I am refinishing the Mahle alloy wheels on a 74 LE. The current finish of the silver area looks like it is bare metal with the center painted yellow (in my case black). I thought the Mahles were painted silver while the Fuch alloys were bare metal.

What is the original finish of the 4 spoke Mahle alloy for the Bumblebee Limited Edition?

Yellow = Sunflower Yellow (L13K)
Silver = ?????????

Thanks,
j.

Jeff should answer this one, but silver rim color spokes Porsche silver. Wurth makes the paint. Same also as mercedes and bmw.

LE rim refinished properly, yeah its orange so think yellow.

Yes, I am sure they are painted, and the Wurth silver is a very close match. Either painting or anodizing must be used to protect the bare aluminum. Without either the aluminum would oxidize quickly and darken eventually.

look here too
http://members.rennlist.com/914_canam/

Painted?

That doesn't sound right. They're not "bright" either (referring to bright dip anodizing). If they're Fuchs they should be a standard anodization for a factory effect (on the rim that is).

To acheive this you need to first, have the wheels de-anodized. If you have picked a local anodizer for the job they will usually do this for free or very little money based upon the fact that you will use them to anodize the wheels. Next you need to have them polished to a high gloss or mirror shine. They cannot be polished until they are deanodized. Once they are polished to a mirror shine they can be reanodized to the factory finish. Standard anodizing will dull the finish slightly and that's the look of a fresh Fuchs.

Now... all that being said, I could be way off base but, I don't think the rim was "painted" on. I think the wheels were anodized with the centers painted to match the cars' offset colors.

Dr. was right they WERE painted.