Wheel color schemes - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

California98Civic · 03-16-2018, 01:02 AM

I want to do forest green (British "racing green") pin stripes on my seven hole 12 lb Mini rims. But I prefer to keep the rims the stock silver/alloy color. Searching online, nobody combines these colors--or any pin stripe on a silver/alloy color rim. I am asking for opinions: forest green on silver is way ugly? I can't decide. And as an off-topic tech questions... should I put the striping under the clear plastidip or over? I think under.

Also interested in any fav color schemes for rims. Freebeard has a great color scheme on his beetle.

Ecky · 03-16-2018, 07:45 AM

Try it in vinyl or plastidip first and to see how it looks. It sounds outlandish to me, but I'm often pleasantly surprised.

jcp123 · 03-16-2018, 09:47 AM

Green and silver doesn't really sound garish to me at all. I suppose the only thing which might make it look a bit off would be if the green in question has a yellowishness to it, vs a more cool blue tone like a blue spruce.

California98Civic · 03-16-2018, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcp123

Green and silver doesn't really sound garish to me at all. I suppose the only thing which might make it look a bit off would be if the green in question has a yellowishness to it, vs a more cool blue tone like a blue spruce.

Oddly, I took all reference to cars, wheels, or rims and stripes out of my search and got a raft-load of images of emerald green and silver (or gray) in weddnings. Hahaha! It's high fashion!

Here are some examples. I could go for a gray wheel with the green on my black car. A lighter gray, almost a flat silver. What do ya think?

And here are two more images that come up when seeking forest green on gray instead of silver.

And a little scatology for your Friday:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ecky

Try it in vinyl or plastidip first and to see how it looks. It sounds outlandish to me, but I'm often pleasantly surprised.

I like this suggestion too. Weddings are usually garish, so there ya go. I don't want a wedding aesthetic... what will the dudes at my boy-racer meets think of me?

jcp123 · 03-16-2018, 06:59 PM

Interesting! The yellowish greens don't look so bad as I might have supposed. Wedding themed or not, you're good to go as far as I'm concerned

California98Civic · 03-17-2018, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcp123

Interesting! The yellowish greens don't look so bad as I might have supposed. Wedding themed or not, you're good to go as far as I'm concerned

My wife hates it. Hahaha! And I feel uneasy about the choice, which is a bummer because I bought the pin stripes already andthey are here. She's like, well test it, and I am like,...

mattrod · 07-04-2018, 04:00 AM

Any update OP? What color combo did you pick? Post some pics.

California98Civic · 07-04-2018, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattrod

Any update OP? What color combo did you pick? Post some pics.

I posted those details in my build thread a couple months ago, but I can share some here too.

Basically, I could not do silver wheels because the wheels did not look as good on close inspection as I had thought. Some were great. One was really not that good. I wanted really clean wheels, so I went with painting them using plastidip I had on hand: black. I tested the green striping on the black dip, and I liked it okay (especially my striping tool). But the tool tore into some of the dip. It was suggested I should wait a month for the dip to cure before trying again. In the mean time I have become ambivalent about the thickness of the green stripe on black and think I would prefer a thinner stripe. A thinner stripe is more subtle and I would like that. I'll get back to it.

So, here is a front wheel (with my painting of the tire lettering). And here is a back wheel (with stripe).

EDIT: you might dig a back view too... 3000 miles later and holding fine:

M_a_t_t · 07-04-2018, 09:43 PM

What is the foil looking stuff covering the wheel openings?

California98Civic · 07-05-2018, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

What is the foil looking stuff covering the wheel openings?

It is foil tape, cut into uniform rectangles and evenly distributed. Under it, facing the black front side of the rim, are black weed barrier fabric circles filling the holes in the rim design. These are 12# MINI seven hole wheels (aka "Holies"). This fill technique is meant to make a unique looking "smooth" wheel cover design that also adds little weight and looks really clean. Most of the benefit to smooth wheel covers comes from the fact that air cannot pass through the wheel. So, I should see a significant gain from this design.