Economy RSR Fuchs finish ???

[Arne2]

Truly, I didn't find it that difficult to get nice, straight lines when I did mine, just by eye.

More pictures, best I have right now to show the paint lines. (The one in the shot above is a 16x7.)

Here's a front 16x6 fresh after masking removal:



Cell phone shot of a front on the car:



The matching cell phone pic of a rear:

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by will hung

That stinks. The factory method was to dip them, so me, they line around the recess of the rim should line up with the line on the pedals. I wasn't aware that they didn't line up on a 16" wheel.

You know, it didn't occur to me until just now, but if the factory truly did dip the 15" wheels (something I'm not certain of), perhaps the lack of a good dip line on the 16" wheels was the reason that the 16" all had painted centers. I'd always assumed it was a cost saving measure (since the petals didn't have to be finished and polished), but maybe the more fussy paint process had something to do with that as well?

[will hung]

Originally Posted by Arne2

You know, it didn't occur to me until just now, but if the factory truly did dip the 15" wheels (something I'm not certain of), perhaps the lack of a good dip line on the 16" wheels was the reason that the 16" all had painted centers. I'd always assumed it was a cost saving measure (since the petals didn't have to be finished and polished), but maybe the more fussy paint process had something to do with that as well?

That's definitely a possibility.

But they offered 15" Fuchs with painted centers before 16" Fuchs were ever offered. I know the move from longhood to shorthood was not only to comply with US impact laws, but Porsche was starting to think the look of the 911 was getting dated. So they wanted to get rid of all the polished surfaces. So I think the painted centers not only cost less to mass produce, but also helped fulfill their need to "update" the look of the 911.

[1970 911]

Great info in this thread. Here's my interpretation that I just finished...

[Len 911]

I had to double take a look at the picture, I was wondering why they were off the ground on the wall. Then I realized it is turned ... Very nice looking wheels Love the painted and black with the polished rings.... very nice

[1970 911]

Originally Posted by Len 911

I had to double take a look at the picture, I was wondering why they were off the ground on the wall. Then I realized it is turned ... Very nice looking wheels Love the painted and black with the polished rings.... very nice

Thank you

[Cook&Dunning]

My new euromeisters from our host. I redid the petals with modern silver alloy spray and then matt clear. I am not totally thrilled with my tape job, but I really like how the colour turned out.

[friendly]

I think that these are sensational!
How were they done?
I have glass beaded the centers, masked the edges but am reluctant to clear the centers because of darkening and poor adhesion.
What did you clear them with??
regards,
Fred

[sid86]

Great to see everyone busy working on their wheels!
Here are mine, added some color...

[Cook&Dunning]

Fred: I scuffed up the petals with sandpaper, sprayed with rattle can silver - here is a pic of the products used - it is just modern german alloy wheel silver I had from touching up my Cayman rims. The silver is very bright (and shiny) The matt clear really tones it down and darkens it a little. I need to get some front wheels soon, and will probably redo these - when I do them again I will do as you have - bead blast down to metal - then I will use 2K epoxy and then 2 stage silver and clear instead of spray can.

The taping is the only real slow part to this - I need to do a better job on getting a clean edge around petals next time.

In various threads I also found guys that used Krilon dull aluminum 1403 or brilliant silver, also Rustoleum Satin black, and Satin clear

[Cevan]

On my 914 Fuchs, I polished the lip and petals and bead-blasted the rest. No clear coat. They looked great after four years when I sold the car.

[HARVEYWEIDMAN]

Originally Posted by will hung

That's definitely a possibility.

But they offered 15" Fuchs with painted centers before 16" Fuchs were ever offered. I know the move from longhood to shorthood was not only to comply with US impact laws, but Porsche was starting to think the look of the 911 was getting dated. So they wanted to get rid of all the polished surfaces. So I think the painted centers not only cost less to mass produce, but also helped fulfill their need to "update" the look of the 911.

I was told there was a couple of reasons for the 16" black centers.
The black center wheel was the "top of the line" wheel in the 15" (Carreras and Turbos)
So it was one of those "move up" things to do to a new model. (like "S" on a 74-77)
The full polish outer was also a "top of the line" wheel first available on the Turbos.
To order them on a non Turbo like a 76,77 Carrera, you would request Turbo wheels.
Other wise you would get the 2 step outers like a 75 Carrera.
Also, if you look at a 73RS with 6&7X15s, the front 6" paint line really doesn't match the look of the 7".
That was corrected with the polishing of the 6X16" outer to match the exposure of the 7s.
The 15"WERE dipped starting with the 5.5X15 for the 68MY. Dipping wasn't new to the Germans. It was a natural solution. All of the suspension and engine tin was also dipped as I'm sure more parts as well.

