PAINTING CENTER CAPS

[tenncrusher]

Has anyone painted their center caps? Mine are delaminating and I need to paint them. I painted my steel caps on 60 and 62, but not real familiar with painting plastic.

Does anyone have any tips???

 

[ParadiseCruiser]

Tenn -

There was a long thread on this subject on the 80sCool List - perhaps 6 months back - that went into great detail about the paint to use, technique, etc.

R -

 

[firetruck41]

I painted mine a month or two ago. First I masked the black circle with the emblem on it, then sanded off all the old peeling metallic paint. I painted it with several light coats of black "Trim Paint" from the auto parts store. It looks good, not perfect, but you would really have to get close and be looking for it to realize it didn't come that way originally.
I was going to post a pic but must find a new picture server

 

[DRTDuck]

I painted mine on my 96 recently. Mine were silver tone with gold emblem in the middle. I didn't care to keep the gold so I searched for a paint that would match the orginal silver of the caps and/or match the stock wheel silver color.

After a few tries I found one that is almost a perfect match, plati-kote model 5424 (Nissan), about $4 for a small can. I did minimal prep work sanded the edges were the old was coming off, the sprayed with 3 light cotes. It looks as close to stock color as you can get. I certainly can't tell a difference.

 

[davidfj406080]

Hey Tenncrusher, I use Bulldog, a spray- on adhesion promoter to paint plastic. It should be available at your local Pep Boys in the paint (rattlecan) section for ~ $5.00 or $6.00. It works great. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!!! Auto paint stores have it but it'll be more like $8. or so-
I want to paint my center caps but want to find a paint that will hold up to the UV rays beating on it all day-
Good Luck-

 

[Beowulf]

David,
Let me know when you are painting yours and we can do mine at the same time. I painted mine about 18 months ago and they need it again.
-B-

 

[Wrench]

Yeah painting them is a good idea since buying new ones are $$! Funny thing though when I bought my 80 the previous owner bought all new ones. He could of just painted the old ones! Now I got 2 sets!

 

[Photoman]

FWIW if anyone is running the steel Toyota rims the steel center caps from models like the FJ62 work.
Bill

 

[G-Cat]

I painted mine over a year ago and they still look great. FIST, I took acetone and a rag and took off all of the old paint. (Easy, took about 30 minutes for all four)

Then, I washed 'em with soap and water and dried them off. Next, I sprayed them with 3 thin coats of primer followed by 3 thin coats of silver spray paint. They match perfectly, no longer have pimp-daddy gold emblems, and have not yet started to wear.

-Garth