Not such a new question but what's the answer?

[jezza16v]

Hi, I've been trawling this site and others but can't seem to find a good answer, maybe I'm using the wrong search words. 
What I'm after is a close(ish) 'off the shelf ' silver spray for my RA's (on mk2 8v). I have found that the actual VW colour code is probably L009 104 but I don't want to drive miles to a dealer when I have a Halfrods close by. I'm guessing that someone on here will have found something pretty close that does the job. I'm not after a perfect match as the wheels are all pretty ropey anyway. One wheel has been sanded off around 1/4 of the rim down to the metal in an attempt to polish it I guess, so I just want to get it back to a reasonable state. Do you need a special primer paint for alloy? I can see there is some yellowish green primer underneath the original silver. 

[northeast_gti-t]

you should be okay with using the grey primer as you would with painting bodywork etc 

[erb91]

best to put maybe 1 cote of etch primer ( avalable form halfords) then a few coats of normal grey primer. . .  if your doing all the wheels then just pick any silver lol, or take a wheel to the store with you and im sure one of the fellas there will know. . .  altho it is halfords 

[Thom89]

If you have bare patches of alloy that you want to paint over, then you must etch prime! then followed by 3/4 light coats of white primer (this is the best colour primer to use if you're going to cover with silver) when selecting a silver to paint your wheels, I would try to avoid any silver that has pearlescent tinter  present, this could make your wheels look a little strange, and you wouldnt know why!  Mercedes "Brilliant silver" code 744,  is an excellent choice, being clean and bright, and no pearl! then 2/3 coats of lacquer to finish.
Halfords can mix any colours, including VW colours!....
Tom

[jezza16v]

Thanks for that spot on answer Tom  I'll get on to it.