The XJ with black Canyon wheels..

[irish44j]

Finally got around to getting the Canyons put on. I had previously stripped them to bare metal and prepped extensively, and painted using wheel lacquer (gloss black) with a few topcoats of flat black lacquer and flat clearcoat. I think it looks pretty good...These are the 15x8 TJ Canyons rather than the 15x7 Grand Cherokee Canyons...

previously:

 

[camarors8992]

They look good, and it looks like you were very detailed with the prepping of the wheels. Good Job!

However, I myself would have went with a gloss black rather than the flat black.

 

[anodyne33]

What steps did you go through to prep them? I was thinking about painting the aluminum 10 holes I have sitting in the basement.

oh... looks great by the way.

 

[irish44j]

in short:
- strip down to bare metal with aircraft paint stripper
- sand with fine sandpaper
- prime (2 thin coats)
- 1 thin coat of wheel lacquer
- light sand with very fine steel wool (to smooth imperfections)
- 1 thicker coat of wheel lacquer
- 2 thin coats of flat black lacquer (any)
- 2 coats of flat clearcoat.

I think I went a bit overboard, but I had all winter to do it, so figured I'd be extra-careful.

As to the gloss black - not really my look, but also the wheels still have some imperfections that would show up if they were gloss (but aren't noticeable with the flat paint). Wanted to do something different from all the gloss-black soft 8s out there

here's the before, during, and after shot:

 

[irish44j]

They look good, and it looks like you were very detailed with the prepping of the wheels. Good Job!

However, I myself would have went with a gloss black rather than the flat black.

btw, most "wheel paints" are gloss black (easy to find). Tough to find a flat black wheel lacquer, that's for sure...

 

[ZacSquatch]

Looks Dandy

 

[BruceB83]

Me likey. I like the flat, plus like you said, it's different.

 

[DansGreyMj]

They remind me of Rockstars

 

[lancey3]

I love them..

 

[WVUwheeler]

Looks good. I like the flat black alot better than gloss.

 

[thebluebuffalo]

looks good. i was hunting a set of those to powder coat flat black, but couldn't find any at a good price.

 

[irish44j]

looks good. i was hunting a set of those to powder coat flat black, but couldn't find any at a good price.

I've seen alot of bad things happen to aluminum wheels after powdercoating. Unless the powedercoater is really a true expert, alot of times they use the wrong temperature, which can make the metal brittle. I have on three occasions seen aluminum wheels that had been powdercoated break off around the hub/lower spoke sections and litter crack right off (all were on sportscars at autocross events, but I imagine Jeeps put just as much stress on the wheels).

Not saying not to do it, but make sure you go to a shop that specializes in wheels and not some shop that powdercoats stuff in someone's basement

I've found that using the right kind of paint will result in almost as tough of a finish as powdercoating does, though.

 

[Begster]

I have a friend who got his Mickey thompson rims powdercoated with a clearcoat, so they won't fade like the rims usually do. He has been wheeling and driving around on it for 2 years now, nothing has happened to them.

 

[The Hard Struggler]

Flat Black= No visible brake dust. I dig it! I've been knocking around the idea of painting my whole XJ flat black.

 

[BruceB83]

Flat Black= No visible brake dust. I dig it! I've been knocking around the idea of painting my whole XJ flat black.

I like it on the wheels but if you paint the vehicle flat black, from what I understand it will be easily stained by mud and will always look very dirty and supposedly scratch easily. I was going to do the same but I'm going to use black bedliner on the lower half of mine and then regular paint on the top.

 

[smcdonaldaz]

I was thinking about pulling the rubber of the bottom and bedlining down below like you mentioned. I've seen it done bad(rolled) so I may pay a pro to spray it on. That's after getting off and all the tape left behind.

 

[irish44j]

I like it on the wheels but if you paint the vehicle flat black, from what I understand it will be easily stained by mud and will always look very dirty and supposedly scratch easily. I was going to do the same but I'm going to use black bedliner on the lower half of mine and then regular paint on the top.

the best thing for vehicle paint would probably be a matte black vice flat black, with a matte clearcoat - much less likely to stain.

 

[ricot83]

I like that look a lot

 

[smcdonaldaz]

I have 5 MB Motoring polished aluminum wheels. I've been wanting to go black since all my trim is black but hadn't considered powder coating them. Anyone know what that would run? I've also been thinking about picking up a set or stock 5 spokes and painting them. Seems lots of folks have had good luck doing that.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Where did you find the flat clearcoat? Was it in an aerosol form?