stock wheel color?

[RIVNIK]

Greetings, What is the proper finish for a '65 stock steel wheel & can I rattle-can it?   thanks. Drew

[lrlforfun]

Drew: Almost gloss black. I have had several 65 Rivs with original spares which showed this finish.  For some strange reason a 64 Riviera has a gloss finish that is of much higher quality.  Yes, rattle can it , jus do a nice job on the prep and you'll be fine. Mitch

Edited May 6, 2023 by lrlforfun (see edit history)

[RIVNIK]

Thanks, Mitch!

[Wayne R]

The  correct factory color  is not  black, im not sure what it was called, but it was 

dark shade of grey---like charcoal, and was in between satin and semi gloss,

i know  because i purchased m y 65  from the original owner,  and he never did a thing

to his riv   ever.-----will try and get a photo soon.----was sold years ago.

[Wayne R]

Found a couple of photos, plus also for memory the  ribbed rocker  covers 

were a similiar  colour, and i seem to remember when i was a subscriber of the review

i think Eastwood paints sold a  rally wheel grey.---hope this helps you.

sorry i think in photo wheels are not clean.--also note original lug bolts.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Wayne R (see edit history)

[RivNut]

1 hour ago, Wayne R said:

The  correct factory color  is not  black, im not sure what it was called, but it was 

dark shade of grey---like charcoal, and was in between satin and semi gloss,

i know  because i purchased m y 65  from the original owner,  and he never did a thing

to his riv   ever.-----will try and get a photo soon.----was sold years ago.

Wayne, the author is asking about the color of the stock steel rims, not the webs in the rally wheels.

[Wayne R]

Thank you Ed---and apologize RIVNIK--and IrIforfun-- for being in correct--yes my age is really catching on me.

[RivNut]

You’re not the only one. It happens to all of us.  😢

[RIVNIK]

no worries. Im right up there with you guys!   Several years ago I obtained a beautiful set of rally wheels from GeneG. I was so excited to get them on the car that my stock steel rims were improperly stored, & ended up quite rusty. I now wish I had taken pics of them. They had what appeared to be their original paint, which at first appeared to be gloss black but in the right light had a strange dark navy tint to it. Anyhoo I had them blasted clean, then I primed them & gave them several coats of Krylon gloss black.  I consider myself pretty handy w rattle can, but with all the convoluted surfaces on a steel wheel it has been difficult to impossible to get a perfectly even shiny coat. I was so disappointed I gave one a top coat of satin black, which gave a perfect finish but just did not look right. So I added another coat of gloss & that one actually looked better. So today Im doing the same to the others. Now I have to figure how to store them so it doesn't happen again.They will be inside a storage shed but here in muggy Fla it is hard to escape the humidity. Any suggestions about boxing, bagging, etc would be appreciated. Wish me luck.             ps: on a side note, I ended up w some light pitting in places on the inner wheel surfaces where the tire makes contact. Will these cause trouble when I eventually mount new tires? A friend suggested that I use body filler on the areas, sand & repaint them. Is this necessary or a bad idea? 

[Jim Cannon]

The wheels on my '63 Riv were in really good, original condition when I got it.  I repainted the wheels before mounting new tires.  I was able to match the paint color on them. Here are pictures of them, front and back, with the tires mounted. I don't know about other years. YMMV.

 

 

[RivNut]

My wife cares for the birds during the winter and buys bird seed from a local seed company. The seed comes in large extra heavy duty resealable bags. I’m betting that you could easily fit a wheel in one.  Put a couple of dessicant packs in with the wheels and apply vacuum to it. Should keep it dry in any weather. Or buy some of the vacuum bags for clothing. Might be more expensive but the fittings on the bag would make it easy to attach a vacuum cleaner hose.  You could always have them powder coated - super shiny, super tough finish.

[RIVNIK]

Thanks Jim! Who knew wheels would be pale blue on the backside?! I wonder if there was an actual reason for that. Anyhoo, thanks Ed, the sealable bag w desiccant packs route seems like the way to go. I wanted to powder coat, but at $80 a pop, on top of $40 for the sandblast, it was a bit out of my range. If they were my primary wheels I would probably go the extra mile. Also I can't imagine powder coating stands up to Riv wire hubcaps much better than paint does. Those things gouge deep! 

[Riviera63]

1 hour ago, RIVNIK said:

Thanks Jim! Who knew wheels would be pale blue on the backside?! I wonder if there was an actual reason for that. Anyhoo, thanks Ed, the sealable bag w desiccant packs route seems like the way to go. I wanted to powder coat, but at $80 a pop, on top of $40 for the sandblast, it was a bit out of my range. If they were my primary wheels I would probably go the extra mile. Also I can't imagine powder coating stands up to Riv wire hubcaps much better than paint does. Those things gouge deep! 

