[White_1LE]

So a small boulder got lodged between the caliper and inside of the wheel on the RF of my '19 ZLE and put a nice even scratch all the way around it. I heard it and stopped as fast as I could, and got it out of there, but it was too late...

So anyways, I did some searching on here and I found that WA784U is the paint code for SS 1LE wheels, but I think the ZL1 1LE wheels are a different color? They seem darker and less metallic-y. Am I correct on that? And if yes, does anybody have the right code for a ZL1 1LE OEM wheel?

Just want to touch it up so it doesn't stand out so much.

Thanks!

[White_1LE]

Pics of the carnage.

[FH212]

Yikes that sucks! Yes they are different colors for sure.

[ZL1 1LE]

I have WA 0848 in my notes as the color for the wheels.

[White_1LE]

I had GM send the build sheet via VIN to me, and it shows this for the wheel:

PKJ - WHEELS, 19" BLACK PAINTED FORGED ALUMINUM

So it claims just black, but there is definitely metallic elements in it.

Googling WA0848 says Midnight Black, but I can't tell if it has any metallic in it. Have you or anyone used WA0848? Does it look right? Anybody have a picture of what it looks like?

[DorkMissile]

Well when the sun goes down - and this will floor some of you, but GM had really terrible quality control on the paint on the 1LE wheels, (at least the SS 1LE 20" variants) and made changes to the process over time. The 17&18's had REALLY thin, really delicate paint on them, so over time GM changed the process, and the 19s and on seem to have a slightly different color, but the paint was much more durable.

Now I just got done with a nightmare series of events where I bought new tires and the store dropped one of my wheels face down on the cement floor in their shop. No real scuffs, but the rough surface got "smooshed" into the face of the paint on the wheel. They paid to have the wheel refinished and upon return - the wheel didn't match the other three (the color was actually right, but they didn't get the "gloss" right, it was way too "flat".

So after a pretty heated call to that stores local area manager, they agreed to have all four wheels being refinished by my powder coating vendor vs theirs.

So they do a chemical strip on all four wheels (which is actually alcohol not any kind of stripper or acid) and then bead blasting. It is a automated bead blaster - and after taking the wheels out of the blasting machine, it turned out that one of the wheels (not the one that was dropped) had a major amount of filler in the wheel (IE - Bondo) as it had a horrible surface (see below) out of the casting. So it was like opening pandora's box.

I would say look into a local wheel repair company - and maybe ask them if they can refinish the inside of the wheel and not the outside vs doing the whole wheel

Pic of my wheel once stripped:

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by DorkMissile

Well when the sun goes down - and this will floor some of you, but GM had really terrible quality control on the paint on the 1LE wheels, (at least the SS 1LE 20" variants) and made changes to the process over time. The 17&18's had REALLY thin, really delicate paint on them, so over time GM changed the process, and the 19s and on seem to have a slightly different color, but the paint was much more durable.

Now I just got done with a nightmare series of events where I bought new tires and the store dropped one of my wheels face down on the cement floor in their shop. No real scuffs, but the rough surface got "smooshed" into the face of the paint on the wheel. They paid to have the wheel refinished and upon return - the wheel didn't match the other three (the color was actually right, but they didn't get the "gloss" right, it was way too "flat".

So after a pretty heated call to that stores local area manager, they agreed to have all four wheels being refinished by my powder coating vendor vs theirs.

So they do a chemical strip on all four wheels (which is actually alcohol not any kind of stripper or acid) and then bead blasting. It is a automated bead blaster - and after taking the wheels out of the blasting machine, it turned out that one of the wheels (not the one that was dropped) had a major amount of filler in the wheel (IE - Bondo) as it had a horrible surface (see below) out of the casting. So it was like opening pandora's box.

I would say look into a local wheel repair company - and maybe ask them if they can refinish the inside of the wheel and not the outside vs doing the whole wheel

Pic of my wheel once stripped:

Given the amount of money GM charges for these 1LE wheels, this last revelation is extremely disappointing, to say the least

[White_1LE]

Hey DorkMissile - not sure if you remember me, but I was the guy with the white SS 1LE at the Street Machines show last year in the challenge.

Anywho, wow... that is crazy.

I honestly would be fine with just brushing some touch up paint on at this point just so it blends in and isn't so noticeable. I am guessing more scratches and nicks are in my future, so maybe a full recondition is something to think about in the future. But I don't want some crazy color difference that defeats the purpose of trying to make it less obvious.