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Thread: Chrome shadow shadow chrome darkness?

  1. #1
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    Chrome shadow shadow chrome darkness?

    Hi folks,

    i posted recently about refinishing wheels in the 01/02 shadow chrome finish. As a 2 year owner of my M roadster, I am no expert at proper finish color. I've read that some original wheels were lighter or darker but don't know if this correlates with z3 or later. I also don't know if anyone has a way of really quantifying the shade. I know from photography that there are an almost infinite variety of greys.

    How do people take a picture of the different finishes in such a way as to show the differences? Does anyone have a name or code # for a powder coat color that is a good match to original? Rite Way in Walnut Creek CA calls the lightest finish Hyper silver, with 2other darker choices. I don't know the names. My car is oxford green, which is dark, so dark wheels might be too much. But I still want something other than what I have, old polished Al.

    thanks for your comments, John

  2. #2
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    Hyper silver would be the 98-00 color, strictly subjectively speaking - chrome shadow is usually a shade somewhere between what most shops call hyper silver and gunmetal

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  3. #3
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    Back when I had Precision Wheel Works do my rear rims they said that there wasn't a "standard" definition for Shadow Chrome, and I had to provide one of my front rims for them to match. This made sense, as over the years I have seen a number of these wheels where the factory finish was notably lighter or darker than mine. I'll probably do the same when I contact Rite Way about doing my front rims; since I have 3 fronts and 3 rears, I have a refinished rear rim that hasn't had a tire mounted on it to use as a comparison.

    Marty

  4. #4
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    All by myself, I thought up this idea. If you have shadow chrome roadstars and want to help out, print the attached grey scale pic, tape it to a wheel, snap a pic and post it. Or send me the pic as a private message. Or send me a private message and I'll send you my email address. Or, just compare the pic to your wheel and post the number of the closest match. If I get a couple responses (or more?!), then maybe the variability it shade will be apparent.

    I know this is more effort than usually required to respond to a post, all I can do is say Thanks, I owe you a beer.

    cheers, Johnjeffcowell_grayscale.jpg


    Quote Originally Posted by MartyBtoo View Post
    Back when I had Precision Wheel Works do my rear rims they said that there wasn't a "standard" definition for Shadow Chrome, and I had to provide one of my front rims for them to match. This made sense, as over the years I have seen a number of these wheels where the factory finish was notably lighter or darker than mine. I'll probably do the same when I contact Rite Way about doing my front rims; since I have 3 fronts and 3 rears, I have a refinished rear rim that hasn't had a tire mounted on it to use as a comparison.

    Marty

  5. #5
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    I took a couple of photos of my wheels, but you really couldn't tell much from them. I will say that the Hyper Silver wheel that I have was about a 218 on the top scale, while my Shadow Chrome was about a 108 on the same scale. I will try again to get better photos after the sun comes up more to reduce the shadows.

    Marty

  6. #6
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    About 72-128 is the color range I'd expect to see shadow chrome wheels in, the problem is that shadow chrome is not just a solid paint finish. If you just do one "color matching" coat it will not look like shadow chrome... just grey. Shadow chrome is a gloss black powdercoat base with a translucent silver on top and a clearcoat over that. The various shades of shadow chrome wheels came from how much translucent silver was sprayed. BMW did the wheels in huge batches, then paired them in sets by matching shades, and put lighter sets on darker colored cars and darker sets on lighter colored cars. There is no one "shadowchrome" color and the shadowchrome finish is a unique one thanks to the unique process through which it is applied.
    Last edited by BimmerBreaker; 10-18-2017 at 02:02 PM.

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  7. #7
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    Here's a picture of my Hyper Silver and Shadow Chrome wheels side by side; it really makes the difference more apparent.

    Marty

  8. #8
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    Thanks for the info. I've read the description of the process online and have seen folks post pics of ?authentic? shadow chrome wheels with black inside finish. Personally, I thought it was weird that a manufacturer would leave the backs of the wheels unfinished, but I'm new to BMWs.

    Anyway, the local place (Precision Wheel) quit doing the finish and I'm not certain how they did it anyway. One powder coat finish or powder then translucent paint? The next place I found, 75 miles away does only a one step powder coat finish. I haven't seen their samples.

    No other leads have been provided. So that's where I am now.

    cheers, John


    Quote Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker View Post
    About 72-128 is the color range I'd expect to see shadow chrome wheels in, the problem is that shadow chrome is not just a solid paint finish. If you just do one "color matching" coat it will not look like shadow chrome... just grey. Shadow chrome is a gloss black powdercoat base with a translucent silver on top and a clearcoat over that. The various shades of shadow chrome wheels came from how much translucent silver was sprayed. BMW did the wheels in huge batches, then paired them in sets by matching shades, and put lighter sets on darker colored cars and darker sets on lighter colored cars. There is no one "shadowchrome" color and the shadowchrome finish is a unique one thanks to the unique process through which it is applied.
    - - - Updated - - -

    Thanks Marty for the pic and numbers!

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