C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

[Martin N.]

Looking to remove and re-paint all 4 of my "Derby Caps". As you can see by the posted pictures, the chrome cast metal finish is in great shape, not so for the black finned areas. I've tried laquer thinner on 2 of them with no success, should I try some type of stripper and which one would be recommended by this board? All 4 are (Original? to the car) GM caps and in really great shape except for the paint. Thanks for any tips or help.

Marty

[Alan S.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

Hi Martin,
I believe I would go to the paint store and look at the 'cautions' on the various strippers. Find one that is o.k. on chrome surfaces. Perhaps the citrus based products might be the gentlest.
Since the paint on the cap is so thin I wouldn't think the stripper would n'tneed to stay on very long nor would you need to use a lot.
Try a tiny dab first to make sure something bad doesn't happen, but I think the paint will come right off.
Regards,
Alan

[Martin N.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

ALAN-

What'd ever do about a camera? I'm LOVIN' my Olympus.

I've started with some citrus based stripper like you advised and so far so good, THANKS!

Marty

[Steven B.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

Marty, what are you going to repaint the black with?

Thanks!

Steve

[Jack H.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

I'd say SEM's self-etchant primer in black would be about dead solid perfect!

[Harmon C.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

After paint removal I tape around the bottom to stop the paint. I use paint from a spray can and spray it in the lid. I use the liquid paint from the lid as it is thin flows nice to fit the pocket that needs the paint with a small flat brush. Go around twice if needed for coverage.If you want the tape line more like original rub the edge in a few days.

[Richard D.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

I'd say SEM's self-etchant primer in black would be about dead solid perfect!

Hi Jack. You say to use SEM's self etching primer in black. I would guess that is a flat black. The reason I ask is that I will be doing mine in the same fashion. I would have guessed they were more of a gloss color, but do not know so am asking you. Thanks for you help, Rich

[Jack H.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

SEM makes a WIDE selection of paints for exterior black out applications (luggage rack components, windshield wiper arms, blades, radio antennas, Etc.). I mentioned their self-etchant primer for two reasons:

(1) I believe it's darn close the factory original gloss factor.

(2) It's a self-etchant paint.

You want/need #2 when you're painting a 'slick' surface that doesn't want paint to stick to it (SS, chrome plated, Etc.). The last thing you want is to go to the effort to re-detail your center caps and then watch the freshly applied paint 'peel' off when you wash the car and/or drive in the rain!

On use of the term 'flat' to describe this paint's reflectivity, I'd bear in mind that words like 'flat', 'semi-flat', 'semi-gloss', 'satin', and 'gloss' are marketing gimmicks used by the paint industry to consumer simplify things...

Real paint guys get specific and define gloss factor in either percentage or degree terminology. They're using a scale of 0-100 that can be measure/verify under laboratory conditions where the amount of incident light from a given standard illuminating source is shined onto the painted surface and a standardized light measuring device records the amount of light reflected by that surface.

I'd estimate the gloss factor of SEM self-etchant primer to run in the area of 4-6% which puts it in-line with gloss factor used on other Corvette painted trim surfaces like the center console surface surrounding mid-year shifters...

So, my post was a personal opinion and you're welcome to go buy an NOS center cap and actually measure the gloss factor of the black out/accent paint. But, my hunch is you'll wind up concluding my recommendation is pretty close to the mark.

Remember, this trend to black out various exterior items (windshield wiper components, interior mirror backs, Etc.) flowed from automotive critiques of the era (remember Ralph Nader?) who cited some of Detroit's styling features were actually unwise/unsafe. Eventually, DOT rule making followed in these areas.

We did away with 'spinners' on wheel covers that might 'chop' a sidewalk pedestrian's legs/ankles. The chariot scene from Ben Hur probably didn't help Detroit's position that these ornaments weren't really unsafe...

Blacking out this/that shinny exterior component, if memory serves, was argued to be a safety factor from the viewpoint of not 'blinding' the oncoming driver via sunlight reflection. So, I would expect such black out or accent paint to be on the low end of the gloss scale...

[Kenneth T.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

SEM makes a WIDE selection of paints for exterior black out applications (luggage rack components, windshield wiper arms, blades, radio antennas, Etc.). I mentioned their self-etchant primer for two reasons:

(1) I believe it's darn close the factory original gloss factor.

(2) It's a self-etchant paint.

