Anyone know what the color number might be for 69 H wheels. I have read they were not gloss black, but a slight semi gloss black.Thanks.

Ray

Gloss Black..............

Regardless of what the paint was originally called, black wheels were not as glossy as a black car's exterior paint.

...and again from the tech archives;

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post7406447


Dave

anyone know if black was dipped or sprayed?
I can imagine it was thinned pretty well to get into the seam of center and rim.
I have a set of 68's in good original condition and visually it appears they may have been dipped.

Here is one of my original paint '69 dated H-wheels paint. Looks pretty glossy to me.

Your wheel looks semi-gloss black, just like my NOS and original wheels that never left the trunk.

Here's a '69 "H" wheel that I have.

I washed it today.

& waxed it with some Meguiar's "cleaner wax".

My take is that when these wheels were brand new they were as gloss black (& similar quality) as a new car's black paint job.

..... but when they were brand new & freshly painted with close to zero metal prep, sealer, or primer - they looked great, 40+ years later not so much. How many people waxed or polished a painted steel wheel pre-1990? NONE!

Why? or How? can there be pits in NOS potmetal parts ..... because the impurities in the metal (and the atmosphere) keep working against the integrity of the part.

Today I called Frank Baldason at American Performance LLC, He and Rdger Gibson do a lot of high end mopar restorations as some of us know. He said the original wheels where dipped in a cheap gloss black paint from the factory. But the gloss black back then isnt the same as the gloss black now. Gloss black back then didnt have the same shine as the gloss black of today.He said he uses gloss black cut with some flatener about 10 to 15% or so just enough to take high gloss shine/sparkle away. He said it was trial and error untill it looks right . Thanks all for responding.
Ray

This is how I did my 'lil h-wheels for my A12....high gloss and within a year they will have that incorrect flat look finish from all of the road grime and the paint settling

..

Agreed; as per Frank and Roger and the tech archive thread the wheels (and the vast majority of all other Mopar black parts) were painted gloss. There are varying degrees of gloss due to application methods, quality of paint and (last but not least) age.

Until you've restored a GM car, you might think that mopar used semi-gloss paint. Anyhow, it may be splitting hairs but the correct answer to the question is a low quality gloss black.


Dave

I call the GM engine compartment satin black, which has more of a matte finish.

Semi gloss black is just a step under gloss black.