What is this obsession with black wheels over the last few years? The fad is played out as everybody has black wheels on all types of cars;even the 60 year old lady across the street put black wheels on her caddy last month. I can go outside my front door in my neigborhood right this second and see 2 Jeeps,1 2nd gen Runner,1 Ford F-150,1 Dodge and all are shod with black rims and that's out of the 12 vehicles I can see.

You spend some scrilla on a nice set of wheels that are black you can't even tell the diff between a $100 set of steelies once you are more than 20 feet away. I guess living in Colorado I've seen the black wheel thing played out on Jeeps for a very long time (over 30 years) so the originality simply isn't there any more. I associate most people paiting their wheels black because their stockers are trashed and black is a cheap coverup and some look like they are sporting their spare tires.
The import FWDers also adopted the steelie look about 10 years ago and now the fad is now more popular than ever and is simply too common and while some trucks/cars fit the black wheel motif most are just sheep following the herd now.

Black rims are boring but some seem to jazz it up with a gunmetal or off black but black wheels generally hide nice designs and look like everybody else's black wheels when you get a quick glance on the street.
There's a member who aquired a rare red 3rd gen with red wheels with silver beadlocks and looked different than everybody elses rig and he promptly painted the wheels black and now blends in with the crowd too much IMO.

I'm going to be different and leave my stock '99 limited wheels stock since they look the best in silver but a gunmetal grey would be nice if I ever did paint them. I like the faux beadlock TRDs and in black but the beadlock would stay silver to offset the black but simple black is boring and everybody is doing it.

Ok my rant is done and my flamesuit is on.

 

X-AWDriver,

I agree for the most part, which is why when I was going to buy my Racelines and everyone was telling me to get the black ones, I got polished.... for my color 4Runner, black wouldn't have "popped" as much.... If I had painted bumpers...maybe, but that's why I like the beadlock ring and center cap to break up the black. It's all personal taste, the issue I have out in California is with the term "murdered out"...everyone wants to "murder out" everything...black car/truck/ black wheels smoked lights tinted windows black emblems.... that is played out...I've even seen BMW 650's done up this way, wrapped in satin black vinyl completely. For me I really like the style of this wheel, it's a factory wheel so fit and finish will be better, it's unique, and I personally don't think the bronze would look good with my color combo.

I thought about having the centers powdercoated in grey or silver but ehhhh...don't know if that would look good either. I still have to get rid of the rest of my gold emblems.

No need to worry about the rant, my only rebuttal is that different strokes for different folks, and I think this whole "fad" has snowballed because people liked the way it looks...my neighbor has a double cab tacoma that's red, with black steelies, he keeps his truck pretty clean but uses the brown "tinge" on the tires (hates shiny tires) to break up the colors....it's all personal preference.

 

anyone know how to paint the rims black? looking for the easiest but not cheap looking way to do it. any help would be nice.

 

Google. There are tons of posts, links and YouTube vids on this topic.

 

Thinking of snagging these for my 3rd gen....

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/pts/2735684118.html

 

is that a functional bead lock? or is it simulated?

 

the TRD site says "bead lock STYLE". there's a CAD drawing there that appears to illustrate it's just a trim ring which screws to the wheel. so, probably custom paintable!
http://www.toyotaracing.com/trd/feat...yle_wheel.html

hawt:

 

i would totally rock those. red trim ring though.

 

i hear that!

 

I love how randomly this thread has been bumped over the past 6 years.

Fink

 

sometimes they wake up from a sleep; sometimes they come back from the dead! haha!