Painted wheel center caps | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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Painted wheel center caps

  • Thread starter Thread starter Quickdraw
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Quickdraw

Quickdraw

2004 Member of the Year
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Thunderbird Year
2002
A cheap way to add a nice touch to your bird is painting the wings on your center caps. The paint is available at most hobby & craft shops or here on the web:

http://www.plaidonline.com/productD...ID=&keywords=&New=False&Closeout=False&page=5

After allowing the paint to dry a couple of days I laquered over the wings. The paint, Patina #444 appears too green on my monitor but is an almost perfect match to the wings on the steering wheel.

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Originally posted by Quickdraw
A cheap way to add a nice touch to your bird is painting the wings on your center caps. The paint is available at most hobby & craft shops or here on the web:

http://www.plaidonline.com/productD...ID=&keywords=&New=False&Closeout=False&page=5

After allowing the paint to dry a couple of days I laquered over the wings. The paint, Patina #444 appears too green on my monitor but is an almost perfect match to the wings on the steering wheel.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about painting mine yellow with my touch-up paint. I think that would be pretty nice.
 
Yes, that would be nice too - to match the exterior paint. The first time I painted mine the paint came off as soon as I hit it with a high pressure stream of soapy water at the car wash. The second time I cleaned the cap with alcohol and, like I said, coated the whole wing with clear laquer.
 
Sophia, it would be a toss-up between whisper white or the regular Thunderbird blue wings. Note the paint I mentioned above is not a match for the 2002 Thunderbird blue exterior paint but rather matches the turquoise color of the steering wheel wing emblem.

The only color I don't think I would like to match the body color with is red - seems like any color but red would go in the wings. Be sure to clean any wax off the center caps (alcohol) before you apply paint.
 
I am going to paint my hub caps with the red and see how it looks. I can always change it to the Thunderbird blue like rest of the car's wings if it is too hideous.
 
trpar,

Please post a photo of the red... the thin red line might work. I assume your car is red or black? With red painted calipers that could look really sweet.
 
Quickdraw,

Yes, it is a Torch Red/Torch Red/Black Ink 2003. Still waiting on the touch-up paint from the dealer and don't know when I will get around to the job, but I will post a pic when I get it done.

I need to do the calipers also. What paint would you recommend for that? (Red of course, but what brand are folks using and where can I find it.)

Thanks,

Ted
 
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Red/Red/Black Ink 2003: if its a Premium model its one of only 264 made like that.

If you do paint the calipers you’re more dedicated than I am…. Too much hassle to remove the wheels at home and paint them. Keeping them clean isn’t going to be a cake walk either but they sure would look nice.

Heres a couple of leads for caliper paint from a google search:
http://wheelskin.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=G2+CALIPER+PAINT

http://www.machv.com/brakcalpaink.html

Or search ebay for the same two words: caliper paint
 
Thanks Quickdraw. Yes, I know the calipers will be quite a pain. Maybe I can just do them a pair at a time. But there is a lot of other work to do too. The only thing I have done is put on the logo valve caps.🙂 I have several other small things as well to do like the port hole emblems, license plate frame etc.

Thanks for the info. Yes it is a Premium model. Good to know it is one of 264. I posted the VIN on your other thread re build date. Haven't checked back yet as I figured it would take a few days but thanks in advance for that also. You're a big help and I am sure everyone here appreciates it.
 
trpar,

I painted the calipers on my Corvette a few years ago and never regretted it. They stayed remarkably clean and really showed off the chrome wheels. I think it would be a little too much red for our cars, though.

I, too, have an '03 Torch Red/White/Black Ink Thunderbird and am going to try my hand at painting the center caps as well. When you do, post a picture!

Cheers,
Charles -
 
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