I can attest that powder coating does not stand up to the wheel covers any better than paint does where the wheel covers gouge into the rim. That being said there is a lot of area on the rim front and back that is not affected by this. Those areas in my observation stand up to the elements, dirt, etc. better than paint would. Wow, prices have changed since I had mine done. In 2014 I had 5 rims sandblasted and powder coated for $125. 

 

Bill

[1965rivgs]

2 hours ago, RIVNIK said:

Thanks Jim! Who knew wheels would be pale blue on the backside?! I wonder if there was an actual reason for that. Anyhoo, thanks Ed, the sealable bag w desiccant packs route seems like the way to go. I wanted to powder coat, but at $80 a pop, on top of $40 for the sandblast, it was a bit out of my range. If they were my primary wheels I would probably go the extra mile. Also I can't imagine powder coating stands up to Riv wire hubcaps much better than paint does. Those things gouge deep! 

I suspect what appears blue is actually gray.

Tom Mooney

[Jim Cannon]

11 hours ago, 1965rivgs said:

I suspect what appears blue is actually gray.

Tom Mooney

It is. It is a grey. The fluorescent lights in the garage made it look blue.  I will see if I can dig up the paint color that I used that I felt matched the original color best.

[1965rivgs]

36 minutes ago, Jim Cannon said:

It is. It is a grey. The fluorescent lights in the garage made it look blue.  I will see if I can dig up the paint color that I used that I felt matched the original color best.

  Is your jack handle also Grey Jim?

Tom

[Jim Cannon]

The photo below is from an original, very low miles '63 Riv owned by Mark Uhlig.

 

I think my jack handle is also grey.

[RivNut]

Is the jack base the same color as the handle?  I have two jack sets, one blue and one grey. No idea from which cars they came, but they are designed to fit into the slots in 1st generation Riviera bumpers.

[Jim Cannon]

5 hours ago, RivNut said:

Is the jack base the same color as the handle?  I have two jack sets, one blue and one grey. No idea from which cars they came, but they are designed to fit into the slots in 1st generation Riviera bumpers.

Black.  The jack base has the retainer screw passing through it, then the big wingnut screws down against it.

 

[XframeFX]

On 5/7/2023 at 7:52 AM, Jim Cannon said:

I repainted the wheels before mounting new tires.

A little side question on Jim's Tire's. Is that a 1.5" WSW? What size tire? Brand?

 

A recent post on this Forum identified WSW tires as unobtainum in Canada, almost. A local tire shop has them, or had them. Gone when I got there. More coming from China. I insisted on a deposit to ensure the first 5 are mine out of the sea-can. Unsure about the 1.5" WSW. Yours look good but need to see them with hubcaps. Better yet, on the Riviera.

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by XframeFX (see edit history)

[EmTee]

14 hours ago, Jim Cannon said:

I think my jack handle is also grey.

Likewise on my '67...

[Jim Cannon]

8 hours ago, XframeFX said:

A little side question on Jim's Tire's. Is that a 1.5" WSW? What size tire? Brand?

 

A recent post on this Forum identified WSW tires as unobtainum in Canada, almost. A local tire shop has them, or had them. Gone when I got there. More coming from China. I insisted on a deposit to ensure the first 5 are mine out of the sea-can. Unsure about the 1.5" WSW. Yours look good but need to see them with hubcaps. Better yet, on the Riviera.

 

 

 

That picture is about 20 years old now. That is a 1.3" wide whitewall.  It was the closest I could get at that time to the correct tire in a radial. I think they are American Classic Radials that I ordered from Coker. 

 

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/p215-75r15-american-classic-1-3-whitewall-tire.html

 

Here are a few pictures of them on the car. They are "ok" but not really what I'd like.  I'd rather have closer to the stock 1" whitewall width.

 

[RIVNIK]

I love my rally wheels but what a difference those wire caps make!  They really bring out the Riv's natural elegance. Too bad it's such a pain to switch from one to the other. Hard enough around here to find a reputable shop that will switch used tires from one wheel to another.

[XframeFX]

1 hour ago, Jim Cannon said:

They are "ok" but not really what I'd like.  I'd rather have closer to the stock 1" whitewall width.

The rubber I have coming will have 1.4" WSW. Thought they would "grow" on me with time. WSW size is not much of a factor 15' back. Looks better with wire 'caps than than rally wheels.

 

Those images are definitely old. Fuel prices across from that Chevron are what we have today in Canada $$CAD/Litre

 

Nice '63 Riviera Jim!

 

21 minutes ago, RIVNIK said:

Too bad it's such a pain to switch from one to the other.

You've seen my other post. That is exactly what I desire. Hesitant in removing steel grippers on my wire 'caps. I had a chance to buy a set here for cheap but would like a 5th rough hubcap too try out.