Hey Bill,

I originally had peeling chrome bundts on this car when I bought it. I went out to LKQ and bought 4 painted bundts from a 1978 300SD, painted them in a nice dark graphite grey, and put my old tires on.

My friend just gave me his peeling chrome bundts with 4 decent matching tires, so I just swapped them on to my painted wheels. Painting the chrome wheels just isn't financially smart, they have to be chemically stripped, then likely sandblasted, filled, sanded, primed, then painted. The chrome wheels experience more corrosion than painted wheels, since the chrome peels off and leaves bare aluminum underneath, which gets eaten away over time. If I painted a set of chrome wheels, it would cost my nearly as much as my 240D cost to buy!

I will likely just have these sandblasted and powder coated - the VHT wheel paint (in spray cans) simply cannot hold up to the "abuse" of having a tire mounted.

I work part time at a wheel repair shop, so I can get decent rates on powdercoating. I am a big fan of the graphite grey color. It deviates from stock while not being too gaudy.

__________________
Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93