Wroblewski

I am looking for any info or if anyone has redone their competitin grey wheels. I am looking into doing it myself. A forum search seems to have turned up a few paint codes and some info. Does anyone know if the original paint GM used on the wheels is a single stage or a BC/CC ? Has anyone done it and what results did you have. The biggest issue is matching the center caps and it doesn' seem to be a process too many people have done or at least documented and any info would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Dano523

Missing the point of the question.

Are you talking about chemical stripping the rims to remove the old coating, then re-powder coating them, or just light touch up with an air brush for scratched areas after light prep work instead.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...olor-code.html

Wroblewski

Maybe I've been misinformed. Everything I had found so far made is sound like they were painted. I am looking at either sand blasting or chemical stripping and completely redoing them. The thread you linked there is to powder coat them. Now I'm even more confused. Is it a powder coat or a paint?

Dano523

Aluminum rims can be anodized, the tint coated added to the anodizing before the heat bath, that seals the tint coat in the pores (heat closes the top of skin pores) of the anodizing skin to give the clear anodizing surface a tint color.
Anodizing skin the Aluminum, will end up with a surface surface very hard (in the RC 69 range}.

Painting and powder coating are pretty close to each other, and it how the coating is applied instead.

With power coating, your using static charge to cling the powderized polymer (The most common polymers used are polyester, polyurethane, polyester-epoxy (known as hybrid), straight epoxy (fusion bonded epoxy) and acrylics), then the rims are baked while still static charged to about about 450* for around 20mins to melt the powderized polymer to bond to itself and to the rims. This ends with a very smooth coating on the rims with no imperfections if the coating is done correctly.

With painting, your spraying the coating wet to the rim surfaces, and more likely to end up with the finish orange peel/ fisheye/ uneven coated isntead.


As for touch up of either spray, powder coating, or anodizing, it can be done with an air brush. In the case of sprayed or powder coating, pretty much a one shot deal, while with anodizing, first need to spray a coating that is the same color as the tint to begin with, the will need to second coat with a clear coat to give the appearance of the anodizing skill sheen in the end.

So again, how damage is the rims and is air brush touch up an option, or is the damage bad enough that the rims need to be prep'd, then powder coated instead.

Photo would help, since with powder coating, deep curb rash does not have to be ground all the way down, just surface prep, deep gouges filled to get the rim surface straight, then powder coated in the end.

PCMusicGuy

Factory comp grey wheels are painted. My guess is that they were either BC/CC or single stage with some type of sealer on top. My guess is based on scratches and damage to the finish that occurred on my personal wheels with various tire shops.

GM/dealer did offer touch up paint for the wheels at one point so they may be able to get you the code if you call them. When I had my wheels redone at a shop, they were powdercoated and the center caps were painted to match.

Wroblewski

It looks like I found the code on a few threads on here. Looks to be GM color code WA9243. I also found a few threads that said Dupli-Color makes a color that's the same or very similar as NG GM 396. I assumed bc/cc originally from GM as well. Just wanted to verify if anyone knew for sure.


When you had the shop do it they powder coated it the same color as the OEM competition Grey or you went a different color? If you did do the OEM color do you have any information on what color the Powder Coat was? Did they paint over the Corvette logo when they did it?


Maybe I wasn't clear in my original post as I seem to have created more confusion than intended with some of the initial replies. Basically my goal is to strip or sandblast the rims and return them to their original color so my center caps match. I would prefer to powder coat them for durability but if the only way I can get the wheel to match the center cap is by painting them again i can go that route as well.

PCMusicGuy

The powder coating I choose was a bit darker, but when all was said and done, it was way too dark. Almost black really. They painted the center caps to match the powder they used and I imagine they masked around the emblems because those looked the same.

Wroblewski

Ok thanks for the info. I guess I will attempt to find a powder coat as close as possible and if it's off I'll just color match some paint and do the caps. Was hoping someone had some magic powder coat color they had ran across that was the same.