Bruce Nunnally Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 Wonder if there is a clean way to paint the wheelcaps on the CTS. Here is a mockup after/before: I suppose regular enamel paints would work well on the plastic? Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marika Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 I'm wondering if enamel would cling properly. what about acrylic followed with a clear coat? Maybe Cadillac will come out with a modified cap? If you really want to make people safe drivers again then simply remove all the safety features from cars. No more seat belts, ABS brakes, traction control, air bags or stability control. No more anything. You'll see how quickly people will slow down and once again learn to drive like "normal" humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldo nick Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 i painted mine with enamel hobby paint then put a clear coat acrylic over that. seems to be holding up well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 I would use just the just regular automtive paint the same paint that is on your car.Or they may have the color in a color for the wheels.Check with a paint shop.All I would do is add the additive to the paint that they put in for plastics ie. (bumpers) it's a flex additive and if done rite it won't peel If you don't have the spray equipt. I would just get them ready to paint drop them off at the dealer body shop and ask the painter to paint them when he's doing a silver car.The cost should be nominal very inexpensive.The painter's are always painting trim and stuff for the body shop and service area.You would have to sand them lightly just scuff them up and make sure you use the correct primer so that the paint they would use will be compatible. Just a thought. Good Luck Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 i painted mine with enamel hobby paint then put a clear coat acrylic over that. seems to be holding up well. I was going to recommend that. Scuff them, paint them, and make sure you get a good layer of clear back over the colored paint. I refinished some aluminum rims for a different car long ago, and just sanded, painted, and cleared. I put on a few layers of the rattle-rattle clearcoat. Held up great, and I waxed them often too. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 Wait -- did I get it backward Bruce? You have flat silver now...and want to go to color, right? Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 Humbroil (sp) paints, if they are still available, are excellent. I got some years ago at a hobby shop. I used some flat black to touch up the black on the trim strips on my old Chevy. It held up OK. The paint comes in many colors. You could get a cap from the Doc, and use it as the "Pig" ( I don't know how to spell guinea). rek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted March 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 Wait -- did I get it backward Bruce? You have flat silver now...and want to go to color, right? The before/after photos were actually after/before left to right. At the moment I have the painted wheels, which in my case I think go very well with the light platinum car color. But looking at the very colorful badge in the steering wheel makes me think that the new crest would look nice painted in on the wheel centers. The center caps on the CTS wheels are light grey/silver plastic. Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardio-doc Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 Hi Bruce: While I'm a fan of the 16" CTS painted finish wheels because of their sporty look and extremely light weight - I've never been crazy about that center cap. Good luck in your paint-overlay project - hope it all works out. Don't worry if you ruin one - I can get it for your wholesale! happy trails, ~Doc --- Direct Performance on Ebay CaddyInfo.com Cadillac Conversations Blog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted March 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 Hi Bruce: While I'm a fan of the 16" CTS painted finish wheels because of their sporty look and extremely light weight - I've never been crazy about that center cap. Good luck in your paint-overlay project - hope it all works out. Don't worry if you ruin one - I can get it for your wholesale! happy trails, ~Doc I am also thinking of calling Ben Thurmond over at www.automotiveupgrades.com and see if he can produce emblems for it. These could be shinier metal pieces to fit into the borders that are already there on the wheelcap. Might be easy to make, since they are small and each piece more or less rectangular, and take a few minutes to install on each cap. Or they could be emblems to go on as center caps for the center caps I suppose, and be finished badges. Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Thurmond Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 Adding the OEM color to wheel centers looks super but it's fairly involved. It would be just about impossible to find someone to produce the small rectancgles of color to inlay on the cap. Then if you actually had those pieces, to install them onto the wheel centers would be a worse chore than assembling kid's toys on Christmas Eve. Another way to add the color, paint pens used for models, would also be miserable. The aftermarket will normally generate wheel centers for the huge number of OEM wheels that get chromed. Normally, these centers have no logos due to licensing. So if the wheel centers are available for this wheel, they would be in chrome. You would then have to strip the chrome to achieve a paintable surface, take them to the alloy silver to match and find wreaths and crests that will fit--as long as the surface is flat enough to mount the emblems. It is not impossible, but not as easy or inexpensive as it sounds. Hope this info helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardio-doc Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 I have 'blank' chrome CTS caps. Not cheap. You could strip them but.... I've sold a few sets of CTS wheels to Reatta owners. Given how soft the plastic is - they had success grounding down the Cadillac emblem and placing in a Buick (could have been Reatta) emblem. Looked great. In terms of money - monkeying with the original center cap is the way to go. ~Doc --- Direct Performance on Ebay CaddyInfo.com Cadillac Conversations Blog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDK Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 I thought about printing an emblem with uv-resistant inks on gloss paper, encapsulating it in a flat, thin, clear, tough - plastic "dish" and somehow securing it to the wheel. Interesting idea, but there are some pros and cons: 1. Pro: Could print "anything" that could fit within the dish! Might come across goofy, but think of photo, sayings, etc (not limited to emblems). This could be an interesting project and even profitable, if a market could be determined. It really depends on the second part, the Con... 2. Con: This would require a specific product (the plastic dish) that could stand up to road abuse. It would have to be an extremely tough laminate of sorts and propably heat-sealed. Great if a wide range of diameters and concave-shape were available. This is the key element - but not impossible to find or make. It would need to be secured to the OEM cap center with back screws or some other theft-resistant method. The good thing is that if a custom emblem remains at the cap center and in balance, then it should not be too hard to engineer - compared to existing cap centers or emblems. While I was looking for the "dish", I ran across the following "emblem site": http://www.emblemagic.com. Not cheap and certainly devoted to their craft. Jim? would these guys above be able to price/produce the new Northstar emblem you were designing? Good luck all Add power to leave problems behind. Most braking is just - poor planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentham Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Not sure if you've seen this -- but man do they look nice!! Woa - look at the price! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...&category=43961 Eric 93 Cad Seville 100K 95 Chev Blazer 143K [garaged summers] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted March 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Those chrome ones are the right sort of idea, but I don't want the chrome part, and I do want the emblems with all the colors included. This one is missing the blue and the black bars; that probably saved some cost. Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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