I’ve only painted (almost) one set of the 14” road wheels and that was 30 years ago. My ’69 Road Runner came with them – but paint wasn’t that good of shape. I installed two layers of masking tape and taped up the stripes (wasn’t hard to do), had the five wheels bead blasted and applied primer to them. The tape was left in place for the primer and paint and was about to get them to a paint shop for final paint when went through my divorce (hence the car had to be sold to pay for …).
Taping them is not that hard to do and can be done in a sitting position. If getting wheels blasted, having two layers of tape is not a bad idea – but might not be needed. I would think blasting the chrome (or whatever that shiny finish might be) would not be good on it.
Chrysler got all their wheels from three different venders – which are shipped to assembly plant in crates. This is part of reason Chrysler didn’t paint wheels to match the car – because the wheels came pre-painted. Well, I think Chrysler did have paint to match wheels a couple of years (don’t think it was for any FMJ’s, though) – but I can see how it would be a big hassle at the plant. The wheels got installed close to the end of the line and paint is back close to the beginning of the line.
The company Motor Wheels is who originally made the 14” Road Wheels for Chrysler. I believe (but no sure) the first few years used chrome for the outer edge portion and was called “14” Road Wheel – Chrome” or with trim ring was called “14” Road Wheel – w/trim ring” (or trim ring delete). Later on, it was just called “14” Road Wheel”.
The paint used was a called a “drip paint” and is same process as how Chrysler painted their engine brackets, torsion bars and so forth. I recall seeing some YT videos about the process but not eager to look it up. The paint ends up being thick and a bit uneven (sometimes) which can cause a bit of a balance problem – but it was durable.
Chrysler calls then 14” Road Wheels. I call them Magnum 500’s – but I don’t think Chrysler ever called them anything but road wheels. No matter the name, Chrysler did use three different paint schemes with them:
Chrome outer wheel edge. ’67 and 68 (an option for later years)
Painted Black wheel edge (and used trim rings or not). Not sure of years – but my ’69 RR was painted this way. I have seen some with trim ring delete
Painted Gray (or Silver) wheel edge (and used trim rings). Most all of the newer versions of this wheel (maybe ’73 and up), used the gray paint and it made no sense to me to use two different color paints – but I suspect the gray might be a primer coat (maybe).
I do not recall seeing any of this style wheel that has any color center other than semi-gloss black.
The 15” Road Wheel looked like this – so important to emphasize what size road wheel when talking about it.
This style wheel was an option for the early M-bodies.
It is odd these wheels were painted gray/silver in middle and black under the trim ring - which is opposite what the 14" road wheels were painted.
Note: I don’t want to get into a debate about the gray / silver thing. I do not have an eye for colors and couldn’t tell you what the difference is between the two are.
BudW