Operator

well i know theres a lot of posts about painting the center caps but there wasnt much detail on these 2 things so if anyone whos done em can help me out.. thatd be great

i bought some testors enamels.. gold black red.. so i guess thats the paint i will use, im just going to use a brush

now how do i take the caps off?
and.. they are all miscolored and stuff, whats a good way to clean/prepare em? thanks

luckett

A toothbrush and mineral spirits or laquer thinner should clean them up well and remove any grease before painting.

To get them off, insert something like a thick paperclip in the two holes and pull it off.

Operator

cool, got em off, thanks.. now to find something to clean em with.

Operator

ack, my caps arent really dirty as much as they are miscolored, i think there is just paint missing from them... they are very patchy.. take a look:



if you look at the closeup you can see 3 distinct shades of gray on the cap, the top layer and dullest one is the factory paint i think, the middle tone is what most of the cap is colored.. i guess its a basecoat, and the silver is the aluminum showing through where i got some paint thinner on.. so i guess i can strip them completely of color and spray them with that wurths silver paint.. yea they wont be the same color as the phonedials anymore but.. better than before, and then i can paint the crest if i really want, eh? whats the best thing to paint them with if i strip them completely to alum?

Leonel

How about polishing the center cup before painting the Porsche crest and clear coating when your done ?

Water944t

I would strip and sand those, then polish them with a good 2000-2500 grit wet-sand paper. Once you have a nice finish on them, then use the paint.

I used testors, and had kind of mixed results, it is hard to get them perfect unless you are real handy with the brushes (get a good quality 00 brush, the cheap plastic ones will make you say bad words)

One guy used the "paint pens", that are like felt tip markers. He seemed to have a good result from them, and I can imagine that they would be a bit easier to apply.

They do add a nice touch to the wheels once painted.


<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

OZ951

I just did mine a while back
here are some pics of the results & materials I used.





I paint stripped and then lightly sanded the crests and then used the wurths silver wheel paint. Then I used the acrylics and let them dry a few days. Then I baked the crests in the oven for an hour or so at about 200F then I left them for a few days before clear coating them. Previously I had found that the rustoleum clear coat caused the a red enamel to run very slightly at the edges. Thats why I baked the paint and let it dry thoroughly this time. HOWEVER - the guy who is painting my car put some of his clearcoat on the caps so I cant be sure if it would have happened again if I had used the rustoleum lacquer again - I doubt it coz I sure as hell let the paints dry thoroughly this time.

Anyway the results were great and it didnt take all that long to actually do the painting.

Cheers,
Wayne

Operator

wayne that looks great
but.. how do they look on the wheels? does the silver match the silver of the wheels? i need to find some wurth i guess

Operator

man it is impossible to find wurth anywhere
im gonna get some other silver metallic laquer and try it on the caps! i dont feel like paying 15+shipping online!

OZ951

Yes the paint is expensive but that goes with the territory.

The results are wurth it (sorry couldn't resist ).



Wayne

JGriff

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>One guy used the "paint pens", that are like felt tip markers. He seemed to have a good result from them, and I can imagine that they would be a bit easier to apply.

They do add a nice touch to the wheels once painted.
<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>

I was "the guy" (or actually, just one of them, since I got the idea from this forum), and it was indeed rather easy with the paint pens. I got them at Wal-Mart for a few bucks each. (I got one each of red, black and gold. They sell them in the crafts section of the store.)

My center caps also looked the same beforehand... faded and/or worn. I ended up painting them silver with a wheel paint bought at an auto parts store, which didn't match perfectly to the OEM wheel, but they look better now than they did.

Anyway, here's the link to the webpage I put up, with pics:

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/4475/Porsche/centercaps.html" target="_blank">Painted Center Caps</a>

IMHO, they came out awesome, and it didn't take all that much effort.

Hope that helps.

Jim

Mark Hubley

With regards to getting the caps off the wheels, yesterday I tried to pull them out using one of those tools used to pull a radio. I couldn't get the caps to budge one bit. Am I missing something? Are they threaded or do they just pull straight out? Perhaps mine are just stuck after many years? Should I try pushing them out from the back when the wheels are off the car?

Thanks,

Mark

OZ951

A coat-hanger, cut and with the ends bent 90 degrees usually works. They just pull straight out. If they are stuck for some reason then yes you can press them off from behind if the wheel is off.

Wayne

Mich924S

Jim,
You're center caps look fantastic. Can you post the make/number of the silver spray can paint you used and then the make/number of the red/black/gold pens? I want to do this to mine ASAP. Thanks!

Thaddeus

Jim,

On your web site you say:
"I've heard that in order to be totally Porsche-****, the bottom of the crest should point towards the valve stem!!"

What you failed to mention is that you must also put the locking lug nearest to the valve stem! If you want to be ****, that is. Apparently it weighs a wee bit more than a plain lug nut, and compensates for the weight of the metal that is missing from the rim where the valve stem goes. or so I'm told.



Thaddeus