rim & centre-hub paint combo

[n/a]

I am the lucky new owner of a '65 230SL - tan leather, euro lights, 4-speed, A/C, PS, PB
Question - with a red body & black hardtop, what is the proper colour combination for the steel rims and centre-hubcaps
- red rims w/black hub ? - red rim w/red hub ? - black rim w/red hub?

[hauser]

Every two tone car I have seen the hubcaps are the color of the roof.  Every 230sl I have seen the wheels are the color of the body.

1969 280sl 5 spd        1999 ML320          Gainesville,Fl.

[Benz Dr.]

Better look at the paint code tag on the inside of the fender. There's a 3 digit paint code number for the body and one for the hard top if the car has one. Some cars were sold without hard tops and your car could have a top from another car or someone may have painted it a different colour.

I prefer to paint the rims the same as the body which is correct. Some cars do have the caps the same as the hard top but here's a question for you, are you going to use the hard top very much? If not, I'd be inclined towards body colour for everything.

Daniel G Caron

[Ben]

Correct way is body coloured wheels and hardtop coloured caps on a 230SL!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[Bob G ✝︎]

Wheels on early cars were painted because of the small hub caps and beauty rings. a good picture as most of us have is the assemblie line with W113 SL showing the cars with out hub-caps and painted body color.
Later cars with full hubcaps the wheels got painted black. I would recommend powder coating the wheels .
Bob Geco

[Mike Hughes]

Ditto that!  My Havana Brown 230SL with Light Beige hardtop has matching brown wheels with matching beige hubcaps.  In my case the Light Beige hubcaps also match the Cream Tex interior, so the car looks great with or without the hardtop. For what it's worth, the inner side of the wheels is a satin black.

I always thought that having the contrasting color hubcaps was a subtle way of being able to tell a car with two tops from one without the hardtop, as most early Pagodas seemed to have had contrasting hardtop colors.  More of the later cars went to body colored hardtops it seems, which makes it a little harder, on casual inspection, to tell if a later car is equipped with two tops in the summertime.

quote:Originally posted by Ben

Correct way is body coloured wheels and hardtop coloured caps on a 230SL!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Ben

Correct way is body coloured wheels and hardtop coloured caps on a 230SL!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

Yes, this is right.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[n/a]

Thanks for all the advise - body coloured rims it should be - as for caps, maybe Dr Benz has hinted at a solution for me - perhaps a set of black caps for April, May, and November to match the hardtop, and a set of Red caps for the summer months - maybe not correct, but why should women be the only ones to accessorize - now all I need to do is find a set of rims - Thanks again