At first I thought they were chrome. Then I realized that they were chrome plated. Then I realized that I was totally wrong about that, and that they are painted with chrome paint. So mine need repainting. So I called a body shop and they said "we can't paint them chrome. We can paint them silver though."

Am I just looking for silver paint here? I don't want to pay for a botched job. Even worse, I don't want to ASK for a botched job.

Could somebody please confirm what the OEM wheels are "made of."

Thanks.

Later.

 

Painted and cleared aluminum.

 

Thanks. Anyone want to take a stab at what color they are? Shiny silver?

 

I honestly don't know the paint code for it, but if you take it to a reputable shop they can match it fairly close. The high gloss is typically called "Bright Silver".

 

Thanks again.

Wish I knew somebody with a car lift. I could paint them myself but the prospect of taking each wheel off one at a time makes me want to just pay somebody for it.

 

no jack stands?

 

No...

 

ouch.. yeah.. I'd be a little hesitant myself to put the car up on just stands. Good luck, OP

 

Thanks. I suppose I could just do them one at a time. Like one per day for 4 days or something like that?

 

as long as you have the time and patience for it.

 

Which wheels are you talking about can we see a picture of them

 

I don't have a picture of my car on me right now. But this picture is an exact match. I have a liquid platinum 2008 base sedan with the stock 17" wheels.



I wish I had the cash to just get 4 new wheels and tires (especially since I need 2 new tires anyway), but I just can't justify it right now. I just bout the car 7 days ago!

I can live with the current wheels if I could just repaint them. They have some pretty ugly black marks on them.

 

A shop should be able to get a finish pretty close to that one.

It's irritating to me how delicate the factory finish is.

Underneath the "metallic" looking 'sliver' top-coat, is a really dull, nasty looking beige/gray primer powdercoat. Unfortunately, the top-coat is really easy to damage (my OEM wheels had 'sand-blasted' the leading edge of each spoke down to the ugly primer just simply from age/use)

 

Part of me just wants to take a paintbrush and touch them up. But I have a feeling that would turn out very badly...

 

^It will.

There's a DIY to re-finishing your wheels somewhere around here though.

It's pretty labor intensive and time consuming though :/