it would look cool..

 

Hey thanks. I figured the dust would show up more on black, just wanted to check.

That's a good idea for the lug nuts. Thanks.

I'm also wondering if the paint used comes in gloss, matte, high gloss like most paints?

 

You can go either way on this one.. The black paint itself is flat black, they only turn glossy when you put on the clear. Personally, I would recommend using the gloss over the black for the added protection, but I think it would work just as well if you wanted a flat black, and just used a little bit more spray.

 

Zeruin answered all the questions the way I would have, thanks man. The only thing I might add is that he's correct in that the glossy finish repels dust better. I used to have to wipe my wheels down twice a week to keep the brake dust off. I'm not even having to do it every week now (although I give the truck a quick wash every week regardless). It is much less noticeable for me. He's also right that I didn't spray the backside of my wheels because you can't see them unless you're crawling around.

 

Thanks for the reply mblouir. And thanks again for the write-up. I will be doing this at some point in the future. Probably the distant future, but nonetheless, it will get done.

 

Good deal, be sure to post some before and after pics! It only took me about two hours of prep time and two hours of painting (more like waiting for paint to dry). Then I let it dry overnight. The process is relatively short.



One thing I think I forgot to mention was sanding between coats of paint and between coats of clear. This is optional and I didn't do it. However if your paint/clear is building up uneven I'd suggest wet sanding between coats to keep it smooth.

 

where do you buy the spray can gun? Im about to do this to my oem wheels and just trying to get what i need together.

 

You can get pretty much everything you need at your local auto parts store (provided they sell the paint). I bought my gun from O'Reilly Autoparts when I got the paint. It was seriously like $2. I'm sure Wal-Mart has them, too. If you have any more questions or run into trouble don't hesitate to ask. I'm guessing that's your truck in your sig? That will look sick, man, I love black on red trucks.

Oh and the most important thing.....post some pics when you're done!!

 

great wright up!!