1956: Painting Wheels

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Mar 23, 2006 | 11:07 AM

seawulff

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From: Walnut Creek, CA

1956: Painting Wheels

I purchased some steel wheels and have made the decision to paint them the stock color of Colonial white. Does anyone have any suggestions about the brand or type of paint to use that is durable and comes in that color which is essentially a minor off-white towards cream. Thanks.
Chris

Mar 23, 2006 | 11:57 AM

Huntsman

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From: Northwest Fl

Here's a link to George's web site, a lot of good stuff available there. Scroll down the left side to the paint page. George has done a great job providing all of this information.

http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/Re..._Material.html

Mar 23, 2006 | 12:13 PM

bigwin56f100

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From: AKRON ohio

I have to say not to go by Georges color chart. I have to orignal color chips for 56 and the colonoial white is WAY whiter than that. It is hard to use a color off a computer.

It is almost white, as a mater of fact it looks more white than cream.

Even the 1960 coritian white is too creamy colored it too is WAY whiter than shown.

Look at my 56 in the snow, just a shade off of white

A misconseption is that the wheels were cream colored as when an original is found the 50+years have discolored the original finish.

Kevin Bigwin

Last edited by bigwin56f100; Mar 23, 2006 at 12:20 PM.

Mar 23, 2006 | 12:19 PM

JoeSwing78

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From: Los Angeles, CA

I agree, I would go by paint chips or color codes. Everyones monitor reads color differently so it is a difficult way to measure for accuracy. If you could match up a paint chip to pantone color charts that would help too. Lots of places reference pantone guides for true color.

Mar 23, 2006 | 12:36 PM

AK Fifty-Three

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From: Fairbanks, AK

Sungate Ivory was the color of my '53 grill. I painted a couple of wheels that color and they look great. Sungate Ivory (or Old Ivory as NAPA has it listed) is more of an eggshell than a white/cream. It has a Ford part number of M-2J-68. Check with Earl -- he is the paint code guru and I believe he has a list posted in his gallery.

Mar 23, 2006 | 03:26 PM

seawulff

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From: Walnut Creek, CA

Thanks for the tips. What kind of paint should I use? Is Rustoleum good enough or is there a special kind of paint for that purpose.

Mar 23, 2006 | 04:35 PM

AK Fifty-Three

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From: Fairbanks, AK

With my limited experience, you can't go wrong with Martin Senour paints at NAPA. I like how their rattle can nozzles spray nice and even. Takes a lot of effort to get them to run. Definitely buy some cleaner while you are there. You want to make sure you get all of the oil, grease, Armor-All, etc... off of the wheels before you shoot them or you'll have "fish eyes". I would recommend having them mix a small bottle of "touch up" paint at the same time so that you can fix any nicks in the future without having to shoot the whole rim again.