Opinion on Style 5 Refinish

[tn535i]

One thing I'm curious to hear is opinion on the wheel color and finish but:

This began as a winter project about two seasons ago. I'm putting in Tech Talk because it includes a little tech and I'm not sure exactly when but I made myself some test coupons with polished aluminum and a couple products I though might protect the finish on a style 5 wheel before I went to the trouble to refinish them 'again'. I found Everbright ProtectaClear to work very well and it survived a full year in direct exposure to sunlight and everything that came down from the sky. I have also used it on some polished brass bathroom fixtures with good results but the aluminum seems to be holding up even better.

My goal was a polish (not necessarily mirror) on the aluminum barrel and a darker color on the centers since they just get dirty anyway. The aluminum I would be happy looking a bit like the anodized bumpers but I have no idea how to do that. Anodizing gets a coating/sealer and it might even be similar to Everbright. It gives just the slightest rainbow like reflections at times but not cheezy. For the center I chose an off the shelf color as close to the BMW Nagaorsilver as I could get in a basic enamel wheel paint and considered a 2K paint but since I've been doing this a little at a time the enamel was easier. I've only done a couple and not 100% sure I like it this dark and could change it easily still. Maybe it should have been in-between Nagaro and the basic wheel silver you get from Wurth. Here's where your opinion or picture is welcome. It's a very different look for the style 5 and the bolts were previously nickel plated and now basically just cleaned and coated also. I wanted them a litter darker also and way cheaper than chrome replacements.



Overall look



I hope this year I find time to really work on the M6 and get some things completed:

Reinstall the seat with repairs to the silver grey leather
Repair small rust spot in the seam where the lower rear panel was replaced (poor bodyshop work)
Paint the replacement tow hook cover (now white) as well as a few other areas like the repair above
Remove the gold pin stripes (never liked), polish the whole car, new pin stripes with silver over grey in keeping with the colors of the car
Consider painting the rear license plate surround area, I think it should be a matte black color from the factory
Minor repairs to some various things I've neglected like a light in the AC slider, etc but those are easy if I get after it

Car runs great and can't say what I think of the new Pirelli's yet. The old were wonderful on this car and I'm hoping for that same balance of quiet and smooth and predictable at the limit.

[GoNoles]

I think those look great and work well with your red car. Nice ride!

[jyl]

I think those look great! A real “working” wheel, not a blingy wheel.

I have some RC090s that need restoring too. The lips look bad in spots, I think it is mostly damage to anodizing or coating. I’ll planning to pull them apart and polish the lips to satin and paint the baskets dark gray or dark blue (E28 is ArticBlau). Basically I’ll be thrilled if they look half as hood as yours!

[LarryM]

I guess I'm in the minority so far, but I think you should go back to the original silver for the centers. The black centers may make the car look a little more track-focused, but as these aging cars become increasingly collectible, that look becomes more polarizing and the "factory look" appears more appropriate. It seems that older enthusiasts (like me) are more likely to prefer keeping a stock-like appearance. If you go on BaT you'll see that vintage cars (of all types) with more of a stock look tend to bring higher bids. The RC090s may not be the original wheel for E24s, but with silver centers they almost look factory original and IMO enhance the car's appearance.

[tn535i]

Larry I am older... and I appreciate all the responses. After I started this I did see some pics of RC090's with a lighter grey which made me think about it again. Don't you hate it when you second guess yourself? This grey really does match the grey that runs up and over the windows and you can also see I need to respray the B pillar dark again. I'm not considering the OE silver (no offense but so hard to keep clean) and it's not that difficult to take the centers out of the RC090 and repaint them whatever color suites your taste or to make them 'more' original later if in good condition. As said above the style 5 is similar but not original on these cars. Honestly the hardest part of this was stripping the paint because you cannot buy a decent remover anymore due to the ban on methylene chloride which I have used before and worked well on 2k paints. Everything says it removes catalyzed and epoxy paints but not easily. Maybe it was unnecessary to remove all the paint but once I started that I kept going to bare aluminum thinking it would give the best results and I'm very happy with the paint finish even if from a can. I have the stuff to spray 2K paint but it's a lot of trouble.

btw that is an old roundel... I have not stuck the new ones in yet or lined them up.

I offered up the Everbright and will try to report back if I find it isn't as good as I hoped. Others mention ceramic coatings but never say what ceramic coating that was? So I did my own research on that and decided on Everbright as one candidate. My polish process was progressive grades of wet dry sandpaper up to about 1000 grit to remove all the oxidation and then I polished with a basic cleaner/polish like Mothers. After that clean and clean some more with pure acetone and then finally follow the directions for the ProtectaClear. This is really not difficult but only with all the bolts out.

Maybe this helps others. I know if you want that mirror (almost chrome look) it's a very different process. As I said I was not after a mirror finish and getting a mirror finish would require removing every spec and blemish to get there and I still have a few little dark spots, light scratches or mild curb rash in the wheels that are hardly noticed. In fact there is some rash just above the valve stem if you look close.

My car is not a pristine example and has been resprayed from an accident before it was mine. The goal is NOT a high dollar perfect example but one I can still drive whenever I feel like it.

Thanks,