Weekend wheel redo

[Zeeke98]

I picked up a set of 15x7 "lace" wheels from a 91 Blazer on Craigslist for $50 to use as my winter wheels to put snow tires on. They looked better in the pics on CL but I bought them anyways since they weren't curbed or bent and I hadn't found any other cheap wheels. I bought some stripper, first can I used was Marhyde aircraft paint stripper from Advance Auto. I had bought a can of ZipStrip before but wasn't sure it was what I needed. I burned through the first can of aircraft stripper and it got most of the paint/clear off but still had some spots left. I went over them with the ZipStrip and it pretty well got the rest of the paint off. Once they were cleaned up I began to scuff them up and try to get off the corrosion and little bits of paint left stuck on. Of course I had to pick the most intricate 1st gen style wheel to redo! These things sucked getting in all the little divots and crevices to get all the paint off! I used 220 sand paper, steel wool and a red Scotchbrite scuff pad on the lips and just the Scotchbrite pad on the centers. Once I had them all sanded and clean, I wiped them down with wax and grease remover. I masked the lips off and cheated and just made a smooth line around the lip instead of following the factory "gear" style edges. I used Dupli-Color wheel paint in graphite and topped with their wheel clear. I had some silver caliper paint left over from when I did the calipers on my Camaro SS, so I used that on a brush to paint the cast in bolts on the wheel edges. Once that was dry I sprayed the clear. I used one can of color and one can of clear to do all 4 wheels. I was surprised it went that far as I had bought 2 of each thinking I'd run out with that much. They turned out really well for my first go at refinishing aluminum wheels and first go with spray cans. I had painted some steelies for my wife's Jeep Wrangler but just scuffed those and sprayed with automotive paint/clear with a real paint gun at my dad's. Here's the pics:

[jtcfanof3]

Ugly wheels, but you made em look good.............

[Nitemare]

Ugly wheels, but you made em look pretty damn good

[Zeeke98]

They're actually my favorite style 1st gen wheel other than the 93-94 Z28 styles. I had a set on my 92 Blazer and thought they'd look good on my 03 in dark gray. I have some chrome hex Bowtie centercaps coming. I hope they fit and look decent. I think I need some chrome lugnuts as well.

[BarelyGettinBy]

Hate the wheels but the paint helped alot...Good job

[Nitemare]

zeeke is your truck dropped?

them wheels with a 5/6 would be solid

[S-10Driver]

nice job, look much better than before.

[Daveman2]

those rims are badass now! nice work!
I don't why guys say they are ugly, I think or a crawler or a dropped mini those would look tits!

[Zeeke98]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nitemare

zeeke is your truck dropped?

them wheels with a 5/6 would be solid

Not dropped yet, hopefully next year. They're just my winter wheels. I have a set of 85-87 IROCs that I'm going to redo for summer duty. These were my practice set before I redo the IROCs. Those aren't nearly as bad. I just need to sand the clear off and polish them. The painted recesses are in good shape and I'm going to try to preserve them.

[Nitemare]

sweet irocs ftw

[Zeeke98]

Well, got the tires in yesterday and got them mounted and balanced today and on the Blazer. The first center caps I bought didn't work and were too small. I ordered some GMC hex center caps, but they won't work either as they stick out from the wheel too much and would collect snow and crap behind them. So I'm still on the lookout for some caps that fit. The pics are just with the stock lugs on and no lug caps or center caps. When I find something I'll post up more pics.

[mostizzle]

dang do u need a ladder to get into that thing? jk man it looks good, i've always liked those rims u don't see em that often

[Nitemare]

i love my winterforce tires excellent choice my friend.

[Zeeke98]

Quote: Originally Posted by mostizzle

dang do u need a ladder to get into that thing? jk man it looks good, i've always liked those rims u don't see em that often

Yeah..stock height on these things SUCKS! I'll be dropping it in the spring.

