1940 wheels

[deac]

I am in the process of re-finishing my wheels in Dante Red.  I have done some searches on the web and the color samples look too bright and pinkish.  Bill Hirsch only carries engine enamels and none of them are named Dante Red.  I bought a spray can from dupli-color which I thought was close but seems a little too dark.  Any advice would be much appreciated.  I would prefer the paint to be in a spray can but could buy a quart or two if that's the only way I can get it.  Also my car is a nice driver and I do not intend to make it a show car therefore I do not need an exact match, just a close example. 

[The 55er]

Might not be for everyone but I've done it this way many times. Paint suppliers like my local NAPA store have color books full of the most popular Truck/Fleet colors. There are over 340 popular colors in this particular book with many reds. I don't paint much anymore but every color I've ever selected from this book was still available and they had a formula for it. If it were me I'd just pick a color off these charts that I liked, get a pint of paint mixed, prime the wheels with some suitable red primer and shoot the wheels with red acrylic enamel. A pint should be enough for 4-5 wheels. Some paint stores will even put the color in aerosol spray cans if you want.  For a nice driver that's not a show car and with the hubcaps & maybe some trim rings covering the wheel how accurate does it have to be? 

[deac]

1 hour ago, The 55er said:

For a nice driver that's not a show car and with the hubcaps & maybe some trim rings covering the wheel how accurate does it have to be? 

Your thought that I quoted is same feeling I have. It's just that I am looking for a point of reference. Is Dante red a deep red or a lighter red. Are there any detectable  pinks, browns or oranges prevalent mixed in that change the look to the naked eye? I will try to get a paint chart from NAPA.

[Daves1940Buick56S]

I used the Hirsch Dante Red on my wheels on my 38 and it looks awesome

[deac]

50 minutes ago, Daves1940Buick56S said:

I used the Hirsch Dante Red on my wheels on my 38 and it looks awesome

That's a sweet 38!  If I look at this picture I see a red painted wheel with a pinkish hue.  Is that what Dante red, is or is the computer screen/picture distorting the color?  As noted before Hirsch does not make a Dante red paint.

[Daves1940Buick56S]

No pinkish tinge, it is a nice pure red.

Btw the cans I have are labeled Dante Red

[Daves1940Buick56S]

I am pretty sure the paint is Hirsch with Cars putting their own label on it.

[Daves1940Buick56S]

Another pic not in the sun

[Daves1940Buick56S]

Ok further research. If you go to the Hirsch site you will see engine paint that is labeled Buick Early Red 1941. I think that is very close to Dante Red since Buick stated that 1941 engine color is Dante Red. Others will know more than me however.

[deac]

I took sometime but the wheel project is finished.  I took the wheels from a deep blue to a red.  The only thing left to do is the pin striping. Now the car is looking like it's suppose to; after all it's a Buick!

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by deac (see edit history)

[EmTee]

Looks good.  So, which red did you decide to use?

[deac]

On 10/9/2023 at 1:42 PM, The 55er said:

Might not be for everyone but I've done it this way many times. Paint suppliers like my local NAPA store have color books full of the most popular Truck/Fleet colors. There are over 340 popular colors in this particular book with many reds. I don't paint much anymore but every color I've ever selected from this book was still available and they had a formula for it. If it were me I'd just pick a color off these charts that I liked, get a pint of paint mixed, prime the wheels with some suitable red primer and shoot the wheels with red acrylic enamel. A pint should be enough for 4-5 wheels. Some paint stores will even put the color in aerosol spray cans if you want.  For a nice driver that's not a show car and with the hubcaps & maybe some trim rings covering the wheel how accurate does it have to be? 

Out here in California I don't think the service you're speaking of exists.  If you have the this type of paint selection and service in your area you are very fortunate.  I went to 2 NAPA stores and inquired about paint.  The 20 year old fella looked at me with blank stare and then said we don't have that here.  I asked if any So Cal NAPA store has the service and he said no.  He went on to tell me that they have a DupliColor selection in the back which I found to be pretty pathetic.  I live in the wrong state.

 

So I  went to my old reliable stand by ACE Hardware which had a large selection of rattle cans and bought a Rust Oleum enamel red.  I have had real good experiences with that brand.  I applied two coats let it setup/cure for a few days before I had the tires mounted. I stayed with the radials.

Edited December 10, 2023 by deac (see edit history)

[kingrudy]

Looking good to me and if you have to freshen it up in years to come, you know where the right color is. 

[deac]

Here's a shot of the right rear of the car.  I was a bit dubious that the color contrast would work. However I am very happy with it. Yeah I know the gravel guards are not looking very spry and are missing the backing plate the the rubber mat bonds to.  But to buy new ones from Bob's is no cheap affair and I haven't run across any NOS used one either.

Edited December 10, 2023 by deac (see edit history)

[EmTee]

Looks good to me!  Silver pinstripes will add a little more 'pizazz'. 

[kingrudy]

23 hours ago, deac said:

Here's a shot of the right rear of the car.  I was a bit dubious that the color contrast would work. However I am very happy with it. Yeah I know the gravel guards are not looking very spry and are missing the backing plate the the rubber mat bonds to.  But to buy new ones from Bob's is no cheap affair and I haven't run across any NOS used one either.

Well you know what I always say, "unless you take your car to a meet that has several 1940 Buicks, no one will spot this unless you point it out". I have one perfect gravel guard and one that has been well used. So until I get the other one fixed, I will not put them on the car. I spoke to a representative from Steele Rubber and he said that I could have one done instead of buying a pair. It's on my list. I am beginning to make peace with the fact that the car will never be perfect. 

[Shootey]

On 12/10/2023 at 8:08 AM, EmTee said:

Looks good to me!  Silver pinstripes will add a little more 'pizazz'. 

