Make Summers In Your Backyard More Enjoyable With This Car Rim DIY

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When snow, sleet, ice, and chilly temps confront us each time we set foot outdoors, it's comforting to think ahead to next summer. A project can help you bide your time until the thaw, and what's better than building a grill that you can look forward to using? You might not even have to wait until June to host a killer backyard cookout, either. Even better, you can build a grill with repurposed materials on the cheap. A car's tire rim is the star of this DIY. Scrubbed up and given a few modifications, this durable auto part has most if not all of the necessary features to hold a passel of hot coals.

The basic ingredients for a grill-making recipe are a tire rim and something you can use as a stand. Rims-turned-grills are pretty commonly shared online, and stands range from metal poles standing on a simple X of feet to beautiful wooden platforms on wheels. We're going to make this simple by setting the grill atop a ready-made stand that's inexpensive and earns consistently high reviews, like the GVGBUK Outdoor Grill Cart Table.

Get rolling on your own outdoor foodie feature with an underused tire rim, a cart, a sander or wire brush, a piece of heat-resistant wire mesh to catch ashes, a grill tray, and a can of high-heat spray paint. You can simply bend the mesh or expanded metal piece to rest inside the wheel rim, or you can use a high-temperature adhesive to hold it in place.

Start creating the centerpiece of a budget-friendly outdoor kitchen by removing any loose pieces from the rim, like lug nuts. With a power sander or a wire brush, remove any paint or rust on the rim. Wipe off the dust, and give all of the surfaces a couple of even coats of heat-resistant spray paint. Allow the paint plenty of time to dry and cure before moving on.

To make the screen that will hold the hot coals, expanded steel is a common choice. However, its large perforations will allow ash to fall through onto the cart. A product like Valchoose Stainless Steel Mesh is easier to cut and mold than expanded metal and will keep ashes from spilling through the rim's holes. Cut a square of mesh that's slightly larger than the diameter of the inner "bowl" inside the rim. Bend the corners upwards, and set the material atop the area with the holes for lug nuts. If you'd like the screen permanently in place, use an adhesive like INNOVAYOU Clear Oven Heat Resistant Glue. To empty out old coals and ash, simply tip the rim over to pour out the remnants of your barbecue.

Now all you need is a grill tray to hold your dinner fixings. You can purchase a replacement circular grill tray that closely matches the diameter of the rim; this could fit inside the rim or rest atop the outer ring. Another practical option is a handled grill basket that you can set across the outer rim.