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Spitfire Spitfire rim color

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Has anyone found a silver paint or combination of paints that replicate the Spitfire rim color, circa. '78?

Everything I've found is too bright and shiny.

Thanks,
 
If your shooting the paint with a traditional gun, you could just add some flatner into your clearcoat to dull/matt out the shine.....

If you plan on using rattle cans, try going to one of those paint supply stores that mix up custom colour closest to the silver desired into the can for you and have the paint flattened.
 
OK, here's where my art degrees and years of color theory can finally be useful in restoring British cars... wait, that's overkill. Actually, I've been looking for paint to paint my wheels too. Mine are rusty because they wore trim rings for decades, but the previous owner took them off and lost them before I bought the car.

The original silver paint is quite a bit darker than the "silver wheel paint" at most auto parts stores. The modern paints all try to mimic aluminum wheels, which is a brighter shade of silver than the original silver on British car steel wheels. I found a Rustoleum silver paint that is about right, but it's slightly too pale too, really. The opposite extreme is that there are lots of metallic gray paints that are too dark. I'm still looking.

Has anyone compared the silver POR-15 paint to the color of our wheels? The images I can see on the web look like it might be a match, but color matching is almost impossible on the web. (That's one thing I have experience with, color matching software and hardware.)

Scott
 
I used a silver rattle can, (Dodge I think), It was a little bright after 3 coats had dried. I knocked the brightness down with some 000 steel wool, and old brown paper bag.
I'm very pleased with the results.
 
Thanks, guys. At least that gives me a start. I'll check back later to see if anyone else has ideas. The more, the merrier. I have never seen a paint code for the wheels, so I guess it's whatever really appeals to your taste.

John
78 Spit
75 MGB
 
Used this in the '70s on recommendation of Triumph dealer. 1976 Ford Granada Silver replicates the silver rims and comes in Dupli-Color for under $6. Passes concours.
 
Don, I don't think anyone is trying to contradict you, but "argent" is just the Latin word for silver. Are you referring to a particular paint company's argent silver paint? Was it British Leyland's touch-up paint color? If there's a good close match I can go out and buy, please lay it on us. I've got a three-day weekend with plenty of time to mask wheels and spray on paint. :smile:

Scott
 
Scott, check out the first page of this posting from last night. There is a link to an "Argent Silver Wheel Paint" that is claimed to be very close to OEM.
I'm still watching all the posts on this subject and have gotten some good information so far. Long weekend may be perfect for wheel painting.

John
 
Thanks for the input. Argent it is! Gonna try to shoot the rims this weekend.
It's always great to ask a question here and get a multitude of answers from which to choose.

John
 
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