Have any of you burn into a question about using silver for stripes?  My likely striper suggested  silver may not adhere properly and said a grey could replicate it. Maybe it’s just silver in California which has stricter emissions laws for paint. Thanks. 

[EmTee]

Well, when I put new whitewalls on my '38 Century, I decided to change my wheel color from red (with the old blackwalls) to black (body color).  To spice it up a bit I decided to add a red pinstripe using some 1/16" pinstripe tape I had on the shelf.  I figured the red would hint at the optional red wheel treatment.  Anyway, I did like the look, however, the 1/16" inch stripe was a bit hard to see against the black (1/8" would probably have been better), so I added some gold on either side of the red to set it off against the black.  Again, this was using tape that I already had.  The final result looks pretty good to my eye, so I have left it for now.  Since it's just pinstripe tape it can easily be removed and replaced with a different design at any time I choose.  My suggestion would be to get some silver pinstripe tape and get creative!  In fact, you can try two or three different colors and come up with your own design. 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by EmTee
typo (see edit history)

[deac]

Well I am should get in time to put them on next weekend.

 

Whoops, try that again - I ordered the hub caps for the front 2 wheels from Bob's and should arrive before next weekend.   There's a few ways to do the pin stripping and none of them sound good to me.  Unfortunately small technical things like that have never come easy to me.  The main thing in my mind about the pin stripping is the lines need to be concentric, otherwise it won't look right especially at idle and slow speeds.

Edited December 12, 2023 by deac (see edit history)

[EmTee]

The striping tape is pretty easy and very forgiving.  You can pull it back and  re-do as necessary.  Also lets you try different colors.  You can do a couple of wheels in different colors or styles and stare at them for a few days to decide which you like better!

[deac]

On 12/11/2023 at 7:14 AM, kingrudy said:

Well you know what I always say, "unless you take your car to a meet that has several 1940 Buicks, no one will spot this unless you point it out". I have one perfect gravel guard and one that has been well used. So until I get the other one fixed, I will not put them on the car. I spoke to a representative from Steele Rubber and he said that I could have one done instead of buying a pair. It's on my list. I am beginning to make peace with the fact that the car will never be perfect. 

I have these these old cars are endless projects.  We throw money, labor and TLC at them and they never seem like they're finished!  But I wouldn't change anything about this hobby because it's a passion of mine and it's taught me a lot.  My Buick Super has many projects left to be started, however it 's still a very fun to driver; I love that car. My 57 Pontiac which I have done triple amount of work to relative to the Buick is a fun car to drive too!  However there's lots more horsepower and manual drum brakes (eek!). But the Buick is way more luxurious than my Pontiac.

 

As for the gravel guards, they will just have to wait.  If Bob's wants over $600 for a pair of guards than Steele and Rubber. I would think, would be more!

Edited December 12, 2023 by deac (see edit history)

[Steve_bigD]

I agree with EmTee that pinstriping tape is the easiest way to go.  I refurbished my wheels in preparation for new WW radials this past summer and tried using pinstriping brushes and paint and found that unless one has some real talent and a very steady hand it is almost impossible to get visibly even and concentric stripes. I went with two different widths of silver pinstriping tape one of which I had to cut to the correct width due to tape availability. As long as you go slowly and carefully it is relatively easy to lay down evenly spaced concentric rings. As EmTee says, it is easy to reposition that tape as you go. Once all three stripes were down I sprayed a few coats of clear to protect and seal them.  It's not as perfect as the machine applied factory striping but I think it came out very close.

 

Steve D

[EmTee]

To help get the first tape stripe circular, I placed a few short pieces of masking tape at a constant radius.  That made it easier to judge where to lay the striping tape.  Once the first circle is down, another ring of the desired width striping tape can be applied to establish gap, followed by the next stripe.  Once the stripes are down go back and remove the tape used to define the gaps.  A top coat of clear sounds like a good idea as it will unify the sheen and will soften the edges of the tape stripes.

[Talarico8447]

On 12/10/2023 at 9:50 AM, deac said:

Here's a shot of the right rear of the car.  I was a bit dubious that the color contrast would work. However I am very happy with it. Yeah I know the gravel guards are not looking very spry and are missing the backing plate the the rubber mat bonds to.  But to buy new ones from Bob's is no cheap affair and I haven't run across any NOS used one either.

 

On 12/10/2023 at 8:50 AM, deac said:

I took sometime but the wheel project is finished.  I took the wheels from a deep blue to a red.  The only thing left to do is the pin striping. Now the car is looking like it's suppose to; after all it's a Buick!

 

 

 

Wheels look great! What a difference. 

[deac]

On 12/11/2023 at 7:14 AM, kingrudy said:

Well you know what I always say, "unless you take your car to a meet that has several 1940 Buicks, no one will spot this unless you point it out". I have one perfect gravel guard and one that has been well used. So until I get the other one fixed, I will not put them on the car. I spoke to a representative from Steele Rubber and he said that I could have one done instead of buying a pair. It's on my list. I am beginning to make peace with the fact that the car will never be perfect. 

I found an alternative to Bob's and Steele in Metro Molding,  They do carry complete gravel guards for a hundred bucks less than Bob's.  They also carry the rubber moldings to bond onto your steel plates.  I found a pair of gravel guards and am having the rubber moldings replaced with the ones from Metro Molding.  I agree with you that these old cars drop piles of money and labor on are never done.  The projects just keep coming and coming.  I have done more to the Buick than I ever anticipated. It's a fun challenge and a feeling of great accomplishment follows!  But my Pontiac is calling my name so sooner than later I am going to have to swap cars and work on my Poncho.