What colour on a Hirsch wheel

[David]

Anyone know what colour Hirsch used on their 18 inch 5 spoke for the 9.5 please?
Mine have some curb scuffs to the edge and I would like to 'improve' the look a little by retouching them with a brush. The colour is like a light gun metal, if that helps!

Here are the wheels in question:

[sgould]

I have not found a match yet.  Not tried that hard to be honest.  No repair will last long if you use the Watford car parks!

I did ask about refurbishing and they quoted me a horrendous price as the paint was "special and had to be obtained from Hirsch".

It was three or four years ago and they were quoting £100/litre for the paint 

I would be trawling the shelves in Halfords.  Most Skodas are grey...

[collywobble]

Any good motor factor that also sells mixed to order car paint should be able to sell you a smallish tin - mine quoted me about £12 for a 250ml tin.  What will take time is going through all the colour swatches to pick a good match!

[David]

Cheers fellas.

I have caught the edges a couple of times now which is a little annoying -a bit of an understatement to say the least 
I was going to get them refurbished, but until I familiarise myself with their width, I will be touching up for the foreseeable future   
I did contemplate a set of rim protectors, but I am not sure if it will look 'bling'.

Might have to pop over to my motor factors in the spring and get a pot made up.

[sgould]

What tyres have you got on there?  On my old car I had Bridgestone RE 050A for a time and they had a substantial protection ridge.  There are others that are similar.

[David]

Hi Will

225/45/18 Hankook. I understand it should be 225/40/18. Other than the tyre wall thickness are there any differences?

I was planning on a set of new tyres in the summer and being a fan of Avons I was going for these as they had "Functional rim flange protectors to help protect your alloy wheels from damage" They certainly have a wider wall as the current tyres are almost flush tot he alloy.

http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/car/zz5

[sgould]

I've only ever run 225/40 18 92Y XL on mine.

Once the Bridgestones wore out, I went to Goodyear F1.  These were cheap and wore quickly and when I looked closely they were Chinese made. I ended up with Goodyear Assymetrics.  None of the Goodyears had much protection.

The current car came with Michelin Pilot Sport pre-fitted by Hirsch.  Followed by Goodyears again and then the Nokian zLine.  None had significant rim protection.  I think I would be spending my time wandering around looking at tyres looking at the rim protection and trying not to be arrested...  Lots of manufacturers claim "rim protection", much of it is minimal.

Have a scroll through the list for your size on http://www.mytyres.co.uk  There are many tyres listed with rim protection.  The list might be a starting point in your search.

[David]

Thanks Will, I will take a look.

Another question: Would 235 rather than 225/40/18 give a little more protection?

Many thanks (again!)

[sgould]

Hirsch only sold the 225/40 18 tyres on their wheels for the 9-5. They sold 235/40 18 for the 9-3SS. The reason is clearance. When fully loaded, there is very little room between the tyre and the far wheel arch. I checked when we got back from holiday. I can't get my little finger in the gap!

However, some tyres are wider than others, regardless of the numbers on the sidewall. On the 225/45 tyres I had at one time the tread width between makes varied by almost an inch.

[Mark B]

I think that the 225 width of the tyre is actually the maximum width of the tyre (the so called "section width", without any obvious rim protection stripe) rather than the width of the tread.  So depending on how round shouldered or square shouldered the tyre is, there will be a difference in the width of the rubber on the road.

[David]

Cheers again gents.

So 225/40/18's it is. Just need to decide on which make now.

Regards

David

[sgould]

Back home now.  Been out all day at a funeral in Warwick.

Here's a picture of my rear wheel and arch when fully loaded.

[David]

My word that is close!

With the Hirsch set up the suspension on my car is reasonably compliant on 225/45/18s. I am assuming on 225/40/18s it is going to be a little firmer, simply because of the thickness of tyre wall?

[sgould]

I doubt that you will notice much difference.  Are your tyres XL rated? The 225/40 18 should be 92Y which is the extra load rating.

We are happy on the 225/40 18 tyres for comfort.  Better than the old Aero suspension anyway. I enquired about the size with Hirsch, because the older 2002 9-5 I had was originally on 225/45 17 tyres, whereas the Dame Edna came on 235/45 17 tyres.  They mentioned the clearance on a loaded car as the main issue, but they also mentioned that, being a bit smaller in diameteralso helped the pick-up at low speed, but I think that would be very marginal.  But you may notice the difference with a 4% drop in diameter

[David]

Having done a little more delving it would appear that the Hirsch Wheels use a colour called 'Titanium Silver'.
See: https://elevencreative.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/looking-for-hirsch-alloy-aficionados/

Now I just need to find out if it is a BMW or Mercedes colour.
UPDATE: After checking it looks more like a Mercedes colour. so off to the dealership for confirmation.
Do you think they will turn their noses up when I arrive in a SAAB