# Alloy Wheel Colour



## Ziggytt (Sep 9, 2009)

Hi find this really frustrating. Having my alloy wheels referbed and the mobile guy says he is using the correct Alloy wheel silver but its greyer than the original one. I have three alloys in all that I want done as they just have over the past ten years damaged rims but so far not happy with the colour as it just doesn't match the original. I though I was being a bit too fussy at first but friends have also said that the colour doesn't match and look duller and not as silver.
The are a renowned franchise and at first he said that the primer was reacting badly with the wheel and had asked me what I had been spraying on them as he said the wheel was so silky smooth that he had never had this problem before. I had just previously washed and wiped them but had not put anything on them. Any thoughts please as the guy is coming back tomorrow to respray the one he messed up last week.


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## happychappy (Feb 9, 2015)

In those pictures there is a definite colour imbalance and I too would not be happy.

I would request that the three sprayed wheels are colour corrected.

DONT let him touch the original alloy, assuming thats if he offers a "free respray" for your wasted time!

That's until the other three match the original.

Name and shame?

Social media would be your friend here.


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## qooqiiu (Oct 12, 2007)

Colour matching OEM wheels is a nightmare.

The colour of base coat hugely affects the colour too so it may well be the right top colour but if the base coat is wrong then...


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## carlsicesilverTT (Jun 30, 2016)

Tricky one, if your not happy you should say. It may be difficult to get a exact colour match it would seem. In this case I would get all 4 wheels sprayed the same colour, all be it not the same colour as original wheels and then complain. With the intention of getting a discount or partial refund.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

From my experience with industrial painting, trying to color match old parts is a real challenge, especially for silver and metallic paints.

Age, UV and environmental exposure will degrade or fade the OEM factory color over time - no way around it. While the painter may have used the OEM factory paint color, it's not actually the color you're seeing today.

The best person to comment on this in this Forum is 'Stiff' as he's a professional automotive painter. I'll send him a PM and see what he has to say.


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## Ziggytt (Sep 9, 2009)

Thanks for all your replies so far. I thought I was just being fussy but they have a tint of grey appose to silver as they originally were. He just said that he was using 'Audi Wheel spray' but as far as I know he could have bought this from Halfords. They are a big company up and down the country, originally I was going to spend 95 quid on having them dipped etc but thought as it was just the rims and I had already done a half decent job with airfix 55 silver paint :lol: that did match thought I would pay £60 and have them done by a mobile unit. 
Friend of mine bought their car and had paid extra for repair scratches as part of the deal and they did a really good job. Considering mine were not half so bad thought it wouldn't be a problem.
I have a code for paint from this forum which is (LLSOM6Z17) I will forward this to him before he turns up tomorrow morning. Think I will have to get them repainted though as the front two will notice against the back two.
On a good note I managed to replace my 3rd brake light which wasn't too much of a problem, so will up load pictures of how I did it incase anyone needs help. Saved myself about £180 quid!


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

If you want to provide a DIY for the 3rd tail light replacement, along with your photos, I will be sure to link it to the Knowledge Base. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]


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## Iceblue (Jul 20, 2018)

I think I have the same wheels which are 18' 10 spoke speedlines which are a diamond cut OEM TT wheel that should look like the picture below when they were new. Mine are yet to be refurbished and are in the other picture below. To refurb them to new they need to have the clear coat and the face of the spokes taken off by a CNC machine and then have the sides/back/rear painted black or grey (I prefer the black) and a new clear coat over the diamond cut face. Its more than the cost of painting I believe but suits the TT IMO.


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## longmanjon (Jun 7, 2019)

i need mine all refurbing, as the previous owner has scuffed them all. does anyone have any recommended companies in the Basingstoke area. is this something that is best done in a shop rather than mobile and anyone know an average cost?


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## happychappy (Feb 9, 2015)

Sorry, not Basingstoke, but to give you an idea mine were £360 in Essex.


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## chrisj82 (Jun 15, 2012)

Iceblue said:


> I think I have the same wheels which are 18' 10 spoke speedlines which are a diamond cut OEM TT wheel that should look like the picture below when they were new. Mine are yet to be refurbished and are in the other picture below. To refurb them to new they need to have the clear coat and the face of the spokes taken off by a CNC machine and then have the sides/back/rear painted black or grey (I prefer the black) and a new clear coat over the diamond cut face. Its more than the cost of painting I believe but suits the TT IMO.


