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I recently bought some original Racing Hart wheels to take my SE back to the factory look. They had some gutter rash but I've fixed that now & was going to paint them myself. However I've since found out they were a done in shadow chrome and so maybe it's better to get them done professionally.

So 2 questions:-

Firstly has anyone painted these themselves back to original look (or close to it)? If so, what paint/technique did you use?

And secondly, does anyone know a good paint or wheel repair place in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne who could do it if I decide to go that route?

Thanks

I can't answer your questions, but I can tell you that when discussing the repair of my bent S1, I was told that a repaint (colour plus clear, I assume) would be around $150. There may be some economies in doing four together, but that would be the starting point I guess.

I know shadow chrome involves a few layers of different paint (silver base then a darker layer, then clear).
But I did see shadow chrome in a can at Repco one day but it was a lot darker (more of a black). Don't know if it looked OK.

bruce wrote:I know shadow chrome involves a few layers of different paint (silver base then a darker layer, then clear).
But I did see shadow chrome in a can at Repco one day but it was a lot darker (more of a black). Don't know if it looked OK.

When the wheels were done on my (now sold) SE I was advised that shadow chrome is next to impossible to match as each painting batch turns out slightly different due to the process. This was obvious when I put the replacement second hand wheel beside the others...

Bruce you were close, it's 3 stages;
- black undercoat
- translucent sliver mid-coat
- clearcoat top layer

Note: all 4 of my wheels were professionally repaired and/or cleaned up, then repainted as part of an insurance claim.

Thanks for the answers. I got hold of a can of the Duplicolour shadow chrome kit but it's not even close to the original. Still tossing up what to do but I'm thinking I'll have a go myself first (especially given I'm in lockdown again) and if it looks terrible then a pro can always redo them later on. Cheers

I'm going to be that person ...

I don't know if you have seen the threads/posts about people (like me) chucking the 17s for 15s? There is a reason for this which I (and I am sure others) would be happy to elaborate on but I don't want to go further in hijacking your thread than to say that this is a noble pursuit of a questionable outcome.



BTW I have a couple of gutter-rashed 17s destined for the scrap metal bin - you can have them for $25 the pair if want to practice (or have some spares).

^
+1

But originality!!!
That's what made my Silver SE so desirable when selling to the general market. It had all the original parts available and the parts that were done on it were all bolt on bits.
There is no way I would have given away the SE rims whilst I owned that car.

Yes 15's ='s faster on track but for road driving the 17's never bothered me one bit.


Re painting Shadow Chrome yourself.
I wish you the best of luck!!! Painted a few rims myself but only ever done Metallic Silver and Gloss Black.
I had my Racing Harts redone at one stage but I'm in Sydney.
Ended up darker and less chrome looking than than the original which actually looked better.
It was many years ago(Maybe 2011 or 2012) so was only $120 a rim back then. Yhey were charging $80 a rim for normal colours as Shadow Chrome is more paint and more work. There was no metal damage to fix as it was purely scratches and marks from pebbles on a visit to a gravel trap. Just a full strip and repaint.

Would love to see your rattle can result as I'd be keep try it myself one day.

Years ago I bought some House of Colour Shadow Chrome. From memory it was $120 for 250ml. It goes over high gloss black. So really it needs to be finished in a gloss black, allowed to cure if it's 2 pack and then shadow chromed and then cleared. A royal PITA.

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So I gave up on the home spray shadow chrome kit, it just came out looking like grey primer. At this stage I've gone with a Kromebrite spray (from the local Auto One shop) which looks Ok to me, but I'll eventually get them powder coated as close to the originals as I can get.

That looks pretty good to me.

Problem is that it's not hard wearing. You can scratch it with your fingernail.