I have a 96 SC4 with stock wheels. The center inserts are about 61/2 inches in diameter and have chrome "L"s mounted on them. The disks themselves are plastic and the alloy color paint is wearing off around the edges. I'd like to remove the badges and repaint the disks. Anyone ever done this? It looks as if the badges are held on by three plastic pins through the disk. The tips of the pins are melted down to secure the badge. How do I remove and remount them?

 

One other question. Should I save myself the aggrevation and just buy new ones? Any idea what they cost?

 

bump

 

is it the hub that you want to paint?

 

Well I guess in a steel wheel application it would be called the hub cap. Its the plastic disk that covers the lug nuts. I just want to paint the disk, not the chrome badges so I either have to take the badges off or mask them.

 

dont even try to remove the L's off the hub caps - they are set in indentations, and if you remove them youll just get weird looking oval indentations left in your wheel. as far as painting goes, just pick up a can of silver wheel paint from napa - that actually matches damn near perfectly (i did it to remedy the same wear around the edges on my hub caps). right now im driving around without the caps as i think it actually makes the 7 spoke wheels look better/more aggressive, but this is only temporary until my gs400 wheels arrive (on order)

 

So you suggest I just mask the whole center and only paint around the edges where the paint is worn off. That work if, as you say, I find a near perfect color match. Can you give me the specific color code of NAPA paint you used?

 

yes, mask off the center and spray a few fairly light coats on the outside edges. i believe the color code for the paint is "Steel WP316", which is the number right above the bar code on the spray can. the can itself is blue, has a picture of a 5 lug wheel, says DUPLI COLOR at the top, WHEEL PAINT below that, and STEEL FINISH below that. dupli color is the brand, its not the napa brand paint.

 

Thanks,

I'll give that a try.

 

I did all 4 caps on my SC300 using a spray paint from Wal-Mart's automotive department. The gold L-emblems in the middle were easily removed by removing the RTV type material on the 3 pins on the back side and then pushing them out. I used an 800 grit paper to remove the paint off of the front. After painting, the emblems were resinstalled and held in place with clear RTV. If you need a paint ID, let me know. I tried a couple before finding the right one. I'm now considering doing the wheels since the original paint is starting to flake.

 

This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thanks! Please provide the paint's manufacturer name and color code.

 

The paint is Dupli.Color, DS GM 340 Silver MC. A small can goes a long ways. The insert is plastic as you probably know so go easy on the sanding. Again, I really didn't have any problems removing and reinstalling the emblems. A little trick, if you need it, is to use dental floss to pull out the emblems after removing the adhesive from the back. Good luck.

 

I also wanted to mention that my car is a 93 SC300 so there may be a slight difference in colors. My wife's car is an LS400 and the color seems the same. My wheels are only 15". You probably have 16".