Powder coating vs painting Rims

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by RRnold

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

I've had literally Tons of parts powder coated over the years. If your shop can't match the color, get a shop that doesn't suck. Seriously.

Originally Posted by blur

Can you clear coat after powdercoating?

You can get clear powder coat if you'd like. It provides a satin or gloss [your choice] finish to the bare material underneath. It basically looks like the material is lacquered.

[RRnold]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

I've had literally Tons of parts powder coated over the years. If your shop can't match the color, get a shop that doesn't suck. Seriously.

Do share then! :happy0180: I know there are a host of shops than can color match but the 4 local shops I went to couldn't.

[Mac1235]

Let me touch on the myth that powder coating is what is causing wheel failure. 100% not true. I am a chemical engineer who works in the electrocoating and powder coating industries and I service plants that produce hundreds of thousands of rims that are powder coated and electrocoated to go on cars and other motorized vehicles. The temperatures used for a powder coat or electrocoat cure is FAR below the levels that would cause metal fatigue or anything else along those lines. Those rims are repeatedly dipped in abrasive chemical scrubs as well before being coated. