[69gmcc10]

Time for new tires and while I am at it I may as well get new wheels right?

While I honestly do like the design of the factory wheels, I think they are quite sharp for a factory aluminum truck wheel, I have always been disappointed on how skinny they are. They don't lend themselves to allow the tire to create presence in the wheel well or set close to flush with the side of the body work. If someone made it in a wider size I would buy it to keep the almost factory looks. American Racing does make a replica wheel, but only in factory width, so that option was out.

I did allot of looking at new and used wheels and every time I was interested in something I couldn't get past the fact that new wheels are expensive, used aftermarket wheels are usually beat up, and the simple fact that after market wheels in general are not as tough or have weight rating like a factory wheel. The more I searched the more frustrated I got until I ran across a Duramax with H2 wheels and realized that was the ticket! The H2 wheels are 17" x 8.5" and that is not only 1" taller, but are a whole 2 inches wider than my wimpy 6.5" wide baby wheels.

So, I scoured craigslist here and close surrounding areas, but since there are not allot of H2's here I had no luck so I called around to a few tire shops in town and found out that the first rule of owning an H2 regardless if you have 1 of the 7 in town is you must ditch the factory wheels and equip it with 20's, because they had a set of factory wheels that had been sitting around behind there warehouse for about 2 years from someone upgrading to 20's. I picked them up for $300 which I thought was a excellent deal because I have seen them listed for $500 in similar shape in places I wasn't willing to drive to or pay even more to have them shipped.

You can see even after I washed them that in the before pics they were in need of a little love, so I sanded them down, got rid of the corrosion and pitting on the lip of the front and the entire barrel of the back of the wheel, sprayed a catalyzed epoxy primer and silver paint on the rear, and cleared the entire wheel after treating the bare aluminum parts with a POR 15 prep wash with a 2K clear.

They are not perfect by a mile, nor was I going for it, but they are free of corrosion and will be a significant upgrade in the looks department of my daily driver.

Also, cant say enough good things about this rattle can 2K clear that I used. I have never had a clear look so good or lay down so well. I hope it holds up to the abuse of the Montana winters.

Before