My 92' RS came with the optional 16" Aluminum Z28 rims and the areas between the five spokes were painted bright red to match the car. I am sure many of you have seen these. First question is...What colors were these painted? For example, I noticed the black Z's just got the silver rims with no paint. Now here is my dilema, the paint on the car is pristine, but the paint on the rims is now pink instead of bright red due to some heavy fading (probably no clear coat from the factory on these). Any ideas on an easy way to restore/repaint/replace these?
Here is another oddity, all have faded equally and look original, but the car has 3 fronts and 1 rear rim? Could it have come from the factory that way? I know the offsets are different and it looks like I might have to find another rear rim. I think I am rambling now. Thanks in advance for your advice....

Alex

[This message has been edited by RED92 (edited July 15, 2001).]

 

People do some stupid things with cars... like hitting curbs. Most people don't know the front and rear rims have different offsets. I'd say a previous owner of your car didn't know that either. Get another matching rim, for best handling use 2 fronts and 2 rears. As for refinishing the wheels, if the clearcoats fine, tape off the wheels and paint them. Any enamel based paint should work fine. Just clean the wheels as best you can, tape em off and spray away. As for the exact color, no way to know really. Most all factory wheels with red accents I've seen were faded. Just don't try to use nail polish.

 

There is a color code for the wheels with painted accents. Yours would be 81P. My best guess is that it is the same shade of red as the body color, code 81U for bright red. As for what kind of paint to use I would consult an automotive paint store. The fading you mentioned comes from heat from the front disc brakes, especially when the cars are driven hard. Hope this helps.

 

I found a shop in town that had a rear and made the swap($100, a liitle high, but at least I found one and it's the same pink color too!). I also found a rim restoration shop in the Houston area that will sandblast the rims and respray color matched PPG paint, cost is $300/set. They promise the rims will look like new. Not excited about spending the money, but seems like a fair deal considering the work involved.

Alex

 

sounds like a decent deal, I know that the rims were available in red, and white. I think maybe I have seen teal too, but I have also seen teal cars with the silver rims.

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Jeremy
91 rs, convertible, K&N, Edelbrock open element cleaner, 3.73, B&M mega-shifter, goodmark cowl-induction hood,tinted windows,MacEwen Overlays
Coming soon...non red interior with 4th gen charcoal/grey seats

 

Just like you will see white or red cars with the silver wheels also. What I had heard was that if the dealer didn't specify a car to have the silver wheels they got the painted accent wheels instead. My friend went through his B4C. He ordered the silver wheels on a red car and proceeded to worry the **** out of me hoping his car wouldn't show up with the red wheels. Everything is fine the car got the silver wheels.

 

I just had my wheels redone. The company was called Trans Wheel. It was $125 per wheel, but came with a life-time warranty on the finish (from fading, peeling). The paint matches the original on my car perfectly.

Make sure if you spend the $$ to have the wheels done, they are powdercoated. The reason I am told the original red faded was that regular paint can not stand heat the brakes generate. If they are painted, they will fade again.

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Patrick Malinowski
1991 Z28 Convertible
25K original miles.
1998 Honda Accord Daily driver (hey it has got a 200 hp V-6 and is better in the snow)
2000 Impala (wife's)