ideas for paint colours/codes for wheel rims and bumpers?

hi there guys, i was just wondering what your opinions are for spraying up the bumpers and wheel rims. what's the standard white colour/off white/old english white that you would use? also what primer would you use for the wheel rims, and topcoat colour? what do you use to strip the old paint from the wheel rims? i was going to try nitromors instead of sanding it back, or would you still sand it and flat it with 800? i was going to use u-pol acid etch primer or something like that. cheers.

Preparation tips:-several choices depending on condition,if paint is sound with no (or very light surface only) rust,wet flat with p-360 then primer/surfacer. If paint's not sound but again with no serious corrosion strip with Nitromoors,key surface with p240/360 then acid etch prime followed by primer/filler.Finally last but nearly always the best option is to have everything shot blasted back to bare steel(provides by far the best substrate/paint key)and removes rust from pits etc.Not strictly neccesary to etch prime after blasting but if like me your a 'belt and braces' type you can,followed by primer/filler(high build?) Primers to be wet flatted with p600 prior to topcoating.For topcoating Two pack is most durable followed by
std air dry enamel and cellulose.You could also have parts powder coated (extremely tough and durable),finish can be a bit poor sometimes though(old finishes removed first by blasting,no primers used),or stove enamelled,same prep.
Cheers.

cheers for this, just deciding what approach to use, will try flatting it down first and decide after. not sure whether to paint strip the rims, might get away with priming and wet sanding with a subtle grade of paper. any ideas on nice colours? i want silver wheel rims i think but i do like black too, i think i want old english white coloured mudguards.

is it standard practise to clear lacquer the mudguards as well as wheel rims? how do they come as standard? are they just topcoated with silver or is there any lacquer on there? please advise. regards.

Silver (like all metallic finishes) is a basecoat/laquer system.You need the build up of the laquer to give a good deep gloss to the finish and cover the semi-matt silver basecoat(which contains small particles of aluminium to give the silver appearance)
This can also improve the final result of aerosol silver and give a professional appearance with full deep gloss.
Of course the better the gloss the more any imperfections/poor prep. will show through.
several light coats are better than one or two heavy ones.
Basecoat's are generaly single pack acrylic and clearcoat 2 pack.
Cheers.

cheers chief. nice post, great information.