You want/need #2 when you're painting a 'slick' surface that doesn't want paint to stick to it (SS, chrome plated, Etc.). The last thing you want is to go to the effort to re-detail your center caps and then watch the freshly applied paint 'peel' off when you wash the car and/or drive in the rain!

On use of the term 'flat' to describe this paint's reflectivity, I'd bear in mind that words like 'flat', 'semi-flat', 'semi-gloss', 'satin', and 'gloss' are marketing gimmicks used by the paint industry to consumer simplify things...

Real paint guys get specific and define gloss factor in either percentage or degree terminology. They're using a scale of 0-100 that can be measure/verify under laboratory conditions where the amount of incident light from a given standard illuminating source is shined onto the painted surface and a standardized light measuring device records the amount of light reflected by that surface.

I'd estimate the gloss factor of SEM self-etchant primer to run in the area of 4-6% which puts it in-line with gloss factor used on other Corvette painted trim surfaces like the center console surface surrounding mid-year shifters...

So, my post was a personal opinion and you're welcome to go buy an NOS center cap and actually measure the gloss factor of the black out/accent paint. But, my hunch is you'll wind up concluding my recommendation is pretty close to the mark.

Remember, this trend to black out various exterior items (windshield wiper components, interior mirror backs, Etc.) flowed from automotive critiques of the era (remember Ralph Nader?) who cited some of Detroit's styling features were actually unwise/unsafe. Eventually, DOT rule making followed in these areas.

We did away with 'spinners' on wheel covers that might 'chop' a sidewalk pedestrian's legs/ankles. The chariot scene from Ben Hur probably didn't help Detroit's position that these ornaments weren't really unsafe...

Blacking out this/that shinny exterior component, if memory serves, was argued to be a safety factor from the viewpoint of not 'blinding' the oncoming driver via sunlight reflection. So, I would expect such black out or accent paint to be on the low end of the gloss scale...

Jack,

Can I gather from the above that the same logic would apply to the blacked out areas on the PO2 caps as well?

[Alan S.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

Hi Lyle,
The idea of rubbing the 'edge' after a while is a good one. Thanks!
I'm always amazed how thin the black coat is but how even the coverage was.
Regards,
Alan

[Richard D.]

Re: C-3 Rally Wheel Cap Paint Restoration

SEM makes a WIDE selection of paints for exterior black out applications (luggage rack components, windshield wiper arms, blades, radio antennas, Etc.). I mentioned their self-etchant primer for two reasons:

(1) I believe it's darn close the factory original gloss factor.

(2) It's a self-etchant paint.

You want/need #2 when you're painting a 'slick' surface that doesn't want paint to stick to it (SS, chrome plated, Etc.). The last thing you want is to go to the effort to re-detail your center caps and then watch the freshly applied paint 'peel' off when you wash the car and/or drive in the rain!

On use of the term 'flat' to describe this paint's reflectivity, I'd bear in mind that words like 'flat', 'semi-flat', 'semi-gloss', 'satin', and 'gloss' are marketing gimmicks used by the paint industry to consumer simplify things...

Real paint guys get specific and define gloss factor in either percentage or degree terminology. They're using a scale of 0-100 that can be measure/verify under laboratory conditions where the amount of incident light from a given standard illuminating source is shined onto the painted surface and a standardized light measuring device records the amount of light reflected by that surface.

I'd estimate the gloss factor of SEM self-etchant primer to run in the area of 4-6% which puts it in-line with gloss factor used on other Corvette painted trim surfaces like the center console surface surrounding mid-year shifters...

So, my post was a personal opinion and you're welcome to go buy an NOS center cap and actually measure the gloss factor of the black out/accent paint. But, my hunch is you'll wind up concluding my recommendation is pretty close to the mark.

Remember, this trend to black out various exterior items (windshield wiper components, interior mirror backs, Etc.) flowed from automotive critiques of the era (remember Ralph Nader?) who cited some of Detroit's styling features were actually unwise/unsafe. Eventually, DOT rule making followed in these areas.

We did away with 'spinners' on wheel covers that might 'chop' a sidewalk pedestrian's legs/ankles. The chariot scene from Ben Hur probably didn't help Detroit's position that these ornaments weren't really unsafe...

Blacking out this/that shinny exterior component, if memory serves, was argued to be a safety factor from the viewpoint of not 'blinding' the oncoming driver via sunlight reflection. So, I would expect such black out or accent paint to be on the low end of the gloss scale...

Thanks for taking the time to provide that infomation! Very informative and will prove helpful to me (and others, I'm sure). Rich