Has anyone tracked on 'plasti-dip' coated wheels?
 

I'm curious how this coating stands up to the heat and rigors of the track?


Anyone have experience running this stuff on track? I have a set of rims to freshen up and this would be easier than de-mounting the tires and powder coating them.


Might also be nice to have a protective coating on there to deal with the brake dust......

Holds up fine.

If you are worried about brake dust.....
Maybe you shouldn't be on a race track.

Maybe you should park hard bro!
You know like those car circle jerk parties all over instagram.

You cant even compare professional sandblasting/powder coating compared to driveway plastidip, no matter how much easier it is. Gotta pay to play or look just like the others.

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My personal car, no.

I have tracked a friends Evo-X with purple plastidipped wheels. They were sprayed out of a paint gun vs spray cans if that makes any difference. They have held up ok, but after 2 years they have lost their "look" as the brake dust is pretty embedded. Didn't seem to be much of an issue with heat, but I never took the car out for a full session ever.

Rocks will tear this coating off pretty quickly. If rocks aren't an issue, I don't see why it wouldn't stay on. plastidip does not clean well in my experience,so be aware that while you may delay damage from corrosive dust, they're always going to look a bit... bleh. Honestly, for the cost to benefit, powdercoating is amazing. And it washes nicely.

I have a hard time when Powder Coat and wheels. Almost every wheel I've seen fail(that is not from something like hitting an object) both on and off the track has been powder coated. Maybe its a coincidence.

There is a spray on product you can use to help protect the coating from being stained by brake dust. It holds up under heat just fine. There is a similar product called flexidip. It sprays on thinner but also lays down flatter with less of a textured finish.

It won't have the up close finish of powder coating, but it's a nice way to change the look and protect the original finish. One can per wheel should give you a thick coating.

I have always coated my winter steelies black. A four year old pair of wheels looked brand new when I sold my SX4 after peeling off the dip.

no heat issues. Spraying it on thick and on a clean wheel surface are key.

How many wheels have you seen fail? What brand of wheels? I'll believe it, if you told me you had proof lower quality flow formed wheels and the electromagnetic process of powdercoating weakened them, but all you just said powdercoated wheels are weaker...

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I will clarify his post with aftermarket powdercoats.

Back in the day, Steeda made a wheel for NASA's American Iron series. Might have been a spec wheel. They came in silver or powdercoated. There were lots failures and they were almost exclusively the powdercoated ones. Given how you have to heat a wheel and what heat can do to compromise strength, it doesn't seem like an unreasonable concern.

Regarding plastidip? If they mess up or look bad after some time, just re-do them. Isn't that the point?

There is a range of temperatures used to powdercoat things. Some super hot; some not so hot. The lower temperatures aren't far off what a wheel might see at a race track. I wouldn't use your example to say ALL wheel powdercoating will increase the likeliness of failures.

Agree with this, half the point of plastidip is you peel it off and redo it if it looks like shit, probably once a year if you really care about what it looks like.


Lots of good brake pads have dust that just wipes right off, if you haven't been to the track yet just go and don't defer to 'protect your wheels' they'll be fine.

It isn't about the look of brake dust, sparky - it's that when you run real race pads the "brake dust" is corrosive as hell.

Thanks, guys-


Plastidip it is!!


Next question:


Color suggestions for the rims to go with a car that's Asphalt with carbon bits?


I was thinking bronze or copper....but am open to other ideas!

Neon Green

Not all real race pads have corrosive dust... just certain compounds/brands.

It could be an age issue, a coating issue, a bad wheel issue, don't know. They were all items that had been blasted and coated a different color.

~7-8 individual wheels that i have personally seen in recent memory. Some were minor cracks that were caught before major issue. 2 Rota, Couple of Enkei, and I believe a Gram Light.

Dark silver wheels are my suggestion, using a black base, with silver metalizer. Even with full coverage the color is still nice and dark. The main reason I suggest that over gold, is that you can apply touch up coats if the color ever discolors due to dust etching into the dip.

I've also done bronze, but it eventually turned to full gold for the same reason I mentioned above. I'd apply more metalizer to freshen the finish which brightens the color, rather than strip and reapply from a bare wheel.
If you're okay stripping and reapplying from scratch to maintain the finish you want, then disregard what I said.

I think the bronze would look great on your car.



https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...25&postcount=4

I would immediately assume its wheel construction material and/or powdercoating process issue.

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Thanks for the tips!


The wheels themselves are flat black from the factory with bare aluminum machined recesses. I'm toying with the idea of trying one with silver or copper metalizer just over the factory black?

Could be a neat look with the bare machined areas adding some contrast.


These are the rims I'm running:

Me too!

Thanks for the pics, Glenn!!

You need the black base dip to build up layers and also provide something for the metalizer to stick to. Metalizer/pearls are much more fluid than standard plastidip.

One can per wheel, at least 3 cans for all four wheels. Any less and it'll be a nightmare to peel off later.

Thank you again for all your help!!