What he says I have same wheels they are diamond cut.


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## Stiff (Jun 15, 2015)

That's not acceptable. 
I can understand where he's coming from with the reactions from the primer as I've had issues with Audi's in the past (including my own Peelers). It's nothing to do with whatever you've been putting on them (if anything) as he should be degreasing them sufficiently prior to prepping them. It's the paints that will be reacting - usually cellulose primer over synthetic paints (or 2K's that haven't cured). 
I'm not sure what he means by 'Audi Wheel Spray' as that could mean anything - aerosol/straight met/base and lacquer? It covers all bases and doesn't help. Judging by what others have said, the wheels may well have been painted before and there's no way of knowing what material was used. Still, if he knows what he's doing, he should be able to lose or rectify the reactions.
If you've forwarded the paint code then there should be no issues if he has a mixing scheme. The problem there lies with whether the previous paint was matched to original or totally different. The original colour may have been 'Avus' Silver for example but when painted again may have been done in 'Le Mans' silver (or possibly not even an Audi silver at all)
Regardless, even without the code it shouldn't be a problem matching the silver. The system I was using had 5 or 6 different silver 'tinters' with varying grades of 'fleck' and it's quite easy to play around to get the right consistency then a drop of black and/or yellow to get the shade right. You should be able to put the 2 wheels together and not notice any difference in colour. This was the main way I would do them if there was even a hint that they'd been painted before. _Hoping_ they'd been matched previously is always a gamble and you'd be in the lap of the gods.
Get him to redo that wheel again until you're happy and then decide from there whether you want him to do the other 2 or look elsewhere.


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## flyfifer (May 13, 2019)

I had my alloys refurbed on a previous car (Mk3 Toyota MR-2). Went round a few places in the Bristol area and they all said the same to me; because the wheels were silver they recommended that all four wheels were done together as silver was notoriously difficult to colour match and they would not guarantee it unless they were all done at the same time.

Admittedly, you could write that off as them trying to get work for four wheels rather than one. But the fact that it was a consistent comment across multiple suppliers, I suspect not.

So, if they were right, it sounds like this painter's mistake was not setting expectations at the start rather than the quality of his work.

Graham.


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## ashfinlayson (Oct 26, 2013)

Swiss has it right, lacquer fades with age so you if you've got some 10 year old wheels, they will look radically different to a newly sprayed wheel. Technique, volume of paint and the equipment used also affects the final colour. If you want them to look the same, you need to get them all done at once.


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## Stiff (Jun 15, 2015)

Matching silver wheels should not be a problem to anyone with access to a mixing scheme. I looked after a half dozen or so dealerships doing a mixture of smart repairs and wheel refurbs. The majority of the time the wheel refurbs would be one wheel (usually NSF - kerbing), maybe two max. If I'd have told them they needed all four doing I would have been booted off site for taking the p1ss and my gaffer would have been issuing me with my P45. It's a ploy to make their job easier and get you to part with more money.


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## Ziggytt (Sep 9, 2009)

Thanks again for all your interesting replies on this subject. 
Had the wheel man round again on Wednesday and I did moan again about the colour having a slight amount of grey in it. I showed him the spray code that was written on my phone and just got a load of different swatches out and basically said which one do you want me to do it in then. I said it was up to him to match it as I was paying. He said he had been using silver 1 which is the lightest. 
I have seen spayed alloys with brighter alloys than mine so who knows what he paints on them. 
In the end I just got him to respiray the two which now do look better but still slightly noticeable and cut my loses. I also notice the inside of the rims are notice as smooth as my original one and there is slight misses of paint round the valve. I won't be using WW again and think on the third wheel pay the 95 quid and have it dipped and respryed.
Will try and take a couple more pictures over the weekend and post them on this link.
Regards to my project with the 3rd light, it all went well and worked fine, drove the car for first time since and the rear brake light came up again, this time for the right side tail light where the bulb has gone .... replaced one around February should have done both bulbs at the same time.


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## SwissJetPilot (Apr 27, 2014)

Is the bulb actually burned out or are you suffering from the faulty ground (earth) tail light problem?

Check the rear light connectors (socket/plug) on both sides and look for a burnt pin. That's the tip that you'll want to run an extra ground wire to sort it. Simple fix, follow the link below -

https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &start=105


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