seeing the "what's old is new again" thread brought up a question i have been meaning to ask for quite a while now, but i always forget to ask..............

what color of paint, or what technique could be used, to replicate the greenish/gray color magnesium wheels turn to, when they are not kept up ?
i have read a couple of articles on how to duplicate the Dow [? number] coating that was the yellowish coating applied to new wheels, but never anything on how to make wheels look like they would get if left to the elements.
flat black doesn't get it, even though "flat black" from spray bombs of different companies often are different shades.
any suggestions ?
a BIG TIA to you guys who are way smarter than me.

I agonized over color on some Mg wheels years ago.
I've seen different shades of the Dow coating, and seen how Mg goes from a greyish color to charcoal if left alone long enough.
I've seen one of Garlits' blowers that was a very greenish gold, yet shiny - had to be a coating that was polished or cleared.
Mg was never shiny or glossy unless polished, but a flat metallic grey seems to be a happy medium.
For paint, a basecoat and flat clear seems to hold up best, plus it keeps moisture from attacking the Mg.
Here's a couple of wheels in bare Mg - notice the stain on one - and what I did with a pair for my Duster, which I painted Toyota 4T3 & satin clear.

They look great polished...

They do, for about 2 weeks !

4T3, great color, thanks for that

Funny thing is a pair of them was the 1st thing i ever polished.
Did them for a friend who gave me a few bucks.
I used that to buy used small blot slots for my 1970 slant duster and ran them on the rear.
Saved up and bought 2 fronts.
I was Po but Proud Rocking Used Freash Polished Slots lol. Man I kept them and my buddies Real Mags Clean.
Rich guys had Center Line polished dish mags. Thst later on were known as White Trash Street Racer Wheels.
And only other wheels were 5 spoke chrome and Keystones now called classic

Real Mags ( made of Mag) from back in Tha Day Polished Rock.

Dow 7 but, does not work on Aluminum

https://www.chemical-supermarket.com/product.php?printable=Y&productid=652

that toyota color looks good, but not quite dark enough for me.
dad said Dow 7 [that was the number that i couldn't think of. thanks dad !] won't work on aluminum, and i knew that, but i wasn't after that color anyway.
how long did that coating last, and how did one clean it ?

Funny thing with that color is it really reacts to light - see photo.
After a while, I thought it was actually too dark, and too brownish: and I'd prefer a color more like the photos I 1st posted.
The Dow coating Big posted is one of the lightest golds; and for anything with a cast finish, a clearcoat is the only way I know to allow easy cleaning & stain prevention.

I had a 426 Hemi mag blower manifold Dow 7 coated by Littlefield blowers years back and it was black, I wasn't asked about what color I wanted so maybe they only had black available in the early 1990s
Mag anything not coated will corrode and turn black