WTK what color to refinish style 32 wheels?

[steveo539]

Ok I just acquired 2 sets of style 32, 17" staggered (7.5/8.5) wheels for my Boston Green Z3 Coupe. Trying to decide what color to finish them. One set has been freshly refinished in a dull silver (almost a light gray) that I'm not wild about. The other set I believe is factory bright silver (flaking off in places on the fronts). I love the bright silver. It's almost iridescent/pearlescent and am trying to identify this color. On the other hand I have seen some style 32's with a darker silver, what I'd call a graphite color (I may have heard this color referred to as anthracite) that look fantastic on a silver coupe. I'm thinking however that the lighter color may look better on the darker green car. So I propose a poll. What are your opinions?

[MeNoo]

IMO dark gunmetal/anthracite would look great on a Boston Green Z3. I dunno, though, this is all preference.

[steveo539]

Thanks for the input. Anyone know a color code or color description of stock wheel colors?

[mindspin311]

Gold.

[gaspump]

I could never find a match for the factory color when I did mine. Try the spray can aluminum you see in stores first. If you dont like it you can sand it off. I had mine powdercoated a silver gray, but it turned out more gray and I didn't like them. Gold, like the Wurth bbs color would look good IMO.

[steveo539]

I don't know about Gold. I just tried a sample of "chrome" powder on a couple pieces of scrap metal. One with a clear top coat that changes the color slightly. It is pretty darn close to the stock bright silver color with the clear coat. Does not have quite as much luster though. The stock paint looks like it has some pearl finish to it that's missing on this powder. But it looks close enough to me. Just got to get the sand blaster going now....that and find some Alodine. Still not sure if I should do both sets the same then I could run 8.5" all the way around .......or have different 2 sets, one silver and the other ????????

[ImIanYou E36]

You might wanna try hyper silver, it's a lighter shinier silver.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=912656

Go to the link and look down for the different color wheels between hyper silver/hyper black/anthracite/satin black

Thats the best comparison picture I could find while at work

[steveo539]

Thanks, got the same color (hyper silver) suggestion from a friend at work that has it on his Jag wheels. I also found a site that listed "super chrome" color powder as a close match. I checked a color sample/coupon of the super-chrome at a local powder coat shop. I think with the clear top coat, it will be a very close match to the original silver.

[steveo539]

Well I settled on Cardinal "Chrome" color. Took the wheels to have checked for trueness, had them media blasted, then a bit of sanding to smooth out some of the roughness, treated them with DX503 chromate conversion (Alodine), and powder coated the first one as a test today. Chrome with clear powder top-coat. I'm real happy with the results. I hope the others come out looking as good as the first.

[m3j0n]

Well I settled on Cardinal "Chrome" color. Took the wheels to have checked for trueness, had them media blasted, then a bit of sanding to smooth out some of the roughness, treated them with DX503 chromate conversion (Alodine), and powder coated the first one as a test today. Chrome with clear powder top-coat. I'm real happy with the results. I hope the others come out looking as good as the first.

do you happen to have a color code for that? looks beautiful!