Painting my '77 14" Rally wheels
 

I'm cleaning up a decent driver set of Rally rims for my '77 Volare coupe. I've painted the steel rim argent silver, which matches very nicely the original paint I found inside the rim. But what do I do with the center caps? They look like the face of the big nut-shaped cap in the center was kept in bare polished metal, while the rest (including the thin outer ring) was argent. Is this correct? Or, was there a little more chrome showing on that center cap? If anyone can post up a picture of what was factory correct, that would be great!

I recall that these caps had a thin ring of chrome at the outside edge.

Like these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-Ralley...sories&vxp=mtr

Yes, that's the style. On the center caps I have everything except the face of the large "nut" in the center seems to have paint on it, even the face of the thin outer ring. The paint seems to have been applied thin at the factory and it has worn off somewhat (revealing the chrome underneath), which is what makes me question whether the thin outer ring should or shouldn't have paint on it. Or maybe, these wheels are the victim of a sloppy repaint sometime in the past?

I guess the safest thing to do is to lacquer thinner the paint off the outer ring, mask it along with the face of the center nut, then paint. Sound good? (I can always go back and paint over the outer ring later...)

That sounds good to me!

Well, I went and painted up one center cap to see how it would look...and I don't think I like it. Keeping the outer ring shiny makes the wheel just a bit too flashy...the center hub and trim ring is more of a brushed aluminum, so the shiny ring looks a bit out of place.

I'll clean up and paint a second one with the outer ring painted over, then post pictures of both so everyone here can tell me what they think.

Edit add: Here are my rally wheels, one with the center cap ring chrome shiny, the other painted over (as I believe was stock). Let me know which one you 1) think is most correct, and 2) looks best. Thanks!

I like the left wheel with the thin chrome 'unpainted' ring.

Yea, you're right. After thinking about it the chrome outer ring does look better. It is flashier than I think these wheels were originally intended to be (the stock center caps show light paint on the outer ring, but the chrome is visible). I'll go with the chrome.

Ordered the BFG RWL T/A radials today, should be in by the end of the week and hopefully on the car by sometime next week. Then I'll throw some pics up.