Steel wheel paint

[Jerry K.]

Can anyone tell me what spray paint to use on my '66 roadster's steelwheels. I took the covers off and am going to leave them off for a while, but the black paint is scratched from taking them off and on I guess. Thanks.

[Michael M.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Jerry, besides getting the wheels ready for paint I use a chassis satin black. The chassis paint is very durable with or without the wheel covers on. The face of the wheel should be a gloss black but I have had better results with applying the satin on wet. It turns out looking more on the gloss side which the judges are looking for.

[David L.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Jerry,

I have had many original 63-64 and 65-66 wheels (12 to 15 or so) in the past 30 years including a few that were NOS. I would say semi-gloss black is the correct paint shade.

Dave

[Loren L.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

I think you'll find that the poor quality Gloss black fades (fairly quickly) to semi-gloss - answer, the judge cannot argue with gloss.

[David L.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Loren,

I prefer to restore my wheels to what they were when the car rolled off the assembly line not what the "judges" think is correct.
I have had and still have most of the following NOS Kelsey-Hayes wheels that I bought in the 1980's and early 1990's at swap meets and they appear to be semi-gloss black.

1. GM # 3687980, 15 X 5K, two wheels dated "10 53" and "5 53", sold years ago.

2. GM # 3939814 white sticker, 15 X 5 1/2, dated " 3 65" (replacement 63-64 Corvette wheel), sold years ago.

3. Kelsey-Hayes 84988, X-40335 green sticker, 15 X 6 JK, dated July 30, 1970 near valve hole ("K-1-0", "7", "30", "DH").

4. GM # 3975667 white sticker, 14 X 7 JJ dated June 9, 1971 near valve hole ("K-1-1", "6", "8", "CL") for my 1970 Camaro SS350.

5. GM # 3975667 white sticker, 14 X 7 JJ dated Sept. 22, 1971 near valve hole ("K-1-1", "9", "22", "CL").

6. Kelsey-Hayes 84985, X-40332 green sticker, 14 x 7 JJ, three wheels all dated June 9, 1971 near valve hole ("K-1-1", "6", "9", "CL").

7. Kelsey-Hayes 84985, X-40332, 14 X 7 JJ dated May 4, 1972 near valve hole ("K-1-2", "5", "4", "CL").

I realize that all of these Kelsey-Hayes wheels spent a few days now and then in the sun at the swap meets so that there could be a little fading but I'm sure they have spent most of their life in a warehouse or garage out of the sunlight.

This is just my opinion. For those who are looking for "points" instead of originality then it's better to keep the judges happy.

Dave

[Michael H.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Can anyone tell me what spray paint to use on my '66 roadster's steelwheels. I took the covers off and am going to leave them off for a while, but the black paint is scratched from taking them off and on I guess. Thanks.

First, the entire wheel was dipped in semi gloss black. Then, the face side was spray painted gloss black at the St Louis assembly plant just before the wheel/tire assembly was built and installed on a car.

New wheels sold in service would not have had the gloss black on the face side.

The "dip" process may have changed years later for service wheels.

[Jerry K.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Thanks for the responses. Do I have to remove the wheels from the car or can I safely spray them after covering the tires?

[David L.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

First, the entire wheel was dipped in semi gloss black. Then, the face side was spray painted gloss black at the St Louis assembly plant just before the wheel/tire assembly was built and installed on a car.

New wheels sold in service would not have had the gloss black on the face side.

The "dip" process may have changed years later for service wheels.

Michael,

How do you know that the wheels were sprayed gloss black at the assembly plant? It sounds logical. Did you actually work at the St. Louis assembly plant in 1966?

Dave

[John H.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

How do you know that the wheels were sprayed gloss black at the assembly plant? It sounds logical. Did you actually work at the St. Louis assembly plant in 1966?

Dave

Dave -

I did, and that's exactly how the wheels were processed. They were received raw and oiled from Kelsey-Hayes, stacked herringbone-style by the thousands in rail cars; they were run through a complete hot degreasing and cleaning iron phosphate system and dip-primed (actually "flow-coated") in black semi-gloss primer and baked, then the outer face of the wheel was sprayed with gloss black wheel enamel and baked before the tires were mounted and the assembly was balanced and the assembly was installed on the car.

The same wheels shipped to Service were primed semi-gloss black at Kelsey-Hayes (so they wouldn't rust in warehouse storage), and they carried a different part number than the production wheel due to the finish difference as-shipped.

'67 rally wheels were done exactly the same way, except the face color was Argent Silver enamel, and the Service rally wheels were painted gray at Kelsey-Hayes.

[Ronald L.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Thanks John for the detailed process.

I've got good local sources OE source for the dip paint, preceeded by wash and phos, but what specific gloss paint are you guys using on the wheels, DuPont _?_, PPG, Sherwin, product number is key...

[David L.]

Re: Steel wheel paint

Dave -

I did, and that's exactly how the wheels were processed. They were received raw and oiled from Kelsey-Hayes, stacked herringbone-style by the thousands in rail cars; they were run through a complete hot degreasing and cleaning iron phosphate system and dip-primed (actually "flow-coated") in black semi-gloss primer and baked, then the outer face of the wheel was sprayed with gloss black wheel enamel and baked before the tires were mounted and the assembly was balanced and the assembly was installed on the car.

The same wheels shipped to Service were primed semi-gloss black at Kelsey-Hayes (so they wouldn't rust in warehouse storage), and they carried a different part number than the production wheel due to the finish difference as-shipped.

'67 rally wheels were done exactly the same way, except the face color was Argent Silver enamel, and the Service rally wheels were painted gray at Kelsey-Hayes.

John,

Thanks for the information. I always like to know where information is obtained and now I know.

Dave