Are all 00-04 c5 style wheels that use these hub cap centers they all are slightly indented in the middle? You can barely see but they look slightly sunkin in in the center. I purchased one on ebay as i had lost one driving. Whats a good way to clean these before i use wheel paint to color them black? I dont think they need any sanding as they are plastic.

 

If they are plastic, you can just wipe them down with alcohol. My center caps are plastic with a metal shell on top. I believe that is standard for the polished rims.

 

You got the chrome ones with no logo a chrome shell?

 

When I spray paint plastic, I first use a mild rubbing compound to remove any surface imperfections/deposits then as Warlord suggest, clean with alcohol or brake cleaner. I find lacquor spray paint adheres to plastic the best.

 

No, they have a polished aluminum shell that has a color logo on it.

But yours are plastic, so there's no need for you to worry about it.

 

Ah i see nice so just clean them with rubbing alcohol before spray painting black? As for the wheels i may try gloss black best the finely sand finish them before repaint? Do they just need to washed with soap and rinsed with water before painting or do i need to use alcohol too to wipe the wheels clean before spray painting?

 

Ok im going to attempt to paint the plastic wheel cap with rustoleum gloss black. It should match the rest of the wheels and withstand car washes. They were out of their 1.35$ colorplace gloss black and dont feel like attempting to paint all 4 wheels at this time. I think itll match the current paint thats on the black wheels. I looked at the caps of semigloss and looked like flat satin black. These wheels have a shine when clean other then that just brake dust.

 

Ok they came out ok i just painted the one replacement silver cap gloss black. If the paint does wash off ill be able to recoat it with the same can. I seen the 33$ mcgard or autozone brand lugnuts whats correct for the 99 c5 lugnuts? is 12x1.5 the correct lugnut size if i do get some black or red anodized from autozone. You can see one little flaw i had wiped them with rubbing alcohol last nite but the cap had a light scratch that the paint had problems adhering to. I think ill recoat them one more time. Mainly looked to do a better or straight pipe exhaust with 3.5" tips similar to borlas muffler delete i dont think it will be too loud with 2.5" factory exhaust piping. I went with rustoleum as its 4$ vs the 10$ wheel paint from autozone and figured id i do paint the wheels it would be a later date. Ill see how the gloss black goes with whatever paint the other guy had used to paint the wheels before i bought the car. If changing wheel colors i was thinking of going with copper wheel paint they have a nice bronze gold look to them. Also curious how the stock grey or chrome wheels would look. They manufacture that axle back exhaust that has straight pipe design with a muffler on the side i was wondering how loud those are.

 

Those turned out really nice. Car looks great.

 

Thanks for the compliment my father purchased that 02 frame titled rocker panel corvette i was buying parts from so he'll probably end up over here carver 1. The guy used the engine column and a-arms with porsche tranny on factory 5 gtm supercar and had rest of the car except front fenders hood bumper. Ill see how the gloss black looks and decide if i want to do gloss black later or copper is a nice color too.

 

Does anyone think a c5 z06 18x10.5 wheel for 80$ is a good deal to use for a spare incase roadside stranded i have a 275/40/18 nitto that run wider then hankooks that should fit someone local has one and i was going to try to find another 18x10.5 at a later date to get fat tires on the back of my c5.

Will 305/30/18s fit on the back of a z5 without rubbing the inner or outer fender well.

 

Heres theres no way to completely delete the original thread thru advanced editing similar to ls1tech.com ? Just curious for future reference.

 

Well i determined the wheels were flat black compared to the 4$ gloss black rustoleum wheel paint. Im going to repaint all 4 caps they do fit loosely or seem easy to loose would be nice have couple extra caps. Later on ill decide if im going to use duplicolor glossblack 10$ wheel paint on the rest of wheels. I think 1 can since they are black already would cover each wheel. You can see the difference but i think gloss black would look better. I'mnot sure how much durable the actual wheel paint is that cost 10$ is vs the rustoleum 4$ cans. As for wheel sensors would cost 100$ for the wheel sensors and probably 40$ to install all 4 at tire shop. May i ask i have to replace my front tires soon as they are getting bald. Can you just replace the front wheel sensors and program just those two and have the insturment cluster panel read the correct tire pressure and the rears just read blank. Asking as ill have the front tires replaced would be easier to install the front sensors only and recalibrate front left then right and forget the two dead bettery rear tires or will the system not honk or acknowledge if two rear sensors are dead when attempting to reprogram. May i ask when it comes time to replace rotors do slotted and drilled rotors add any performance braking gain or 100-0 any faster or are slotted drilled rotors a gimmick and can they be turned like regular rotors or theyre not turnable. The lug nuts are nasty i was missing two and purchased two stock replacement from autozone i think for 2-3$ each. They have the 33$ mcgard set what is the correct thread pitch? I may want to get red anodized if theyre durable and the red wont scratch off when removing wheels.

