Repainting OEM Plastic Wheel Covers

[hawkman71]

My plastic wheel covers are looking like crap. Scratched, in places to the point, where the off-white plastic shows, paint peeling in other places. I don't want to buy the cheap, flimsy stuff from Advance, etc. These are OEM. Has anyone repainted these? I assume sand em down, paint, clearcoat, etc. This isn't a show car, obviously, I want to stay relatively inexpensive, etc.

[84Cressida]

My dad used silver spray paint to repaint the center caps on our old '94 Camry that had the peeling paint on them. It worked well, because I see that car sometimes and the center caps look great still. Sand, prime, then paint.

[Dave's]

Just did my '01 and '04. Closest match I found was dupli-color BTY1602 silver metallic. (1C8) I just taped over the chrome 'yoda symbol and didn't paint inside it.

[Zembonez]

Before you start, make sure you remove the wheel covers and give then a serious washing using something like Dawn dishwashing soap. I'd do it twice at least... You want to remove any residue from tire dressing, oil, etc. (front and back)

THEN

Rattle cans will do the job well. I like the Duplicolor stuff. They actually have one made for repainting plastic wheel covers. Scuff the covers with a scotch pad and sand any deeply scratched areas... then paint away.

[hawkman71]

Thanks. They are in pretty rough shape, as I said, with issues in the 'holes' so sanding will take longer than just a quick once over. I definitely will wash them b/c there is stubborn brake dust build up in those holes as well that is hard to get off. (ok, that was redundant, with the previous adjective "stubborn" already in play).