Closest paint colour to standard Fuchs anodised finish?

[Mbremith]

Is there a consensus view out there about a specific paint colour which most closely approximates the colour of a 'normal' anodised Fuchs (such as would originally have been on my 70S)?

Mine are polished and I don't really want to go to the trouble and cost of anodising.

I have searched and found suggestions for paint colours for other Fuchs (eg RSR) and other finishes (eg scouring which I don't want to do) but not a colour that matches 'standard' anodised Fuchs.

Any assistance appreciated.

[BOYER73S]

Don't do it Mitchell, save your pennies and get them finished properly

[Mbremith]

Pragmatism not $$$ Clyde, planning to drive it a lot and just can't bear the idea of going to all the trouble and expense of anodising etc just to do something silly and have to do it again.

And can always go back later if desired - wouldn't do it if it was irreversible.

[BOYER73S]

Leave them polished in that case

[Mbremith]

Nah, don't like it. Just a personal thing.

Maybe I should go all 'retro modern' and paint them gloss black then fit my XWXs?

[Arne]

I looked into this for quite a while for the 16" Fuchs on my '84. Didn't like the all black center, wanted to go with a more classic look.

In the end, the best I found was some of the "hyper-silver" finishes as used on some OE wheels, especially Toyotas and some BMW M-cars. But I could not find an off-the-shelf way to replicate that finish. Paying a shop to prep, custom mix that paint (which requires several different layers - special base, special silver and clear with slight pearl) and shoot was almost as bad cost and time-wise as anodizing them.

In the end, I went ahead and had mine re-anodized. Since they are for a short-hood, semi-regular driver, and in a non-original finish, I did not feel it was worth the wait to send to Harvey or Al. While the results would have been a bit nicer, I didn't need that and needed a much quicker turn-around than they could do. I sent mine to Rohrer Wheel Restoration in Utah. Turn-around was less than 4 weeks. Cost was about the same as other shops, however, and I did have them return them unpainted so that I could do the black trim myself.

In the end, the results were great. Not quite concours quality, but great for a driver.

And I am much happier with this finish than I would have been with any faux-anodized paint.

[Jim Breazeale]

Just leave them alone. They will tarnish and dull out pretty quickly.

Regards

Jim

[mac73s]

I looked into this for quite a while for the 16" Fuchs on my '84. Didn't like the all black center, wanted to go with a more classic look.

In the end, the best I found was some of the "hyper-silver" finishes as used on some OE wheels, especially Toyotas and some BMW M-cars. But I could not find an off-the-shelf way to replicate that finish. Paying a shop to prep, custom mix that paint (which requires several different layers - special base, special silver and clear with slight pearl) and shoot was almost as bad cost and time-wise as anodizing them.

In the end, I did have mine re-anodized. Since they are for a semi-regular short-hood driver, and in a non-original finish, I did not feel it was worth the wait to send to Harvey or Al. While the results would have been a bit nicer, I didn't need that and needed a much quicker turn-around than they could do. I sent mine to Rohrer Wheel Restoration in Utah. Turn-around was less than 4 weeks. Cost was about the same as other shops, however, and I did have them return them unpainted so that I could do the black trim myself.

In the end, the results were great. Not quite concours quality, but great for a driver.

And I am much happier with this finish than I would have been with any faux-anodized paint.

I think your wheels look fantastic and agree that the year or longer wait is, well, not worth the wait for many of us.

[Arne]

The wait was the factor for me, as the cost was similar. I'm not opposed to having the level of perfection that Harvey would have done, but since I had to drive on borrowed wheels while it was done, I couldn't wait that long.

On the other hand - if I had a '70 S like the OP does, I'd buy a set of spare wheels of some sort for regular use, and have Harvey restore the originals. No need to fear bunging them up in normal use, that way.

[Eminence Gris]

There was a reason the factory anodized the wheels. Anodizing is a far tougher surface than any kind of paint. A pinpoint ding in anodizing will not cause bubbling, flaking or cracking like the same damage would cause with a painted surface.

I've experimented with getting anodizing done locally and I can tell you there's art as well as science in the process. My first choice is to find original-finish wheels and exchange for cosmetically-challenged ones. My second choice would be to send 'em to a Porsche wheel specialist like Harvey or Wheel Enhancement or Al Reed and get them done right.