Painted the Stock Rims

[JHC828]

I got kind of tired of having the exact same rims as most of the other pathfinders in town so I decided to give mine a face lift... I painted them using duplicolor high performance wheel coating. I will post more pics when we have a sunny day!

[Kckouki]

Damn ... That looks f***ing awesome. I wanna do that. ha

[fueler]

look good! is that factory blue paint?

[Qxxx4]

WOW i seriously am obsessed with your pathy, it stands out. Those are the exact rims I want for my q and in that colour...OH MAN. it looks oem too...just like the xterras and i loooove xterra S/C's

[bmlawless]

Great inexpensive way to completely change the look of your vehicle. I like the semi-gloss sheen. It looks really good with the rest of the black stuff on your rig.

[Empty V]

I thought about having the wheels on my QX4 painted professionally, whatever that means, and they wanted to charge $250 a wheel! How crazy is that? Nice work dude, it looks good.

Billy

[W O T]

Looks great.

And to the guy above me. $250/wheel is ridik

I can get mine powdercoated locally any basic colour for $200/set

[lemansz20]

Looks awesome, did you do your taillights yourself??? Any pointers??? I want to do this, but dont wanna pay the 140 bux or so that the body shop wants to charge. THe car looks great by the way, paint the chrome part of the girll black, i know your hesitating, but I think itll look good since you have so much black. The chrome i personally dont think looks good at all.

[Qxxx4]

i agree paint the grille black, unless you can get a almost near match blue. you have alot of black and itll look great in my opinion. Keep the chrome on the hummers and chevys LOL

[Empty V]

Looks great.

And to the guy above me. $250/wheel is ridik

I can get mine powdercoated locally any basic colour for $200/set

I agree, that's not for powdercoating though it was for a glossy paint. Regardless it's inane, new wheels will be purchased in about a month.

Billy

[JHC828]

Thanks for all the compliments guys!!! I did this in my driveway WITHOUT removing the tires, you can't even tell. I did this to my car about 3 years ago and it's held up really well so I decided to do it again. I used paint that is made for wheels and I bought it at autozone for $6 a can, 2 cans of paint, 2 cans of clear. There is no way in hell0 I'd pay that price to paint a set of rims. There is a local place that quoted me $100 to powdercoat the full set but could never work out a schedule.

I did do the tails myself. I used niteshades and then cleared it. I started off cleaning them really well it a paint prep cleaner, then just sprayed the niteshades without sanding (I was afraid it'd look cloudy over the clear areas) then cleared over that. I have about 2-3 coats of nitehsades and I just kept coating with clear till the can was gone (3-4 coats).

I took the back badges off and painted those black. I sanded them and everything and the paint has come off so I'm hesitant to paint the grille b/c I know bugs will chip it easily. I REALLY want to change it however so any ideas how to make sure it will last are greatly appreciated!

[JHC828]

I snapped a pic or two (nothing great) today b/c the sun was out. I also have some pics of the process...Sanded them down, primed, painted, cleared. I also painted the backs of the rims black to blend better.


Modified by jcpathy69 at 6:44 PM 3/16/2009

[lemansz20]

What is niteshades?? Where can I get it, I wanna do this like yesterday.

[JHC828]

http://www.jegs.com/i/VHT/322/SP999/10002/-1 One can will do you, go to autozone or equivalent for some duplicolor clear.

[K03sport]

Nice job. I like the dark theme you have going on, but I think the tails are a bit much. The windows, ventshades, pushbar, head lights/corner lights, and now wheels are good, but the tail lights, for some reason, don't sit well with me.

The 17" wheels you have look a bit easier to paint than the 16" 6 spoke I've got on the '04. Not as many tiny creases.

As far as the back of the wheel, did you have any rust spots or places where brake dust sat for a long time and created spots. I've got "shadow" regions behind each spoke that has brake dust spots that I cannot scrub away. I feel that heavy duty aircraft stripper is the only way to remove them. Did you have any issue finishing your wheels?

Will you paint the stepup bar to match the wheels or will you leave it alone?

[JHC828]

The tails were the first thing I ever did the truck. I hate the same ole red tails that everyone else has around town and don't even get me started on altezzas.

