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charles oldroyd
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Joined: October 09, 2005
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Location: West Yorkshire, England
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 Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:51 am Post subject: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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I have a 1956 convertible in Iris Blue (L232). The wheels have been black since I bought the car, but I suspect the wheel centres should be a different colour.
I'm replacing the tyres and taking the opportunity to refurbish the wheels. Can anyone confirm the correct wheel colour or colour combination please? This is an original UK spec RHD car.
Please don't offer suggestions based on speculation. However well meant, I've already done plenty of that!
Thanks in anticipation.
Charles |
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finster
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 4:41 am Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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have you tried cutting back the paint to see what's underneath? L233 is a very dark blue and may have been freshened up with black paint...
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AlteWagen
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finster
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 11:34 am Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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^ disc and rim all dark blue matches the illustration in the paint/interior book, the other body colours have 2 tone wheels illustrated...
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charles oldroyd
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Joined: October 09, 2005
Posts: 10
Location: West Yorkshire, England
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2025 5:22 am Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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Many thanks for the responses. I appreciate the input.
I thought L233 might be correct but, as pointed out, is it for the entire wheel or just the centre? Still, the VW source quotes the wheel rim. But would the centre then have been a lighter colour?
The quoted RAL equivalent for L233 is 5009 Azure Blue which isn't actually all that dark - on my computer screen at least - and would provide a reasonable contrast with a black rim.
The wheels have been stripped and painted before so there's nothing to scrape back to.
Again, many thanks for the references.
Charles |
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finster
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2025 7:56 am Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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| charles oldroyd wrote: |
I thought L233 might be correct but, as pointed out, is it for the entire wheel or just the centre? Still, the VW source quotes the wheel rim. But would the centre then have been a lighter colour?
The quoted RAL equivalent for L233 is 5009 Azure Blue which isn't actually all that dark - on my computer screen at least - and would provide a reasonable contrast with a black rim. |
trouble is VW seems to say L233 for both rim and, elsewhere, disc. the oval era wheels had a white based disc (centre) and a rim colour based on a dark body tone. so if L233 was just the rim then it would look like this
not sure where the ral5009 azur link is from but, to me, it's the wrong shade completely. it is not a dark blue and has too much green in it. the colour swatches show what I would call an inky blue which is more of a dark cobalt or prussian blue. this photo of a cobalt blue beetle has the right look in the darker tones
of course screens (and eyes) might vary and this is all conjecture until someone comes forward with an original paint wheel...
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Bugfan-MR
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Joined: November 12, 2022
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 2:18 pm Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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I went with black.
The center always was a light cream/beige. This color is nowadays also called L233.
The color of the rim can be found in the paint book, as mentioned - L233.
Confusing I guess. And L233 dark blue is very hard to find elsewhere.
It's called "Schieferblau" - Slateblue.
https://coloronline.glasurit.com/CCC/html/index.php |
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charles oldroyd
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Joined: October 09, 2005
Posts: 10
Location: West Yorkshire, England
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| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2025 8:21 am Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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Many thanks for all your contributions. There's a lot of expertise out there!
Charles |
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kaieric 
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Location: saarbruecken/germany
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| Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2025 3:52 pm Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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| finster wrote: |
^ disc and rim all dark blue matches the illustration in the paint/interior book, the other body colours have 2 tone wheels illustrated...
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looking close to the wheels, it looks as if the wheel rim and disc are different colours: rim black, disc dark blue. obviously consistent with the color scheme from 1955 onwards
perhaps due to the vehicle's equipment with Lemmerz beauty rings?
up to 1955, color scheme was apparenty different,with a dark blue rim, as altewagen had pointed out.
furthermore it is interesting to note that, prior to 1955, colour descriptions often referred to contrasting colours for either the wheel rim or the disc, raising the question of what colour the other part of the wheel was – the same as the car? |
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AlteWagen
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2025 2:39 pm Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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| kaieric wrote: |
perhaps due to the vehicle's equipment with Lemmerz beauty rings?
up to 1955, color scheme was apparenty different,with a dark blue rim, as altewagen had pointed out.
furthermore it is interesting to note that, prior to 1955, colour descriptions often referred to contrasting colours for either the wheel rim or the disc, raising the question of what colour the other part of the wheel was – the same as the car? |
I think the change in wheel color layout was related to the beauty rings for sure, 55 up the rings came as standard equipment where 54 and earlier they were an extra accessory. The different paint layout will tell you if the rings were from the factory or dealer install. 54 and earlier kabrios seem to have color matched wheels and caps
Everything Ive seen and read it seems Karmann kept things simple from 55 up as the wheels came in black from wolfsburg so only added the color listed for the disk/rim. Cost and time savings similar to their body painting methods (painting everything under the hood including bumper supports and such). The only body color match on the wheel was the VW logo on the hub cap.
This highly optioned 54-55 looks like it has factory trim rings with black rim wheels.
This one with no rings got paint.
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finster
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| Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2025 3:32 am Post subject: Re: 1956 Convertible wheel colour |
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the lemmertz ring theory seems good. would that have been a soft edge where the colours changed and the blue sprayed on the disc and part up the rim? in other words the colour change is not in the join between disc and rim?
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kaieric
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