Looking for advice on how could I repair these wheel caps for my gen2 that are in very poor condition. I have the time and interest to try to use filler, sanding paper and spray paint to try to bring them to OEM and looking for steps on how to do it. Also,does anyone know what is the color code?
I would just buy replacement plastic wheel covers. Look on eBay to see if your wheel style is available. The standard 15” wheel cover is available inexpensively aftermarket.
I'd be tempted to clean them up, lightly sanding, and go over with a spray can. The colour is the question: Classic Silver Metallic (1F7), is the 3rd gen silver body colour, and I've found this a perfect match for 3rd gen rims. Second gen, the silver body colour is Millennium Silver Metallic (not sure of the code). I've got a hunch those two colours are quite close, and either would look good on the wheel covers. Even if the colour is slightly off, it's not like adjacent body panels. Second gen 2005 brochure attached:
Figure what grit sandpaper / texture you want them to look when you're done... Then sand the undamaged parts down to that grit... Then starting from super coarse grit sand down all the scraped up parts until you get to the same grit / texture of the rest of the covers then spray paint and you're done. Expect to touch up the spray paint periodically... For best results and least amount of effort Flat black paint will hide the unsightly parts that you didn't want to waste time sanding out.
thanks that is certainly an option but I'd like to experiment with how well can I repair such things. ChrisFix had a big impact on me wanting to try out DIY restoring These are 16"
Thanks for the brochure and guiding steps. Clean will be the first step for sure. Those scratches grooves in the plastic so I think sanding won't be enough but some sort of filler is needed to bring them up to an even surface to be painted.
Thanks PriusCamper, the grooves from the scratches are quite deep and there are some edge missing as well. Those I think can only be rebuilt (edge) and grooves filled up with some sort of filler but what sort?
Actually they make primer in a spray paint can for that. You can also use plasti-dip also called peel-off or peel-coat spray paint... Just smooth it out as best you can and let lots of coats of paint take care of the rest.
The problem with filling gouges is that when you hit the wheel cover to reinstall it on the wheel, you may dislodge your good repair work.
I once saw a video of people using a soldering gun with tip designed for plastic melting to melt identical plastic to repair fender skirt mounting holes on Hondas... That could be applied to this. But in reality these wheel covers are going to get beat up again the same way they were originally beat up and will need more painting on a regular basis. So might as well plan long term and let the layers of paint slowly build up to fill in the damage...
