When the wife first got her 04 GM, I polished the wheel covers in the living room. While relaxing in the recliner and watching TV...

 

Wheel covers are a little easier than wheels and tire..lol

 

Good evening New York, Neil, and George!

Being it was hers George, changes everything.

 

I an attest to the oven comment. Years back, I painted the manifolds off the '66 and then the war dept. went to town. So,,,,, I thought I would cure them in the oven. After all, I did you a cookie sheet under them. When she got home it smelled like the old truck was sitting in the house idling. That act made me famous for awhile. They came out nice too!

 

Well I figured that it was time to do an update.

A co-worker found a Craiglist ad out of the Scranton, PA area for a set of OE FX4 wheels that came off a 2013 F150. The guy took them off of his truck after about 30k miles and replaced them with after market wheels. He had been storing them in his garage and basically wanted them out of there. I contacted him right after the 4th of July and asked him what he would like for them. He came back with a figure lower than what I was thinking so I jumped on it. So for $225 I picked up all 4 wheels and the lug nuts. To sweeten the deal, he drove about an hour closer to me so that my drive was 3 hours one way, instead of 4. So my wife and I made a run down and back to PA to pick these up.

 

While they were in his garage, the clear coat had started to fail. You can see in this picture where it is just starting to craze.


Before finding these, I was looking at getting a set of aftermarket wheels. The ones that are currently on my truck have also had failure of the clear coat, but they have oxidized to the point that it would take quite a bit of work to refurbish them.

While speaking with a salesman at the local accessory place, he stated that if I was going to run any set of wheels all year long (which I do), that all of them have issue with clear coat failure on machined or polished aluminum wheels. He strongly recommended going with a painted wheel because it will hold up to the elements better in this area.

So my thought all along with these wheels is to strip the clear and apply a new clear coat on these. After thinking about it (and suggestion from my wife), I decided to strip, paint with an etching primer, paint then clear coat them. This should make a durable finish that will hopefully hold up well.

 

Yesterday I had a chance to do some testing. I have not stripped the wheels yet so this was sprayed right on top of the clear. Figured that this would be the best way so that I only have to strip them once.

I ended up using some VHT (Very High Temperature) wheel paint that was purchased at Autozone. The color is Graphite and I did mask off the Ford painted accents to see how close of a match the VHT was. I feel that the VHT is a very close match to the OE color on the wheel. So the plan is to strip all of the wheels and paint them in this color. There is metallic flake in the paint so it does give it some depth.






I did check into to see how much it would be to have these stripped and powder coated. I ended up with prices running from $50-100 per wheel. At that price along with the purchase price of the OE wheels, I would be right in the same price range as a set of aftermarket wheels that I liked, but was not super crazy about the looks of them as they were a matte black.

You can see in the picture of the '13 wheel in front of the '10, some of the oxidization that has occurred to the current wheels due to the clear coat failure.

 

While I was enjoying the weather and watching the eclipse on August 21st, I was busy detailing the truck for the first time since getting it in March. I would say that the 7 year old paint cleaned up nicely. I also detailed the wife's Edge the day before so that I could not be accused of just taking care of my truck.










I was hoping to get some time to work on the set of '13 wheels that I picked up, but that will have to wait for another day. I have done some research on tires for the truck that will go on the '13 wheels. They will not go onto the truck until the current Cooper tires are worn out.

 

Looking good, Neil.




Seems to be missing a NY FTE decal though.......

 

I know, it is sitting on my desk at home.

 

 

Don't blame you on letting the tires wear down first.

Are you going to have to get new TPMS for the new ones?

 

Talking with my mechanic, as long as the ones that are in the '10 wheels are still good they should swap right into the '13 wheels. It will depend on the battery life and they can not be rebuilt. If I need to replace them, they run about $50 each.

If these tires are marginal once we start getting snow on the ground, they will be replaced sooner than later.

 

Thats good Neil.

 

Speaking of tires, suggestions on whether to run "P" or "LT" tires? Don and myself were talking about this some a few nights ago.

Here are some of the pros and cons to each:

P-rated:
PROS:
smoother ride
cheaper than an LT version ($30-35 a tire)
Tread wear warranty


CONS:
decreased load capacity compared to an LT
more flexible side wall

LT-rated
PROS:
higher carrying capacity
stiffer side wall

CONS:
harsher ride
cost more than a P version
no tread wear warranty

I do not foresee any towing or carrying of really heavy loads in my future, and my truck has the 7200lb GVWR towing package. I am missing something here??? I am leaning towards putting another set of P-rated tires on it. I did run a set of LT-rated ones on my 2001 and did not really care for the ride of them.