Something that's I've been wondering about...are the wheels on my 1980 F-150 Custom the original ones from the factory? As you can see in the picture below, they're white - and I don't recall seeing white wheels on anyone else's truck. I like them...I think they match the white pinstriping quite nicely. But if I had to guess, I'd say they originally came from a trailer of some kind.

Anyone know for sure?

 

They look stock to me, except you probably had a small wheel cover to cover the lug nut area originally. Or you could have had full wheel covers.

 

They are the stock rims minus the covers that go over the lugnuts.

 

Thanks, guys. I actually have the dog dish hubcaps, they just weren't on in the picture since I'd just had new tires put on. At some point I'll clean and repaint both the wheels (you can see just a trace of rust if you look) and the hubcaps (more than just a trace of rust, sadly), and it should look pretty good.

 

My '82 F100 came from the factory with white painted steel wheels with small center covers. The wheels are 15 x 5.5" wide. If you are looking for wheel covers, I discovered (after buying a set of full wheel covers) that the full wheel covers do not fit on the 5.5" wheels.

 

Generally, the stock wheels were either white or black, depending on the wheel covers.
Small "Dog dish" covers were usually on white wheels.
Full wheel covers that hid the entire wheel were usually on black wheels, to prevent a small white "stripe" to show between the wheel cover and tire.
This is only true for trucks that left the factory with the corosponding covers. Dealer added full wheel covers typically did not include swapping to black wheels, nor did deleting the full covers for the small dish caps include swapping to white wheels.

 

Yep. Those are the factory wheels that came on my '85 F-150. Same size, color and design.

 

Now I am ready to start painting the wheels on this truck. Two questions I'd appreciate help with:

1. What shade of white were they originally? Were they bright white, or were they some variant of off-white? Between the rust and the dirt they're decidedly off-off-white right now.

2. What paint do people recommend for this type of work? I have never painted anything on a vehicle, so I am completely clueless here. I'd like something reasonably close to the right color and reasonably durable, and ideally something I could buy at Home Depot or NAPA.

 

Speaking of reconditioning, what is the best method for the dog dish covers? Mine came with 4 of this style:

which I like a lot, but they've definitely seen better days.

 

Both your white rims and those fantastic hubcaps still look great considering the age....

I've love to get my hands on some even close to that condition!


Later on the dogdishs were installed on argent grey rims. My 89 F150 and 1990 F250 is what they have.


I always did like better white rims, they look awesome with big white wall tires!

 

In 1980, I believe they still used "wimbledon white" on the wheels, since that was the standard white on most "white" trucks. It looks white, until you get it close to something that *is* white. Then it looks almost tan.......
Duplicolor "Truck and Van" paint used to offer this color in the large spray cans. Not sure it's still as readily available these days, but back a few years ago, nearly anyone that stocked any "T&V" paint at all, had this color on the shelf......

 

These wheels came in white, black and argent.

If the dog dish wheel cover is chrome, argent wheels.
If the dog dish wheel cover is argent, white wheels
If it has a full wheel cover, black wheels.
If the truck didn't have covers, (IE 4x4) white wheels.

Here is a picture of a 1981 Custom with standard wheels and argent Dog Dish caps. Simular to the chrome ones pictured above, only painted argent.



They are a bright white with just a tiny hint of shade of cream color to them. Sort of like the white on a wimbeldon white truck, if not infact wimbeldon white.. (Edit: as rouge wulff also states above. )

As for paint, I would use a high quality paint. Rustolium Proffessional brand works well. Some engine enamel paints as well.

As for shining up the earlier chrome dog dish type pictured above. Some jeweler's rouge and a buffing wheel on a drill would work wonders for those pictured.

 

mine is an '81 2wd and it came with white wheels and full covers.

I removed the full covers and painted mine black and added argent dog dishes.



PM me if interested in the full covers or argent dog dishes.

 

As Rouge Wulff mentioned earlier.
Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - View Single Post - Original wheels?

The rules about wheel colors for Wheel covers and dog dish caps were followed at the Factory. The dealers swapped covers and caps all the time and didn't follow these rules at all.

 

Excellent info...thanks!