Turbo steel wheel correct colors?

[frached]

Does anyone have knowledge of the color codes used by the factory when they painted the Turbo stock steel wheels? It looks like the center is dark gray, but is the outer  silver Polaris or some other silver? Any help would be much appreciated.

[Conserv]

The silver paint BMW (and other German manufacturers) used on rims was “anything lying around”, but was generally close to what you now might get from Wurth’s Wheel Silver or Krylon’s Dull Aluminum. Having spent the last 42 years with my Polaris 1976, I have always been annoyed that the silver rims did not match the silver body!

 

Besides being a lower quality than the (Glasurit) body paint — the body paint being two-stage at least beginning with the PVC-frei version of mid-1973 — the silver of the rims was much less “metallic” (very few metal flakes) than Polaris metallic and was considerably less glossy.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Einspritz]

That's great, but the quandary revolves around the center color. I've had my car since 1983; the center color on my rims is not shiny and is almost translucent, and the rims that I have seen reproducing that aren't even close.

 

These pictures aren't truly representative; I have the spare which was never used but you can get the idea.

[Conserv]

8 hours ago, Einspritz said:

That's great, but the quandary revolves around the center color. I've had my car since 1983; the center color on my rims is not shiny and is almost translucent, and the rims that I have seen reproducing that aren't even close.

 

These pictures aren't truly representative; I have the spare which was never used but you can get the idea.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I've asked several times if anyone can provide, if not a numeric paint reference, then simply a good photo of an original rim with the dark gray paint. Generally, the answer is, "I thought the centers were black." Not much help.

 

Has yours worn thin from too much weather, too much time, too many washings? A darker color appears to survive in the more protected areas.

 

And...is the center disk paint laid on top of the rim's basic silver paint? Stated differently, did they start with a silver rim? Are the backs silver or black, or some other color?

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Conserv

[Einspritz]

I can probably check by Tuesday, as I have to dig into that pile, and go through the stack.

 

I have the original spare that IIRC is not abused from use, and don't think it is "worn thin", but can't remember if the back side is complementary nor if it is sprayed over a silver rim......

[Lengrep]

Reading with interest. My steelie inners are painted black. I’d like to get them closer to the original gray but don’t have a target to shoot at...


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[Einspritz]

I attempted to get to the bottom of the stack amongst 5 other stacks and black widow spiders.

 

didn't have enough time / space...perhaps after the holiday.

[Preyupy]

The best match I could come up with was Anthracite for the centers.  I had no idea if my wheels had been repainted sometime in their life but once I cleaned them up that was the closest match I could come up with.    

[frached]

Hi All- I am right at the tailed of having 5 wheels stripped, straightened and powder coated. We did get one wheel test painted and it looks about as good as anything I have seen after browsing many pictures online. We could not find any reference of an official record with regard to a color code, or even a specific color of the center. Also, there was no specific color of the silver. i am not sure anyone knows what is correct. It seems that the center should be a semi gloss or satin finish. Once I get the wheels back I will post pictures and I will post the powder coating code we utilized. By the way, mu second car wears the turbo optional alloys. they are in really good shape but at some point I will have them refinished and will be searching for the accurate colors. I have only seen one other car around with the factor 13x6 factory alloys. If anyone knows of any of these for sale or alloys for sale, please let me know. 

[Lengrep]

The best match I could come up with was Anthracite for the centers.  I had no idea if my wheels had been repainted sometime in their life but once I cleaned them up that was the closest match I could come up with.    

Thanks!


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[Lengrep]

The best match I could come up with was Anthracite for the centers.  I had no idea if my wheels had been repainted sometime in their life but once I cleaned them up that was the closest match I could come up with.    

Thanks!


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[frached]

Finally getting around to upload some info and pics of the restored stock steel 51/2 x 13 wheels for the 74 Turbo. My goal was to get the wheels to look as close as possible as they were to the factory when the car was new. I found wheels for sale online which stated were NOS and considered buying a set, but I found it difficult to determine if they were actually NOS or painted. Then there was the difficulty of the money transfer and freight charges. I decided to retire the ones I had. 

 

After a tremendous of research done online by my wife, trying to locate and determine the correct center color and outer color code, it was nowhere to be found. If anyone ever locates the actual color codes or names of the color used when these wheels were new, please post here. We could not find any reference to the colors and looked at a ,altitude of pics online....were the centers black? Were they gray? Was there metallic in the color? The challenges many of the wheels were painted throughout the years, so what was the original color scheme? Thanks to many of you gentlemen, I received a lot of info that was beneficial. 

 

I took the wheels to local wheel restoration company, of course these were young guys and they were kind of intrigued and what I was asking for was foreign to what they do with modern cars. They stripped, straightened and powder coated the wheels. They chose the outer silver color based on photos provided. The inside color we chose after looking at 100s of paint chip samples was:

 

BMW A90 A805172

 

This is what we found to be the closest match to pictures of what we thought were original unpainted stock wheels. It was hard to tell from the photos, but the center anthracite/darker color, appeared to have a satin type finish, not really flat or glossy. The cost of restoring each wheels about $200 a piece. We then purchased new period style correct 185/70 13 Vredestein tires from Tire Rack.  They were shipped directly to the wheel restorer who was happy to mount and balance them. I believe Dunlop also makes a similar tire but it is much harder to purchase the US and more available in Europe. See photos.

 

 

[wkohler]

Those came out really nicely.

[Lengrep]

Nice work. And thanks for sharing. Guess I need to deal with my black inners on the Turbo...

I really like my Michelin 185/70-13’s. Pricey, but great grip and smooth/quiet running. I had 165-13 vredstein’s on my tii and hated them. Squealed around every corner even when not driving aggressively. Intrigued by the Pirelli’s everyone is trying. Always an exotic brand in the day...


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[Preyupy]

There is the totally period correct 185/70 VR 13 Pirelli CN36  Cooker and Longstone sell them.