Painting stock hubcaps, sort of...

Just pull off those crappy covers. There's some nice looking wheels behind the plastic. That way you don't have to worry about trying to fill in the space on the snap on cover. Looks like they have all sorts of road rash anyway. Just ditch them.

 

Lowe's and Home Depot, as well as Michael's, all have pourable plastic/fiberglass resins that would probably do the job. However, I'd be concerned that the filler might not bond to the hubcap properly and eventually come loose, so make sure you get some through those holes to help the filler stay put.

I thought plasti dip would be a better solution, but I was viewing a video on how to apply it on some wheels and noted that the technician mentioned it would probably last a year or so. He also noted that you need to be careful not to pull on the edges, etc., while cleaning because it would peel right off. That leads me to believe it is designed to be a "temporary" covering until the wheels need to be rotated, etc., and then it would have to be reapplied. He also covered the lug nuts, so there was no way it was going to last when the tires needed to be rotated, repaired, etc.

Obviously you plan to sand the hubcaps before painting so the paint will adhere better, but I'd still be concerned about how well it will adhere when the hubcaps get flexed when removed and put back on. At a minimum, I believe the paint will come off the lug nuts when you rotate the tires, so I'd suggest buying a set of aftermarket black lug nuts.

As an aside, a lot of people pay a lot of money for aftermarket alloy wheels to get rid of stock wheels and hubcaps. I was going to do the same when the OEM tires need to be replaced and was in the same camp as you seem to be about leaving the hubcaps on to cover the brake rotor and calipers. I was more concerned though about all the black (wheels and tires) against the Blizzard Pearl than the rotors and calipers. However, I recently removed the hubcaps before my last service appointment and added some Toyota center caps. Surprisingly, I like the look a lot more than I though I would and have decided to leave the hubcaps off. I think I'd still prefer color-coordinated wheels, but after watching that video, I've given up on the idea of plasti dipping because I do rotate my tires and it looked like I'd have to dip them each time.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do and be sure to post a photo.

 

Some folks get electrical inserts from Home Depot and paint them. They get the closest size and bend the tabs to keep them snug. I bought Toyota ones from Amazon, but eBay might have some plain ones. If not, you could probably fill in the Toyota ones and paint them black.

 

Thanks for taking this on, i'm in the same dilemma. I just recently lost a hubcap driving, so I pulled all the hubcaps off until I figured out what to do. I wasnt really into blizzard pearl with all black rims/tires but the look is sort of growing on me, but the wife thinks it looks "ghetto" and I kind of agree, and kind of disagree. I think if I had caps on it would look a little more completed but not sure. I like the idea of the prius looking different then 99% of the grandmas driving theirs, but I'm not willing to drop 1-2k+ on new rims. Painting the hubcaps black got me curious, maybe it would look a bit more completed. Has anyone done that on a Gen 3? Maybe a photoshop of it? I'd personally leave the toyota logo on the caps and just spray em black....seems a lot easier... anyway, hope it works out for you, maybe I'll do the same project.

 

Have you considered just painting the stock wheels a silver-ish color with plastidip in case you don't like how it turns out? It'll be less than $50 to complete the project after purchasing center caps, paint, and clear coat... which is still cheaper than buying a replacement hubcap.

 

Yeah that's another option that I was thinking about as well, just a bigger project. has anyone on here done it? Possibly swapping rims with an owner that has silver stock rims...but in hawaii a lot less of a pool to choose from.... I think if the wife didn't really care I'd just get black center caps and maybe black lugs and be done with it...we'll see how it goes tho, thanks for the suggestion.

 

Any update on painting the caps?

 

cool, post pics when your'e done!