The gold paint on the wheels of '87 IROCs is more brownish than other years. I noticed this when I had my '87. I figured it was due to a bad day at the wheel factory, but since then, I've noticed the same shade of gold on every single '87 I look at.



These are from my '85 which appear the same color as '85-'86 and '88-'90.

 

My original 87 wheels are slightly to the copper side of gold.
I have no idea why & I never thought about it much. But it does seem to match the color of the stripes pretty well.

EDIT: Digging through some vintage pictures of my 87 & I noticed a poor resolution 35mm photo of it I can see a gray lip wheel weight on the front left wheel. Where these type weights used from the factory, or are they likely to have been installed when the tires where rotated? I have not had outer edge wheel weights in them for as long as I can recall, but I do have a blemish in the clear coat that appears to be from that weight. this cropped picture is from 20 or so years ago & has some natural light reflecting off of it a bit better to show the color.

 

I've noticed it too. I'm just going to paint mine a gold that suits my taste vs. the colors that GM used.

Kinda like the Goldilocks of IROC wheels. "this one is too brown and this one is too gold, but this color is juuuust right!"

 

The 26k mile IROC I found for my boss also has the more brown wheels.....so it must not be limited to 87

The 86 wheels..




My wheels...

 

As someone who deals with color management in the printing industry on an almost daily basis, I can tell you that your brain will play tricks on you, and you'd be amazed how different lighting conditions, time of day, weather, etc. etc. will effect how you "see" a color.

...that being said, as someone how LOVES the gold wheels, there are definitely at least two golds that I've seen on both the 85-87, as well as the 88-90. I've seen so many examples of this, including some in person, parked right next to my old 89. I've looked into, dug around, googled for hours, and have never been able to find any definitive answer. I've just concluded that there must have been different colors from different batches. Just TOO many examples of different colors.

 

I have a buddy who's a huge third gen guy, and he has a bunch of spare wheel sets laying around....he said the gold on GTA wheels is the same way...2 different golds

 

There is a slight difference in the Gold on some 1987 (and 1986) PW7 rims compared to the majority 1987-1992. Additionally, the early 1987 PW7 rims did not have the exact same cast style as the rest 1987-1992. So there is some known differences in addition to what Abubaca noted.

 

If you REALLY need to kill some time...read up on some the 2nd gen guys arguing about the bandit "gold", LOL!!!

 

no thanks, I've heard enough and I don't care if my car is the one they think is correct or not.

 

I hear ya...one of my real good buddies has owned a few 2nd gen Bandits over the years and he basically says the same thing.

 

My findings have always been the same as well. '85-'86 wheels tend to be a brighter gold, while '87 wheels tend to be a little darker.

 

So what paint does everyone use for gold trimmed Iroc wheels?

 

FWIW, I agree. My 87 gold wheels are much more brown than the "gold" on the 85-86s I've had.

 

Top looks factory. Your 85 wheels look to be resprayed in a brighter gold than factory IMO.

 

Nope, those are original, untouched wheels.

Happy Easter, everyone!

 

I happened to be out in the barn today and dug out some of my wheels. Apparently I've misplaced my gold '85-'86 wheels. But I did find a bunch of '87 wheels, and an '88-'90 wheel. The colors very a good bit, depending if in the sun or the shade. I think the '88-'90 gold may be slightly different than the '85-'86 gold? Unfortunately I don't have any real good pictures handy of the '85-'86 wheels in similar lighting, just my '86 in the shade.

 

Also, has anyone ever noticed the difference in the centercap area on the wheels. There's what I would call a "wide ring" version and a "narrow ring" version. I remember decades ago that the Hollander interchange manual stated that the '87 wheel was different than the '85-'86 wheel and that must be the reason. Although, it seems the switch may have happened late in the '86 model year. I've seen 86's with the narrow ring style and one of my 86's actually came with one version on the front and the other version on the rear.

...For some reason it won't let me post a dang picture to show what I'm talking about.

There we go

 

Do you have any mint, '85-'86 gold front wheels you'd consider selling?

 

I need a nice set of 4 gold 85-87 wheels, don’t care what shade of gold they are. Anyone selling?

 

Sorry, I don't. I wish I did though, as the nicest wheels I have to use are more along the lines of very nice driver quality.

I haven't looked into it much, but aren't the '85-'87 wheels reproduced now? How is the quality of those?

 

3 of the wheels on my '86 are more brown or very light gold. 1 of them is what I would call true gold. My car is a very late(July) 1986 production so I believe that the lighter wheels are what mine came with new.

 

OER made them awhile ago but only in silver and everyone’s sold out of them now. They didn’t look bad but lacked the “FRONT” and “REAR” wording on the spokes so they were easy to tell they weren’t original. Now all anyone seeks are 17” replicas.

 

Thanks. I'm trying to find a nice original pair for my '85. The clear coat is starting to fail on the fronts.

I've never seen the reproduced ones. If I don't find OEM ones, I'll probably have them refinished.