What Is Wrong With This Picture?

[Jager]

The other day, while stopped at a traffic light, this guy was looking at my front wheel and I am wondering what the heck he is looking at. So first opportunity I looked at my wheels and this is what I saw:


I realized I needed to do something with the Wheel Bolts, they look terrible. I thought about replacing all the bolts but a good friend of mine (owner of German Parts and Restoration) recommended I get some paint instead… So I did.

I found this wheel paint at Pep Boys; it’s “Track Tested” so it must be real good right? Paint color is: HWP 101 Silver




Even after removing the bolts and cleaning them they looked rough.




I sprayed a thin coat of the paint on the head of the bolt; the paint dried extremely fast, surprisingly fast, and was hard as nails.



I used a zip-lock back over the bolt head during installation, this works great.


End results look great.


This task did not take long, I did not jack-up the Jägermobile, I just removed a couple bolts at time, and since the paint dries so quickly there was very little waiting for the paint to dry.

[Johnny Danger]

Nice nuts !

[Gforrest2]

Nice! Little details make the difference. Now I have to go out and see what mine look like.

[AndyA6]

Good trick using a plastic bag!

[Ghostrider 310]

I like how the paint was "track tested", dude nice paint, how fast can it cover the ring?

[WhipE350]

Jager - can you tell if the paint dries hard enough to not use the sandwich bag for future wheel removals or will it scuff? It looks great!

[Jager]

Originally Posted by WhipE350

Jager - can you tell if the paint dries hard enough to not use the sandwich bag for future wheel removals or will it scuff? It looks great!

I will remove one tomorrow and report back.

[doragman]

beats spending big bucks fro those SS ones I've seen -- don't like the cheaper chrome ones on a box

[Jager]

Originally Posted by WhipE350

Jager - can you tell if the paint dries hard enough to not use the sandwich bag for future wheel removals or will it scuff? It looks great!

I removed one bolt today with a six-point socket without a plastic bag... Looks like I scuffed one area a little bit. Since the instruction on this wheel coating product say it fully cures in 7 days, I will remove a couple bolts next week and see how the finish holds-up.

I use a wheel cleaner every time I wash the car, most likely the chemicals in the cleaner accelerated, or caused, the corrosion in the first place. Hopefully this new coating will eliminate that from happening again.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

I like how the paint was "track tested", dude nice paint, how fast can it cover the ring?

So what elements are involved on the track that are different from street? There is higher velocity on the leading edge of the wheels and higher temperatures but what else? Why would the manufacturer feel they need to put "Track Tested" on their product? I don't take my Boxster to the track so don't have any experience with what some of you guys deal with.

The label on the product I used is "wheel coating", although it applies like paint. The product fully cures in 7 days so I want to give it another week to test the hardness.

[Christian H]

I have painted my wheel nuts in the past but every time I removed them I chipped the paint so I got these metal covers from my local motor factors for about £10, that was about four years ago and they still look like new!

[The Radium King]

brakes get hot on the track. some paints might not stand up to the higher temps. i've heard that, for black, bbq paint works really well.

[Eric G]

Nice job! I just did mine a week ago in flat black to offset the wheels. Funny how a little bit of paint can make a HUGE difference. These look nice!

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Eric G

Nice job! I just did mine a week ago in flat black to offset the wheels. Funny how a little bit of paint can make a HUGE difference. These look nice!

Thanks Eric.
Do you have a close-up photo of your wheels?

[Eric G]

Originally Posted by Jager

Thanks Eric.
Do you have a close-up photo of your wheels?

Here are a couple of angles. Sorry if they don't hit it just right, but black lugs on a white wheel in the day are tough to pull from shadows. Tried it with the flash and it was even worse.

Nice thing is the rust is gone. I used Krylon flat black high temp paint and had to test how good the paint is already. Les Schwab mounted one tire backwards I didn't catch till I was back home. Used lug wrench with no coating and they came off with out a hitch or scratch.

[Tieniber]

I did the same thing about a year ago - here are my before and after shots:

[coreseller]

Did something similar last winter using VHT Brake Caliper Paint. Ran all the lugnuts over a wire wheel attachments for the bench grinder before painting. After a few light coats and curing in a toaster oven they looked great. Due to various suspension / brake / alignment work some of the paint had chipped off since spring. A quick hit with an artists' brush has made them look new again, touch up took less than 5 minutes.

[Mark_T]

You can get "soft" sockets just for wheel nuts that prevent marring.

That looks really nice. Instead of painting mine I bought the black plastic covers.

[Skrapmot]

Well dang it, now I need to go do my nuts.

[Mark_T]

That is an amazing color! It was very brave of you to go with that, but it really works, especially with the wheels painted to match. Bravo!