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MG MGA - Steel wheels, colour

I want to repaint the wheels on my MGA which are looking a bit sad, but I can't seem to get the colour quite right - some of the silver paints look too bright, and grey too dark. Does anyone know of a good paint I can use. Secondly, will the paint have to be lacquered after painting, and if so, what do I use?

D J Hill

Have you considered powder coating your wheels? I tried cleaning up one of my steel wheels with a wire brush on a drill motor. It took a huge amount of time to do one side of one wheel.

By going with powder coating, the shop blasted the wheels clean and coated them for about $75 USD a wheel. Saved time and powder coating should last longer than paint.

I selected a middle of the road satin silver that looks close to original.

If you go the paint route, Moss sells a silver wheel paint. Other cross-references can be found on Barney's site, http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/paint/pt104.htm . Not sure if any of those will help on your side of the pond.

If you have steel wheels, particularly 1500 style, be sure to check for cracks. 3 out of 5 of mine had noticable cracks.

John
jbackman

I use smooth Hammerite silver on my wire wheels - no need for lacquer - but I did use an extra finishing coat on mine although tends to make the silver go a bit "off".
Cam Cunningham

John, that's a good "heads up" about checking for cracks. Where on the wheel did you find cracks, near the wheel stud holes or...?

Thanks, George
G Goeppner

Find cracks here:
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/wheels/wl101.htm
Barney Gaylord



For my wheels, I use and like Moss's silver gray wheel paint. Their catalog number is 220-560.
TM Going

I agree with John, and have always powder coated wheels on all my restorations. You only do it once!
Barry.
Barry Gannon

Hi DJ, I posted the following message and image previously. I used the Duplicolor WP101 and I'm happy with the way the wheels turned out. I'm not sure if they sell it in the UK though....Dennis

Old Message Below:
I saw in the archives that Duplicolor WP101 was close to our rim color. I took a rim in the store and Rust-oleum 248927 looked like a better match from the can top. I did a comparison test in the image below masking off the original paint. I think its original since I've had this rim in the my basement(s) since the mid-60's.

In all of the pictures, Duplicolor is on the left and Rust-oleum on the right. In person, the Duplicolor is the best match, but both are more metallic than the original.

NOTE: Differences in photo color is because I was using different settings on the camera.


Dennis Suski

Powder coat for me. There are dozens of colors of silver. Bring a sample and pick a match.


R J Brown

In the early 1970s we were trying to duplicate the wheel colour. We found some NOS wheels that had been stored in a dark warehouse; they are a bright silver, which greys with age and light exposure. An original wire wheel in the same stash matched the steel wheels; however, under the rim band where there had been NO exposure to light, it was even brighter. We took this to the paint supplier (R-M) and they said to use "silver base", ie pure very fine aluminum, no colour at all. It was a perfect match. The OE BMC code was AL1, again NO tint.

If you want something else, pick your poison! It comes down to how "aged" you want it. I have used CandyApple silver base, clearcoated. No idea if that can still be found. More recently I use Masterseries silver primer and clearcoat that. The Masterseries primer is the best thing ever for preventing rust, and can be used to fill rust pits as well. The clear will coulour it to some extent, and different clears will be different. The Masterseries/clear I used looks like cars a year or so old did.

FRM
FR Millmore

Have you considered a colour? I went with a yellow cream because in my opinion it went well with the BRG car. Just to expand and help confuse the choice.

Ross

Ross McIntosh

This thread was discussed between 12/03/2012 and 14/03/2012

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