 

Hold up . . . . what is TIRE PAINT and why is TIRE PAINT

 

I dont know but yes tire paint is interesting worth trying out. Dammit i messed up i 320 wetgrit dish soap and watered my other 3 flat black caps that were in need of a repaint. I just went to repaint all 3 prep work above and that paint crinkled and left bubble spots as if the 3 original caps are contaminated. Does anyone know why this happens? The original grey cap i got off ebay i just wiped down with rubbing alcohol no sanding and the paint came out great. The other 3 caps i wetsanded dish soap and rinsed came out crinkle finish. What does this mean the caps are contaminated im trying to repaint the flat black wheel caps. Is dish soap and rinse wetsand not enough to take contaminates off. Means im gonna have to wait for them to dry before resanding that bad crinkle finish and repaint them tomorrow. Let me get some pics McMce you seem to know a little about detail work i was able to clean the headlights vht with brakekleen. I still need to remove them off the car to better clean them and polish them to a mirror finish on the outside as theyre 10-12 year old headlights. Let me get some pics and help me find out why the other 3 caps came out like garbage. I was just looking at twill weaved titanium heat wrap vs regular nice smooth stranded header heat wrap.

 

Ok dam this about a motherfu4er. Can anyone tell me why these other three that were originally gray but painted flatblack i did prep work 320 grit wetsand soap and water and let them dry. The one ebay gray cap above the replacement cap i just used rubbing alcohol and came out perfect. Any advice would be great this is rustoeluem glass black 2n1 primer paint. Worked perfect on the ebay cap i had wiped the evening before painting with rubbing alcohol. The other 3 i wetsanded 320 grit and can see they were originally gray caps similar to replacement i purchased. How do i prep these? Wait for the 3 with bad paint to fully dry 24-48 hours and then resand soap and water and using rubbing alcohol or do i need to purchase 3 more wheel caps from ebay in grey color do the same alcohol wipe down prep work and simply paint them? I dont think its brake dust or road oil unless it was deeply embedded. Any advice is appreciated id hate to have to spend 50$ on 3 grey caps and attempt to repaint. If anyone could tell me what causes this paint seperation and crinkle that would help me in the future with other painting.

 

After your first drive in the rain none of this is going to matter...

 

Well i resanded the rough paint with my harbor freight 15$ square electric sander and wiped the center caps with alochol the night before. They came out just as good as the original cap that was painted black and replaced. Does anyone know if rustoleum 4$ 2 in 1 primer gloss black is just as durable as duplicolor 10$ wheel paint. Im not sure what the difference is in wheel paint and why its priced 2.5$ times as much. Are wheel paints tougher and not suspectiple to road debris rock chips, etc? I still need to gloss black the wheels to make them looks fresh the previous owner had them flat black no telling what paint he had used. I think once the paints had a time to cure and out in the heat it will become more durable.
Im thinking a cheap ebay or gorilla black solid end 35$ ebay lug nuts would help out alot.

 

The Rustoleum 2X stuff is good, but I wouldn't want to test it on a wheel that deals with that much debris and temperature changes. If you're going to paint, use proper wheel paint, it's probably got more enamel type hardeners in it.
If you're ok with a little less gloss but still more glossy than satin, you could consider black plastidip with glossifier on top. There are vids on the results for that on youtube. As for the durability of that stuff, I've painted my front license plate plate with that combo and it looks no different from day 1 after 1500 or so miles, and it holds up to my standard cleaning solutions and wipe downs without issues.

 

I would only use the plastidip that last 2 years on a set of chrome or grey wheels as its easily removable. I may pick up a chrome z06 18x10.5 rim locally or silver/gold magnesium wheel as a spare for emergency blow outs.I already have spare tire nitto that will work on either 18x9.5 97-99 silver gold 5 spoke the early version or on the 18x10.5 nitto xtreme run a bit wider then hankook 275/40/18s.

As for the wheel paint so use the gloss duplicolor. I think one can will do 2 wheels 3 coats of duplicolor gloss black so would 2 cans 20$ on duplicolor gloss black wheel paint. I will leave the center caps with the reustoleum gloss black to see how long they hold on to standard car washes. This tire wheel cleaner cleans brake dust easily when washing the vehicle. So the wheel paint has more hardeners and more durable against road debris and grime. Im guessing they were painted flat black over 5 years ago. He didn't catch some of the silver on the outside edges of the wheel by the tires. I have 3m painters tape that ill tape around the tires edge lightly sandy the old flatblack and duplicolor gloss black. Will have to do front and back seperately 2 wheels at a time. Im focusing on detail work at this time to make the car appear cleaner. I still need to get some tp sensors from rock auto for 24$ each after confirming my car still has the 315mhz key fob antenna installed.