C5 Knock Off Wheel Repaint

[George C.]

I want to repaint the repro knock offs on my 65. They are very flat black currently, and I am not sure what color the 65 had originally. They are not peeling, but finish isn't at all pretty. Can you tell what color they should be, and should it be flat, gloss or semi-flat. Any tips on how to do this also appreciated, not an easy place to do much sanding, lots of masking needed.

Thanks in advance,

George
#36809

[Jack H.]

Re: C5 Knock Off Wheel Repaint

You'll find KO wheel accent paint pre-packaged in 'rattle' can listed in Long Island Corvette's catalog.

[Bill W.]

Re: C5 Knock Off Wheel Repaint

George,

Your repro knock-offs can be repainted a color closer to what K-H used on the original wheels without to much trouble. The original paint was a very high metallic gray-black that you can come close to matching with a good cast iron type paint. I use one made by NAPA. Make sure your existing paint is not chipping-flaking, if it is you must strip all paint from the wheel before applying new paint. A better job can be done if you remove the cones. Heat will make this job easier. Masking is not the big job you think, I use high quality 1/8" masking tape on the fins and 2" on the outer rim. Spray the new paint "DRY", as in hold the rattle can 10-12 inchs from wheel and apply several LIGHT coats of paint. As soon as the last coat has "flashed", use lacquer thinner on a rag wrapped around your finger to remove the over-spray.

Re-painting your repro wheels a more correct color should get you more judging points also. I believe the deduction drops from 90% to 75%. Good luck, Bill

[George C.]

Re: C5 Knock Off Wheel Repaint

Jack and Bill,

Thanks for the information, I'll go check out some catalogs. I thought the color was supposed to be more of a charcoal, than a black, which Bills' answer seems to confirm. It also agree's with the 1965 Judging Guide. I think these wheels are repro, but I do not think they are very recent repro's, and have probably been repainted once already.
Can you tell me how to tell for sure if they are reproduction wheels, again from the Judging Guide, it says the fins are about 3/16" thick, which mine are. The outer lip does not appear capable of holding wheel weights. The spinners are definately repro's, they have tiawan printed on the inside of the ear.

Thanks again,

George

[Jack H.]

Flip the wheel over and look at the back...

The factory orignal Kelseys will have an emboss of KH-XXXXX corresponding to Kelsey Hayes' PN for the wheels. The seldom seen Western wheels (built using KH original tooling transferred to Western from their parent company Kelsey) will look VERY close to KH originals but designate 'Western' as their source. The made in Taiwan American wheels which are the most common, won't have these marks on the back...

[George C.]

Re: Flip the wheel over and look at the back...

Jack,
I think you have nailed it. The wheels are on the car, but from what I can see they are marked Western Wheel Corpoation KH and I think the number is 30365.

Thank you as always,

George