hey everybody,

I am newer to the forum, have a 99 xj and this place has helped me immensely in getting my jeep up to my standards. The last thing that has been bothering me is my jeeps wheels. It came with the stock 15" 5 spoke steel rims. And they are just an eye sore. I have one wheel cap missing, all the rims have minor surface rust and major rust on the inside of the wheel. I have been bouncing around the idea of trying to strip all of the rust off and paint them, but im afraid since there is so much rust it will be extremely difficult for me to do this right.

I have also been scouring this forum and craigslist for alloy wheels (i use the cherokee mostly for daily driving) of the same dimensions, (i have newer tires and dont wish to replace them) but since I do not have a ton of money to throw at this project I havent found anyone wanting to part with their stock rims at what I can afford. (most people want to sell rim/tire combo, which is understandable.)

So my question to all of you is what would you do in this situation?
I have attached a picture of one of the rims, this one is probably in the best condition, with only a few rust spots. I have read many wheel painting posts so I know the process to do it right, do you think i could get away with just spraying the visible surface, and would it hold up? did you guys use naval jelly and then sand?

or should I hold out for the right deal on some stock rims? My biggest worry is that there is no way to get all that rust off the inside of the wheel which will cause it to spread and chip off paint potentially, and will these rims become unsafe?

I understand this is probably a n00b discussion but im learning quickly.

 

Sand them down and paint them, ditch the caps as well.

 

I say go with some Cragar Soft 8s. 15x8, 5x4.5. I payed all of $200 for my set.

 

the reason i didn't want to go that route was my current tire is a 15x7 and I didn't think they would fit?

 

if you have a drill, go get a few of the brushes for the drill, you can get a set of them from harbour freight for like $10. Sand them down and shoot them with some black paint. I did this to my stock wheels and it's held up very well.

 

15x8" wheels will fit. Backspacing is the important number, 4" seems to be popular. Cragar makes 15x7" as well.

 

your current tires are NOT 15 x 7... just the rim is.

 

take a look at my build, i used a wire brush wheel on a drill to sand them, 1 coat of self etching primer and 3 coats of duplicolor rim paint. i wet sanded after the first two for a smother finish. ive been using them for about 6 months now and they are holding up fine.....just an idea...
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/my-99xj-build-128236/

 

Thanks for the info everybody, When it comes to wheels and tires I do not know a lot, so this all helps me.

thats awesome, exactly what i want to do. Eases my worry about the wheel caps. Seems ridiculous when a new wheel cap on ebay will run me 50% of the cost of an all new rim.

any specs I should make sure to get when I buy a wire brush wheel/ or any wheel for that matter? I have a nice high powered drill, and I LOVE using it so that sounds like a good route.

 

ok cool, i just assumed that tires weren't interchangeable on wheels (width wise)

 

Here's mine, just some flat black rust paint.

 

yea i brushed them down to bare metal,just pick up a pack with a couple different sizes to fit into all the small spaces, and check the rpm the bits are good for. i thnk that when i swap to my summer set-up im gonna do one coat of bedliner for the finish

 

Your stock rims are 15x7,... your tires will fit a 15x8 rim with no problem. If you want new steel wheels that would probably be your best bet. You could pick up a complete set of (4) 15x8 soft 8's or d-windows for $200 bucks. Just get them with a 3.75" or 4" backspace. And you shouldn't have any problems.

 

gamblers! but, thats just IMO, our XJs have always had a set of Jeep Gambler alloys on them for daily driving and its just what im used to and prefer...for wheeling id go with steel since they dont damage as easy and you dont have to worry about them as much against the rocks, plus they are cheaper to replace.
the stock steel rims really dont look bad if you paint them black, i do like the look and its an easy, cheap way out if thats what you need to do.

 

My wheels were actually worse looking then yours. What I did was sprayed them down with aircraft stripper (available at local auto store), scraped the paint off to the bare metal, pressure washed them, 3-4 coats of primer, 3-4 coats of dupicolor gunmetal, and 3 coats of clear coat. I also swapped out the ugly center caps for the design that sits flatter agains the wheels.

The picture was taken in winter so there's some salt from the roads on the wheels, but you get the idea.