16" SE Wheels Paint Z17 or LY7J

Alan_uk

A2OC Donor
Hi. Lot of old posts say the paint code for 16" SE Wheels is Avus Silver Metallic Z17. In fact I have a spay can of that in front of me from many years back. The posts also say wheel colours can be slightly different to the body colours.

Dealer is now saying that Z17 does not exist and suggests LY7J which is Avus Silver Pearl.

Any views? What have people tried recently?
 
That wheel paint code is very old and used on factory Audi wheels from well over 20 years ago until fairly recently.All S car alloys were painted in Z17 along with many other audi wheels.

It's up to you what you want,you can try and get some original cans, if at all possible, or try to get powder coaters to give you Z17.I've tried and got a blank look form them.the closet match was a Land Rover Disco colour swatch on the these URS6 17" alloys alloys below. I've recently had these S8 Avus D2 alloys done, the last wheel pictured. They were done in Audi bright silver, name given by the powder coater saying it's the paint audi use now, could be your code LY7J which look great but not a 100% perfect match for Z17. You could always if you want to wet spray them get someone to mix up Z17 no problem but the finish won't be as durable as powder coat.

P1040328_zpsrktcmvdc.jpg


Closeup of same wheel.

014_zpshmkoduhn.jpg





URS4 16" Fuch Forged alloy wheel in Z17.

4a0601025ez7p_4a0601025ez7p_1_zpsr9yl02j8.jpg


18" Avus D2 wheel in Audi Bright silver which might be your LY7J code.

P1060511_zpsv7j6pwp1.jpg


Hope that helps. If you do manage to find a good powdercoater who has can powder coat in Z17 please let me know.Cheers Mark.
 
Many thanks guys for the links and to Vorsprung durch Technik for all those photos and text.

I suspected Z17 had been discontinued. Z17 is Avus Silver Metallic whereas LY7J is Avus Silver Pearl. I've read that they reflect light differently. From the German link I can see that Z17 is a wheel paint but LY7J may or may not be.

I'm not sure if the aerosol cans are powder coat or not, but I can see the need for something stronger on the wheels. Also, since our A2s were made more recent environmental legislation has meant a move to water based paints. How that impacts DIY people doing small repair work I don't know.

I do have some Z17 so I'm going to try to touch up my wheels with that. I have 1 spoke to paint and a few centimetres of rim. Let's hope it is enough.

Whilst the wheels look fairly good (bar these 2 marks) I've noticed corrosion starting to creep in from the rear of the wheels so one year I may bite the bullet and have them refurbed. Looks like I will have to do all 4 and go for a closely matching paint colour.

PS Another link relating wheel part codes to paint codes: http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthrea...refurbing-standard-alloys&p=190882#post190882
 
The last time i looked or heard, was that as a diy-er your still able to spray using Cellulose amongst others at home,and that's a solvent based paint. There's a big difference between spray can paint and powder coat. One is sprayed on wet (paint can) and the other is a powder that is softly blown onto an electrically charged wheel which helps pull in the powder to all nooks and crannies which then gets baked on in a high temperature oven.At least that's how i understand it.Lol When i got our 17" A2 sport alloys done back in January the man i use gave a bit more education on alloy wheels. You've heard that some Audi wheels are softer than others.On the 17" sports wheels and maybe yours too there they're made up of 2 types of alloy. The wheel is actually a very fine honeycomb alloy material that gets coated with a much denser alloy which is very hard to the touch. If the corrosion get beyond this outer tough alloy surface that's not good as the corrosion can go deep into the alloy, so it's always best to sort corrosion out quickly before it get's beyond the outer hard alloy surface.

If you have corrosion there, the only way to get it out successfully is to have them pickled which is part of the thoroughness of the powder coating process.I've sprayed 4 sets of wheels in my time, 2 sets of steel wheels and 2 sets of alloys wheels on a diy basis and that was using nitromors paint remover, really rubbing them down, spraying colour then lacquer.I'll never do it again it's such hard work!! I paid £220 to get our 17" A2 Sport wheels powder coated which is cheap if your powder coater is of a high standard like the guy i use. All the best Alan. :)
 
I believe you are now only allowed to use cellulose or petroleum solvent based paints paints in the U.K. for the maintenance and restoration of 'classic' vehicles. It's a grey area what that means regarding age but I think I know where most A2 owners stand in this regard! (Also industrial and some other limited uses but they are not open to individuals at home really.


