7 years and the spare has only been down twice, once to get the Firestone tire off and last night to install new shocks.
While I have it off does anybody have a good method of re-painting the spare wheel?
I'm thinking wire brush and some rust-o-leum? or would that texturized bed liner paint be the ticket?

The bed liner might throw the wheel out of balance. I would go with the paint.

These spares really get rusty, don't they? I've had good luck using
Rust-o-leum in the past. It works good on suspension parts, etc, so it should do good on the spare. I agree with Tex, a liner paint would be overkill.

Be prepared to do it twice a year to keep it looking good. Its a constant battle. The salt just destroys it. I've been look for an aluminum one, but no luck.

if its pretty rusty right now, maybe have it sand-blasted, then prime it and paint it with some rust inhibitor or something like it

You've only seen it down twice in 7 years....so is it worth the effort? I know it's not much work, but the fact that you really do never see it makes me wonder if it would be worth it to paint it. Though now that I'm thinking about it I've considered doing it and don't have anything to do today, so I might do it too. Then again if you do get a flat, it'll look better than having a rust bucket as a wheel. You may want to try some of that spray that turns rust into a paintable primer. It seems like it holds up, I've used it before on a side panel, but everything else fell apart around it.

If you are using stock alloy wheels, get a fifth one (the same one) for spare so you could do your rotation using 5 tires. The most popular wheel is the tear drop and there's always one on sale for as little as $25 each.

As for painting it, IAmTodd is right. You gotta paint it twice a year to keep it looking good. When I painted mine (silver) I just covered the tire with 2" masking tape and some newspaper and went crazy with the rattle can.

Invest in a small can of POR-15. It goes on right over rust, leaves a rock hard finish that will last longer than the rest of your truck.
I’ve used it on the floors, frame, suspension etc on my’56 and couldn’t be happier.
You can pick up a starter kit on the cheap, just follow the directions and yer good to go.

hmmmmm now thats something to try

Last summer I sandblasted and coated the rim with por-15. The stuff goes on like paint but is rock hard when dry. Just put on several small coates and your all set. The finish with a brush is perfect. The product settles and looks like glass when dry (unfortunately the product color is not UV stable so it will get discolored just like plastic kids toys left in the sun).
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/503/18205Spare_rim_2.jpg

hey that looks nice