Jim Fitzgerald

My wheels are badly correded. The layer of paint has come off 90% on one wheel and at least 10to 50% on the others. Car spent most of its life on east coast of Florida. Are these wheels alluminum or some other type of metal? What type of paint and what color code is the original? Where would you suggest I go to get them refinished to original?

Greg in Oz

It is surprising what sort of job you can do at home yourself if you are prepared to make the effort. A few years ago I purchased a set of 7" x 15" late 107/126 wheels to fit to my 350SLC. Not being overly impressed with the condition of the painted finish, I decided to have a go myself. After thoroughly cleaning them (time consuming), I gave them a few coats from pressure pack spray cans called "Silver Wheels" in a brand sold here called "Power Plus". I followed this with a couple of coats of clear also from a pressure pack. The results were very satisfactory and matched the original finish well (the plastic centre caps still have the original finish). The real effort goes into carefully filing any minor kerb damage and thoroughly cleaning away all baked-on brake dust and tar spots. After that I simply paint them without bead blasting or sanding. In your case if the alloy (yes, it is mainly aluminium) really is corroded rather than just the paint deteriorating you may need to lightly sand before painting. I figure there is nothing to lose other than the cost of some spray cans and some time by having a go yourself. If the results are unsatisfactory then get them professionally re-finished.

Since then I have done two more sets. Last year I did the Sportline wheels I fitted to our 300TE which subsequently won its class at concours. Just recently I have done the wheels on my recently purchased 190E 2.3 Sportline. It was a tidy car but the appearance was let down by the wheels. This set I actually painted with the tyres still fitted to the wheels. I made up a shallow cone-shaped mask to prevent paint getting on the tyres. They now look like new. In fact, while visiting a MB dealership recently, comments were made about the excellent condition of the wheels. There were surprised looks when I mentioned that I had achieved that finish from spray cans.

To date the finish has stood up well without any sign of not lasting. Unfortunately, only six weeks after the concours my wife "kerbed" one of the wheels on the 300TE. She was not very popular when finally after two days finding the courage to even tell me what she had done. Thankfully, I had not spent a fortune having the wheels done professionally, it was only my time.

Jim Fitzgerald

Thanks for your help. You're right, I wouldn't have too much too losse by trying it myself. I will have to sand then - they are really bad. I'm going to start with the spare which is the worst one - meaning that there is one wheel on the car thats good!

Trying to keep the car original, do you know what color the wheels should be?