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So what do the aerosol / rattle cans contain? I always thought they were cellulose paint but then most cars today use water based paints. So what is the A2 paint? If water based then presumably we could use acrylic paint for touching up and not have the issue of nasty fumes.

Just remembered, I have a couple of Audi Environmental papers. Some snippets:

With the exception of clear coats, Audi has switched all its paint finishes to water-based paints, which contain considerably fewer organic solvents. Two-component water-based clear coat and UV hardening clear coat that have lower solvent content are also currently being tested for clear coat finishes.

Comparison of base coats:
Solvent-based paints
4 % pigments
16 % binders
80 % organic solvents

Water-based paints
65 % water
4 % pigments
21 % binders
10 % organic solvents

Mentions new paint shops in 1995 at Neckarsulm and in 1998 at Ingolstadt meeting the high environmental standards. Neither paper explicitly states the A2 uses water based paints.
 
I think manufacturers now use two components like 2k - which uses a hardener accelerator like isocyanate or similar - but I couldn't find any detail

All my rattlecans are acrylic or enamel I think. Not sure about the Audi paint match colour I got off eBay though...


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MY understanding is that since the early 2000's all manufactures have had to use water base paint and clear coats, so this would include the A2, as Alan pointed out the snippets that he published was Audi preparing for this change from solvent based to water bases paints in the late 90's ready for the mandated none use of solvent based paints in the early 2000's

However the plant and machinery needed to apply water based paints was impractical for the repair shops, so they where allowed to continue the use of solvent based paints including the 2K paints and cellulose based paints and clear coats.
A few years ago the repair shops where also moved on to the water based paints and clear coats, therefore the sales of solvent based paints and clear coats was then restricted to the repair of 'classic' vehicles. To strictly conform with the regulations you have to declare that any solvent based paints and clear coats that you buy are for use on classic only vehicles. There is however a clause that states that 'existing stocks' of solvent based paints and clear coats can be used up on any vehicles, classic or not.

Personally, as the occasional sprayer of the odd panel / wheel etc I will continue to us solvent based materials for as long as they are available as (a) I know how to successfully apply them (b) I have the equipment to apply them.
The term 'classic' vehicle is somewhat vague in terms of paints and clear coats and I personally feel that it as been left that way to allow enough 'interpretation' as is needed to allow the continued sales of solvent based refinishing products (but that may simply be me being cynical)
 
In essence you'll not need to show any proof, you can just walk into any paint supplier and ask for solvent based paint and tell them whatever they want to hear and walk out with the stuff.That's fine as long as it's not abused which of course it's open to.

As an aside,i've had some water based paint applied to our old A4 by an genuine Audi/VW workshop on insurance and find it's not as durable as the old early 90's Vag paints and doesn't give the depth and luster and most importantly the durability of the older stuff. I know of a professional garage up in Birmingham,they do Ferrarias,Lambos,exotic stuff, whom will respray an old Audi 100/ A6 C4,........ windows out etc for £5k ish using the older Vag solvent based paint process of the early 90's.The older system is more expensive in materials but you get what you pay for in this case.
 
All my rattlecans are acrylic or enamel I think. Not sure about the Audi paint match colour I got off eBay though...

I've just looked at genuine Audi spray can set (base+lacquer) I bought recently and there is no mention whether they are acrylic or enamel or cellulose based. I'm surprised, that for H&S reasons there is no info, just a German helpline telephone number.
 
Well I used my remaining Avus Silver Metallic Z17 paint to touch up one of the spokes ready for the Brecon Beacon social. It was a disaster which I put down to using paint wipes for the first time. So I had to strip it off quickly using cellulose (wet and dry was too slow). I then tried some Halfords Audi Aluminium Silver Metallic paint that I had already, on the basis something was better than the sorry state they were. This was followed by Halfords lacquer. Result is here:

Halfords Audi Aluminium Silver Metallic paint

Halford Audi Aluminium Silver Metallic lr.jpg

Original Avus Silver Metallic Z17 paint

Audi Avus Silver Metallic Z17 lr.jpg

A very close match to my eyes.

Next year the wheels will be all refurbished.
 
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