I agree, It is good to see people working on their wheels. It makes guys like me glad to see we aren't the only ones with a wheel obsession.
H

[86930]

I have found this thread very inspiring. I decided to try my hand at creating an RSR finish on a set of Euromeisters that I have sitting in the garage. I have read just about every post on how to do this. I was not thrilled with the idea of masking the wheels...it just seemed like a LOT of work. But, I was really inspired by the original method that Porsche used - flooding or dipping the wheels to get the black part. Since my wheels have good black paint, I only wanted to paint the paddles. So, I decided to "reverse" the process by flooding the wheel with water to "mask" the area I did NOT want to paint.

Here is the step-by-step process that I used:

1. Use duct tape to seal off all the holes from the back side of the wheel. Be sure to use "waterproof" or "weatherproof" tape. I used the 3M version, which worked great.





2. SLOWLY pour water into the face of the wheel. I used a water bottle only filled about 1/2 way. You do not want to splash any water on the paddles where you want to paint.



3. Fill the water to the point where the black paint meets the unpainted rim. Make sure the rim is level. It will become obvious it if is not. Since my garage floor had a slight taper to it, I had to add a small shim to get it perfectly level. Again, the water line will tell you when it is perfectly level.



4. Spray paint in a light misting fashion. Do not get too close, or you will displace the water and end up with an uneven line. Obviously, the paint will adhere to the paddle and not the water. This is after the first coat.



5. Continue to lay on light coats until you have adequate coverage. I think I did 5 or 6 coats.





6. Let paint dry completely. Then use a toothpick to remove the paint film that formed on top of the water.





7. Use a the toothpick to rub gently along the paint line. It will free up any ragged pieces leaving a perfectly smooth line. The ragged pieces will simply float away.

[86930]

8. And the finished product!







I'm really pleased with how it came out.

[Elombard]

Oh My that looks completely pro. Great reverse engineering. What spray paint did you go with?

[86930]

Krylon 1403, as suggested several times in this thread. Here is another thread I started that has the whole mad scientist process that I went through:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/963410-rsr-finish-super-simple-30-minute-diy.html

I wanted to circle back to this older thread for feedback on the best paint to use. I followed the advice of people on this thread and tried Krylon 1403 and Rustoleum 7277. From my experiment, I decided to use the Krylon 1403 because I liked the color better. After I finished my test wheel, I realized that the can said it was for interior use. In reviewing this thread, it looks like those who used the Krylon 1403 used a clear coat over it. How has that held up? Are there any other suggestions for better paints to use?

I am confident that my process using water to mask is a good one. I'm just trying to decide what is the best paint to use before I tackle the rest of the wheels.

[Elombard]

I used the 7277 on mine and I clear coated with some matt clear coat that I bought at the auto parts store that said it was for wheels. It has held up fine but I am not too picky. Thats a couple of years ago. Not sure I would recommend it but the paint is available.

[Pehlen]

I masked mine and used Plastidip - short video: https://youtu.be/87ybEuKxc9o


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[86930]

Originally Posted by Pehlen

I masked mine and used Plastidip - short video: https://youtu.be/87ybEuKxc9o


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Cool. Actually, PlastiDip was my first choice. In my first experiment, I used PlastiDip "Aluminum". I really liked the texture, and the ability to peel it off if I ever changed my mind. But, I found that using my "water mask" method the mask line was not as crisp as it is with the paint. I describe my experiment here: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/963410-rsr-finish-super-simple-30-minute-diy.html


I am thinking about trying some additional PlastiDip experiments. In order to get a smoother mask line, you either need to remove the floating PlastiDip sooner (before it becomes well adhered to the paddles - or, spray only a couple coats at a time, allow to dry and remove floating overspray before shooting additional coats. Otherwise, it doesn't seem to break away as cleanly as the paint does.

With respect to the color, I found that applying a coat of PlastiDip Silver Metallizer over the Aluminum brightened the color to my liking.

The obvious benefit of PlastiDip is that you just peel it all off when you are ready for a change. The downside is that the finish and mask lines aren't as perfect.

[Edoyle]

I started with Braid BZ wheels in RSR finish from Braid. The finish seems durable but it wasn't 'the' rsr look. I polished the lip, blasted the barrel. I plan to paint the barrel with the krylon 1403 and then satin clear over evrything but here is what it looks like now.