Road wheel colours

[gs.davies]

I dropped a set of wheels off at the blasters today, planning on having a go at painting them myself.

My car came with two spares, one was a crossply on an old english white rim like the rest, the other had a radial but the rim was more of a dark brown or maroon colour, difficult to tell under the rust and dirt on it.

Were there ever maroon/brown wheels, and if so, were these generally assigned to the spare? What shade should that maroon/brown be?

[Peter Laidler]

I seem to remember that spare wheels from BMC as opposed to the spare wheel in your car came in that maroon/brown primer. It was the same sort of colour as the spare panels. Maybe someone bought a new spare but didn't bother to paint it. But I could be wrong

[jay weinstein]

Peter is correct

[gs.davies]

Ah right - is Maroon B a close match?

[mk1]

No, it's miles off. It's more a chocolate brown. Some time ago there was a thread about the correct colour to paint things and the spare wheel brown was mentioned in there.

[mk1]

Found it;

That took some doing.

http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3& ... el#p175721

[Peter Laidler]

Thanks for resurrecting that thread Mk1. Very interesting to re-read

[gs.davies]

As ever the finest information is to be found on these pages.

Interesting that the wheels aren’t actually OEW as I’d thought...

[winabbey]

The LP883 Cooper S wheels fitted to cars built here in Australia, and I assume in the UK and elsewhere, were primed all over in a red/brown colour then painted Silver Birch or Silver Ash on the visible outside area only. I had both the primer and silver colour matched by an auto paint supplier from an original wheel and supplied in acrylic pressure pack cans for easy application.

Wheel restoration 5.jpg

Wheel restoration 10.jpg

The BMC engineering drawing for the wheel (part 21A1286) details the area to be painted silver, which is basically the outer face and extending over the lip of the wheel. Clearly BMC were not one to waste expensive top coat paint on areas hidden from view.

21A1286 Road Wheel Complete Cooper S painting subset wm.jpg

[janerick3]

Upon looking at the drawing, I noticed Issue No. 3 deletes the manufacturer's name from the drawing and that the "Suppliers Part Number" box in the lower left corner is blank.

Did BMC drop Dunlop as a supplier, did Dunlop exit the wheel business, or did something else happen during Mk 2 production? Are later 4 1/2J x 10 wheels marked with the Dunlop logo and the LP883 part number?

[andy1071]

It is/was not unusual to have more than 1 source for a part; so that is probably why is was removed, or a new supplier started supplying wheels... .

Of note also, is that the painting instructions were added on, what looks like 5 August 1968..
Does that mean that:
a) earlier wheels were finish-painted all-over, or
b) if a new supplier was added, they suggested the cost-saving, or
c) the drawing was just updated to reflect what was actually supplied..?

[Peter Laidler]

Mmmmmmmm, did Rubery Owen supply wheels too?

[gs.davies]

Mmmmmmmm, did Rubery Owen supply wheels too?

Yep. I've quite a number of RO stamped 10 inch wheels here - three of them I took for blasting yesterday have revealed the stamps.