[baggedzq8]

i love those wheels

especially on 1st gens and 2nd reg cab trucks. they are hard to get center caps for though. i had those on my 1st gen blazer and i couldnt ever find any caps for them. so if you find some make sure you hold onto the caps

[Fannatick]

Damn, good job, those things look good.

Overall I think they look sweet for a set of winter wheels.

[BTE]

The wheels look great! Are your door handles chrome or like a stick on thing?

[Zeeke98]

Door handles are a stainless stick on cover. I had the whole handle but only used the buckets on my 98 Sonoma and left the handle part body color when I paint matched them. I had these laying around yet and threw em on the Blazer to see if I liked em. They dress it up a bit.

[Zeeke98]

Here's a few pics from yesterday. I put the aftermarket chrome cap on the rear wheel that the guy gave me when I bought the wheels. He had two of the factory caps which the tabs all fell off when I pulled them off, and these two chrome caps. I found a set of 3" snap in chrome caps on ebay that I'm hoping will actually work. The nice thing with the 98+ Blazers is there's no spindle end that sticks out through the wheel, so I could actually use a flat cap if I could have found one. I found the black plastic lug covers with no flare from my Camaro SS and put those on as well.

[Nitemare]

i hope its just the lighting that makes your blazer look pink

[Daveman2]

centers caps off IMO

[Zeeke98]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nitemare

i hope its just the lighting that makes your blazer look pink

Uhhh yeah, it's dark cherry metallic.

[Zeeke98]

Quote: Originally Posted by Daveman2

centers caps off IMO

I have new short chrome ones on the way. The rear hubs are rusty and look like hell with no center cap. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Gear-chrome-snap-in-wheel-center-cap-hubcap-set-of-4_W0QQitemZ280413771940QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_C ar_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item4149f698a4

[Daveman2]

those might look very tits, how did you find center caps the size of our hubs? I might want to get some for my vette wheels sometime

[Zeeke98]

I measured and the hub opening on these particular wheels is 3" and the tabs on the stock center cap is 1/4". I looked on ebay a LOT trying to find something that would work. This is my third set and hopefully they work. I wish it would have been earlier in the year when I was doing this, then I could have hit up some swap meets to find something. I was unsure if 3rd gen center caps would work and I couldn't find any measurements for them. They also look to have additional tabs on them that wouldn't work right on these wheels.

[Zeeke98]

Well, 3" center caps are too small. They need to be 3 1/4" in order to snap into the enlarged ring inside the lip of the hub. Since I've now spent more on centercaps than I did the wheels, I decided to silicone these onto the wheel. I'll have to post up pics tomorrow or Saturday.

[Nitemare]

use construction adhesive!!

[jtcfanof3]

Gorilla glue!

[alarm_the_alarm]

paint the center caps to match the wheel color and chrome lug nuts those wheels would look sickkk as hell. id rock um with a 31 or bigger m/t theyd look realy agressive.

They remind me of a moto metal wheel

[civil]

I have the same set of wheels for my race set-up. Nice re-paint

[Nitemare]

like 3$ a tube from your local homedepot, fits into a cocking gun.

this shit is amazing. i used it to make my sub box, my sand box, i used this to glue a floor mat to the floor in my truck, like 6 months ago i glued a penny to my driveway and shit's still there everyone tried to pick it up heads up but it's glued

[Zeeke98]

The Permatex black slicone gasket maker/adhesive worked fine. They're held on good and made it to work without flying off(35 miles). Hopefully I get home in time to get pics before it gets dark.

Gorilla glue is super glue like and probably wouldn't have held. The other type of Gorilla glue foams up and leaves a tan-ish residue wherever it leaks out. Silicone is some strong stuff, it was recommended to use that to hold the granite counter top onto my bath vanity and to stick the side and back splashes to the wall. I only use regular tub silicone there though.

[Zeeke98]

Here's the pics I took tonight just as it was getting dark.

[dguzzardo22]

i gota set of those weels in my shed !!..

makes me think about selling them . didnt know they were worth $50

[Zeeke98]

You're too far away or I'd be interested in a second set.

[curl1]

good job on the wheels