I didn't have any rust spots on the back of my rims, I just used a strong cleaner and then spraypainted the backs. I sanded the face of the wheels first.

I took the running boards off the truck not too long ago, in between about leaving them off and putting them back, so far, I like them better off. If I did decide to put them back on, they're already charcoal gray from the factory so I wouldn't have to do anything to them to match.

[Arsenic]

That looks sick!!!

[Qxxx4]

no joke id definately say youve got the most unique r50 on here. the colours....blue and black...wow. you got an awesome ride! i reallllyyy want those wheels but so hard to find

[JHC828]

Thanks man... there are still quite a few little things I'd like to do to it before I upgrade (which will be some time next summer) and pass this one on. My mom loves it so much she said she will buy it from me whenever I get ready to sell, lol.

[InfinQX4]

Nice job! Really cool

[Qxxx4]

is that niteshades stuff effective? like do you get most of the light output if you apply it to foglights and such? I know it cant be undone, but it looks sweeeet maybe even on headlights if it doesnt block light output much

[bmlawless]

I like the little helper you have there. I'm sure he/she was very useful in the painting.

What color did you use? It's not quite black, but looks like a dark pewter or something. I really like it.

[Kckouki]

I did my tails the same way. I wouldnt apply it to fog lights but thats just me.

I got a ticket for it the other day but you can see the light fine through it.http://s125.photobucket.com/al...7.jpg

[Qxxx4]

I did my tails the same way. I wouldnt apply it to fog lights but thats just me.

I got a ticket for it the other day but you can see the light fine through it.http://s125.photobucket.com/al...7.jpg

thats a sexy pic

[JHC828]

Yeah, she (my helper) was a TON of help... crawling in my lap and on the wheel and everywhere else she could get in the way!

The niteshades does cut down on the light output somewhat, but not TOO bad... I have never put it on headlights/fogs.

I've never gotten a ticket for the niteshades *knock on wood* but I did recently get pulled over for the tinted cover over my license plate. A state tooper informed me that they were illegal and prevented the license plate from being read easily. I started to be a smarta$$ but I wasn't and ended up only getting a warning.

The paint color was Charcoal (duplicolor wheel paint). It wasn't quite as dark before I put the clear on, somehow it made it look darker. I think it turned out perfect b/c I was having a hard time deciding between black and gray and they're a dark gray now.

[pathfinder9035]

hey man. i am obsessed with your pathy. it is the best looking pathy ever created. the blue is sweet and now u got those sick a** color for your rims. Its just completes it. looks so sharp.

love this pic man

[K03sport]

Hey jcpathy, can you give me some info on your bullbar and tow hitch?

Where did you get your front bar from and who makes it?

Is your hitch factory or aftermarket, and if aftermarket, what kind is it.

Thanks.

I didn't see an IM button on this zeroforum like the other zeroforum I am a member on. If there was, I would have just IM'd you.

[JHC828]

Hey jcpathy, can you give me some info on your bullbar and tow hitch?

Where did you get your front bar from and who makes it?

Is your hitch factory or aftermarket, and if aftermarket, what kind is it.

Thanks.

I didn't see an IM button on this zeroforum like the other zeroforum I am a member on. If there was, I would have just IM'd you.

The brush guard came from ebay (idk the brand) and the hitch was on there when I got it... it's Uhaul brand.

[slickroger]

Man your Ride is lookin real hot.

I decided not to order the nite shades for my truck because there a black housing anyway might do the originals for a change now and then.

I would like to try the same thing on the stock rims i got. there not the same style as yours, there crappier, but i think they would look much better than there current color.

My Headlights are tinted and the visibility is reduced severely. But i recently purchased an 8000k HID kit and vision has returned its quite nice.

You said you used charcoal wheel paint did you sand or prime the wheel before you did that?

[JHC828]

Yes, both.

I put tint film on the headlights of my altima and it cut the light output down significantly, too. The HIDs did make a difference but they still aren't as bright as they could be. I'm happy with my black housing ones, they make it look dark enough for me I guess. I'm going to eventually take the tint off the car and take the headlights apart and paint the housing black I think.