53-4-5 hubcap painting

[Don S.]

The red stripes on my 55 hubcaps are gradualy wearing off or flaking off. It is difficult to paint each of these small red stripes freehand and get the edges and ends square. Does any one know how the repro caps were done or does anyone have any easy way to repaint these caps.
Thanks guys

[Wayne P.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

Red tape works well unless you are heading for judging. If so, you have a lot of masking to do.

[Mike E.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

There were never repro caps--there was another run by GM on the original tooling.

[Robert S.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

Don, I had the same problem with the ones on my 54. I finally decided to bit the bullet and repaint them. Since they were originally sprayed using some kind of mask, I wanted to spray paint hem as well. Tried playing around with making some kind of mask but that didn't work out very well so I when with the tape option.

Not a difficult job just tedious one. If I recall correctly there are 78 spaces between the red painted sections per cap!!!

First removed the chipping paint and feather-sanded the surfaces to get a smooth surface. Then I clean them with lacquer thinner. When your done with that part the REAL fun begins...he taping.

I used pin-stripping tape for the vertical unpainted sections. If you are patient and take your time they can come out quiet nice. The photo on the right shows an unpainted cap in the back with a painted one up front.

Good luck,
Bob

[Don S.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

Nice responses guys. Bob can you recall the flavor of the paint. I was thinking gypsey red but it probably wasn,t that. Maybe sportsman red.???

[Roy B.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

That was the way I did them like BOB said and yes they never made a repro cap , it was called a replacement second design cap by GM

[Robert S.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

I used Sportsman. I think I got that recommended from another post on this board.

[Peter K.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting

I used a mixture 50/50 of One Shots Bright Red and Vermillion, and applied with a pinstripping brush, although it took quite some time to complete the process, the finished product looks great. I also used Process Blue for the GM logo. Good Luck!

[Don S.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting--brush vs mask

Peter.
Am I right that you did not mask,but used a brush. This may save a lot of work if you have a steady hand. How did you get the edges straight. I am not familiar with a pinstripping brush. How is this brush different different from a small ordinary paint brush.where does one get a pinstripping brush. auto store, paint store or detail shop. Thanks

[Peter K.]

Re: 53-4-5 hubcap painting--brush vs mask

I did not mask it at all, I bought the paint and the brushes from Eastwood. The pinstripping bushes have a lot more stiffness and shape to them, plus they come in many different sizes (mine is about 2 1/2" long with a 1/4" brush, it fits in your hand like a small pencil), which will give you a more precise stroke as it is very easy to handle, plus the ribs in the hubcap will match to it well. When I did "mess up" I would either use a toothpick to clean up the edge or completely remove the paint with some laquer thinner and Q tips and do it again. Good Luck, after the first cap you should be really good and the others will go a lot faster.

[Dave Suesz]

I used a mask...

made from poster board. I'm not crazy,, nor bored enough to try to make the whole mask, so I made one which does 8 rectangles at a time, and just worked my way around with a can of sportsman red. The good news is I don't have the telltale sharp edges from taping. Also, once I had the mask made, the job went pretty quickly.