Orkboyz

Cliff’s Notes Version:

Experimented with creating some touch up paint for the dark enkei wheels on my IS500. After a few experiments I ended up with a damn close color match using materials I already have for miniature/model painting.

Basic formula is somewhere between 10:1 and 8:1 iridescent medium to black. Pics of the end result outside in daylight are below the long version.



War and Peace Version

I have no damage on my wheels, but I became fixated on finding a decent color match in the event I pick up some minor chips or rash. Finding nothing that was readily available (not that I looked very long long) I decided to make my own.

I dabble in miniature painting and I often experiment with creating paint colors washes and glazes if I do not think what I have on hand is quite right. So, I decided to do the same for the Enkei wheels on my IS500.

At first glance, they looked to me like a soft iron color with one or more thin black washes to darken the tone. After some experiments with different paints of iron-like colors and varying coats of black washes I got something close, but under bright light it was obviously not working. The dark washes were muting the pearl glimmer too much.

That is when it struck me to try something much simpler than a base paint and layers of tint: Mixing iridescent medium and black paint. I was surprised at how well it worked. What I ended up with was a mixture of about 8:1 medium to paint. Black paint can be overpowering when mixed with other colors and any ratio less than this tended to make the color either too dark or drown out the iridescence that gives the color its sparkle.

The end product is thick due to the medium used. With some proper thinner it could probably be used with an air brush for minor blending or could be applied in thin layers. It is acrylic based, so water can be used to clean up. That also means it likely needs to be sealed for a long-lasting touchup. But this is something that would need to be done anyway in order to buff the touchup to a proper shine.



This metal tag being used for color comparing has had two coats of cheap spray-on clearcoat applied, followed by a few minutes with a buffer and polishing compound to shine it up. It would need proper wet sanding and much more polishing to get it as reflective as the flat surfaces on the wheel.

10 ml of the paint and what a glob of un-thinned paint looks like on the wheel.

This is probably the best image of how close I managed to get the match. It is a bit of a swatch left over from mixing the paint. It looks dark against the glove, but against the wheel it blends in. With some polishing would probably blend in even better.

I am sure any iridescent medium and black paint will work, but FWIW I used Liquitex Basics Mars Black acrylic and Liquitex Pro Iridescent Medium.

macmaster

You should sell this!