Powder coating vs painting Rims
 

Because RR asked me too. Lol

So as everyone knows I'm planning to get my rims recolored and I'm sure others out there want them too.

Now the question is..

What is better? Powdercoating or Painting the wheels?

As far as strength powder coating hands down but I dont know how it'll affect the integrity of the metal after baking them again but I dont know how hot the temp needs to be so it may not affect them at all. If you get them professionally painted then that may be a good option too but I painted a set of aftermarket wheels myself and it didnt work out too well but it could have just been how I did it

an interesting page I stumbled across- http://www.powdercoater.com/faq/

According to that, the oven temperature is low enough to avoid metal fatigue. So, given the choice I would go with powdercoating over paint since it resists scratching a whole lot better than paint does. Although, if you're gonna do it, find yourself a cheap secondary oven to stick in your garage. The vapors that the baking process can coat the inside of your oven that can make your food taste funny for a long time.

The thing with p/c is that they sandblast a couple mm of the finish so there is no turning back once it's done. They even advise against re-powder coating it to a different color.

I've sent out my oem Ducati wheels to get powder coated and had them done for about 2 yrs w/out any issues. Been the track, around the canyons, on one wheel, several tire changes and they still look like they just came out of the booth.

*Painting your wheels
Pros
-A variety of colors to choose from
-Maintains the overall structure of the wheel
-Able to repaint

Cons
-Prone to chips, fades, cracks, wear and tear
-More expensive than powder coating
-Finish doesn't last as long




*Powder coating your wheels
Pros
-Very durable against the elements, chipping, scratches, brake dust etc
-Faster curing time
-Cheaper and faster turn around time compared to painting wheels
-Shorter prep process

Cons
-Limited colors to chose from
-Sand blasting and baking process might affect the wheel under high amounts of stress compared to a non-powdercoated wheel
-Limited shops compared to Autobody shops
-Not recommended to re-coat

This was taken yesterday evening with my Shinya Nakano "Shuriken" lid when he used to race for Konica-Minolta Honda.

Limited colors!?! D: Dang~ I want Yashio factory pink. :<

Limited colors is very relative. There is an infinite palette of paint colors because they mix to your hearts desire. That said, there are thousands of colors available with powder coating; it's very tough to not have a color that's virtually perfect for your application.

Powdercoat if you're planning on keeping the colour, paint if you may want to change.

At my work we get parts hard-anodized occasionally and they come back in this sexy matte/metallic bronze colour, like in my sig but less shiny and a bit darker.

I know my buddy's CCW's have anodized center sections, but has anyone heard of completely anodizing a wheel?

hmm

what if I just wanted a custom lip colour?

would one process have any advantages over the other in this case?

nevermind

You'd be surprised. I orignally wanted to get my wheels powdercoated to match the gun metal gray frame.

The Ducati oem color is called Codici Colore Grigio Titanio or PPG 291.600 and I even brought the bike there to see what sample best matched. I didn't find any that matched since they were either too dark or lighter than my frame.

The problem with anodizing is that the color fades quickly when exposed to the elements.

Tape off what you dont want painted and then spray it, dont think you can do selective powder coating, they spray it with charged powder particles to stick to the metal then bake it.

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And for Giccin :thumbsup:

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Yaatta~~ I love it. >:D now to find me a person who can do that. :>

Can you clear coat after powdercoating?

Not sure if that guy was doing it for demo purposes or to test out his gun but doing sort of a half-ass job! The wheel doesn't look sandblasted and he's touching the wheel.

There are certain areas either you'll need to tell them or if experienced they'll need to mask off like the valve stem, lug nut holes etc. They use a high temp tape

When I got my wheels done, there were a very limited number of colors that can be clear coated and were usually designated with the term "mirror" in it. It's a dual stage process and from the samples I saw, it gives it more of a freshly painted finish look.

My wheels are a mirror silver but when I saw the mirror black, I was almost tempted to do that color!

ex
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2508/...02bdb5f57a.jpg