1992 Wheel Refinishing

[whh333]

I want to totally refinish my 1992 original 15"/16" wheels. They seem to be a simple silver color. Dupli-Color has a Hyper Silver Coating kit for wheels--has anyone seen whether this is close to the original color?

Also, my searches on the forums seem to come up with a Solaris Silver, but I am uncertain whether this is the simple silver color because there is mention of a bronze tint to this color.

Any ideas on matching my wheel color and refinishing them would be appreciated.

 

[Old Guy]

I can't advise on the color match; but, I can provide some feedback on the Duplicolor product. I used this on some rims (not on my NSX) 10+ years ago. I media blasted the wheels, chemically stripped the remaining finish and then repeated the media blasting for final removal followed by the typical degreasing. I found that the finish started to fail in about 3 - 4 years. The clear coat was disappearing. It wasn't obviously peeling. You could not use your finger to catch a paint edge; but, it was obvious that it was gone from sections of all the wheels. It is hard to tell whether the base silver failed because it was silver on a coarse finish aluminum.

It is not a particular Duplicolor problem. In general, any one part paint applied using a consumer rattle can has to be really thin bodied and as a result are generally not that durable. You can try and make up for that using multiple coats (I did); but, that only seems to improve the finish, not really improve durability (impact / scratch resistance). There are some 2 part epoxy spray paints in a rattle can (Eastwood sells them) that might be more durable than the 1 part Duplicolor. However, that is closer to spraying with a gun because once the 2 part spray can is activated you need to spray until it is gone. It starts to set up once activated so no setting the can on a shelf while you go for lunch. I see there are some 2 part sprays that now claim a 'pot life' of up to 4 days once activated. I have no experience with those; but, wonder how they spray on day 2, 3 and 4. It seems to me the biggest problem would be paint setting up in the nozzle and valve.

Good commercial wheel refinishers use vey durable finishes (OEM or better) and they probably have a color palette that will allow them to do a very good match to the OEM wheel color. This will, or course be a hell of a lot more expensive than a few Duplicolor rattle cans. This is truly a case of getting what you pay for.

Your choice.

 

[whh333]

I really appreciate this, Old Guy, will look at other options, including Eastwood.

 

[Old Guy]

I just mentioned Eastwood as a vendor who sells 2K epoxy paints in a spray can. I don't know that they make 2K epoxy for wheel refinishing. I only mentioned the 2K spray cans as an alternative that might be more durable than conventional rattle cans.

If you do try the 2K spray can, I suggest you purchase an extra can and test spray it on some scrap to see how it sprays and how it applies - slow passes or faster more frequent passes and best spraying distance. They do tend to spray differently than the conventional rattle cans. You want to get a surface the wets nicely so that it is smooth; but, does not develop runs. The 2K epoxies are generally harder once set and if you screw up removal / correction is going to be a lot more work.

There is also powder coating as an option. The down side to powder coating is if it takes a rock and chips, the chip can act as a site that retains moisture resulting in failure of the bond and the powder coat starts lifting off. I have a bunch of powder coated landscape lighting fixtures that is suffering this problem. The advantage of more conventional finishes is that you can touch up the chip with matching paint. There is no touch up for powder coat that I am aware of.

 

[whh333]

Oh my gosh, a lot to consider, Thanks!