I painted the wheels with "smoke Gray". I wanted to keep the look of the "raw metal" but I could not get them clean enough, maybe if I had bead blasted them it would have looked ok.
But "time and money" .....
I tired a few different colors of paint on the wheels before I decided on the final color
So I cleaned them with lots of different cleaners, applied a self etching primer and them painted them with the smoke gray, then with a mat finish clear coat.
Big test Drive on Saturday. To Cars and Coffee in Irvine, Calif.