There is a TSB with 3 attachments that addresses the issue of refinishing the wheels, as follows:
#53-17-03A / May, 1996 / Re: Aluminum wheel refinishing.
Quoting here:
"Color selection If the wheels being painted were previously clear-coated aluminum, we would recommend using Corsican Silver WAEQ9283 for a "fine-aluminum" like look or Sparkle Silver WA9967 for a very bright look."
My take on this is that the original color of the 1991 Reatta rims should be Sparkle Silver Paint, as these were painted to begin with, not clear coated aluminum (i.e. machined finish).
The 3 attachments cover different product lines - DuPont, PPG, and Spies-Hecker respectively. Each has a different cleaning/priming procedure and the paint/drying process differs a bit for each. Since these rims would not be the easiest refinish job (actually two different colors involved with the back outline inset between the painted portion and the machined beauty ring) Hopefully, others here will find this info useful.
KDirk
One interesting fact..... the wheels color and hub cap color on 1991 Reattas is not a perfect match. I suspect this is because the wheels were done by one vendor and the hubcaps by another.
I would suggest you give the hubcaps to the wheel refinisher and have them both painted at the same time. The company I used had no problem with that and did not charge extra.
I am sure I posted this elsewhere, but when I got my wheels back, the refinisher had painted over the black (fake) rivets and I had to correct that. Since there was clearcoat over the entire wheel, I did not want to attempt chemical removal or scratching the paint off the rivets.
I simply repainted them black with a small brush.
The black "stripe" was another challange. the refinisher painted over that also and did not replace it. After several attemps to duplicate the factory look, I ground the sharp tip off a hypodermic needle...polished the end to be very smooth and filled the needle with black paint.
By laying the end of the needle in the groove, and carefully "pushing" a small wave of paint ahead of the needle, I was able to make them look like the factory stripe.
Not really aftermarket..... I make a "clone".
I take a production GM hub cap from another car that is the correct diameter, height, and color (GM used the same color on other wheels) I machine a hole in the center that takes the Reatta "R" logo......BAM, I have a 1991 Reatta clone.
Above is a photo of an original and my "clone" and without turning them over, you cannot tell the difference.
