Painting hub caps

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PDoyle

PDoyle

Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Threads
297
Messages
3,594
Location
Saratoga Lake, NY
I'm ready to paint my hub caps. I searched the site and found some guys starting the task, but nothing noted after that.
Has anybody been successful applying paint and it staying on the plastic? :cheers:
 
Mine are going on 5 years now with nothing coming off. Lasting better than the factory paint did. I used a good primer, and then finished it off with a couple layers of clear coat for durability.
 
I used the paint Doug recommended, but not the clearcoat, and they lasted about a year.
 
Hi Pat,

I've got a 94 and the caps were awful, so I sanded them down, (I might have bead blasted them at work, don't remember exactly) and used Rust Olem's silver primer, several coats, then Rust Olems silver metalic paint. I probably put 6 coats of this, maybe more. Just use light coats or it will start to run and you'll have to start over. Let each coat dry before re-coating to avoid runs. Next when the silver metalic looked really good, I coated it with spray Laquer. I think I did 2-3 coats of this, then painted the Toyota symbol with gold metalic model paint, 2-3 coats, then let this dry well. I finished up with about 10 coats of laquer clear gloss. Looked better than new, and except for the chips from the dumb, careless mechanics, they still look new. I need to fix the chips which I'll just try to touch up then shoot some clear over it again.

Worked great for me!

Bryan
 
Not sure where it is and I'm not searching for it since I don't use caps any more, but somewhere on here this is a paint code that someone used. It may even be a repost of someone like Juice's post on the 80's list from a few years back.
 
Probably mine - specified a Datsun touch up paint code that matched exactly - not just close. I don't have it but I posted it on the 80s Cool list years ago and it's around here too.

DougM
 
took mine off. Looks much more cruiserish without them... :D

(ya don't think that's bad for them axles and stuff, now, do ya?)

E
 
Once we get a code and have someone confirm the results, can we make this a FAQ.... or is it not tech-enough?
 
O hate that god awful search feature on the 80scool list. Here is what I found ....

*******************
Dupli-Color Import AutoSpray paint. Smallish can, but should provide two or
three coatings of four caps. The color is listed as 88-0051 Platinum MC,
bar code is 026916 90511 9.

I bought this at O'Riley's Auto Parts. Perfect match, and seems tough.
Mine have been painted 6-8 months now, and they still look perfect. I
should have put a clear spray on them when I painted them, and will next
time. Sand the surface carefully and mask off the black center and they
will look new.
*******************
Using the paint information Doug Miller was gracious enough to post,
I was able to discover the original Nissan paint code his paint was
intended to match (006 Platinum Metallic).

From that I was able to find out what color code was needed from
DupliColor (which seems prevalent around here - I just couldn't find
Plati-Kote) to match the center caps. So that it's all archived in one
place, here's the groups collective concensus:

PAINT WITH
Plasti-Kote #5412 Silver OR
DupliColor #88-00511 Platinum

FOLLOWED BY
EastwoodCo #10196Z Diamond Clear Gloss
************************


Regards,
Larry
 
Does anyone have pics of a newly repainted hubs other than the norm? or even hubs with them off, so they might look more "Cruiserish"?
 
Prior to the primer and paint (and assuming you don't have access to a bead blaster, and would rather not spend hours sanding), buy a bottle of acetone. Over a 5-gallon bucket, use an acetone-soaked rag to take off all of the old paint.

Let them dry thoroughly, then prime and paint. I used a can of silver spray paint about 2 years ago (no clear coat) and they still look as good as new.
 
Got this from an old post of the 80's list:

The paint is KRYLON "Original Chrome"

Comes in a black can, a bit smaller than the usual
Krylon spray cans, with "Original Chrome" written on
the can. Just to the right of the Kylon logo it sez:
#1010

I think mine came from Home Depot (where they know me
by first name and Visa card number).

This is really pretty good paint, even stands up
pretty well to those strong aerosol "wheel cleaners".

Good luck paintin'
 
I don't know about "other than the norm" - but this is what mine look like after a respray pretty much following the advice above -

CenterCap.jpg


I just taped off the center...but they're the early style. Much better than faded yellow plastic IMO.
 
Last edited:
I used the quality "Nissan" silver and have had no problems. The paint has held well. I did not use primer but rather used steel wool to smooth with multiple coats of paint applied.....beer in one hand and paint can in the other.
 
Pics before and after---using the Duplicolor version of the Nissan paint IdahoDoug and/or others recommended, with a few coats of clear.....
wheelcapbefore.webp
aftercappaint.webp
 
Here is Plasti Kote Metallic Silver 3 coats, followed by 3 coats clear. This isn't the specific silver match however. Chose not to gold in the logo's.
hubcap3c.webp
 
Last edited:
Those look great. I'll be doing a set for the new truck this spring, I suspect.

DougM
 
I have had good luck with Krylon Fusion. It actually bonds to plastic. Unfortunately, the choice of colors is limited.
 
I just repainted my center caps.

400 grit sandpaper cleaned them up good. Then applied Dupli-Color Import touch up small spray can. Don't recall the number but if you look up Toyota in the book that Advance Auto Parts has in their paint isle, it's pretty obvious.

Sprayed several coats then 1500 grit sandpaper to even the surface up followed by several more coats. All in all I used two small cans on the four caps.

After allowing plenty of time to cure in between coats, I applied several coats of Dupli-Color Clear Coat.

I attempted to tape off the Toyota Logo and spray it with Chrome paint on one of the caps... the contrast was great and I would have kept it if I was more of an artist and was able to lay an exact line with the tape. I ended up resanding it and spaying it all silver.

Looks great, looks stock.

By the way, don't try and bake these in your oven. The smell is horrendous and you will have to resand and paint!:doh:

Sorry, no pics but mine came out just as the Lexus ones pictured in this thread did... Maybe better!
 
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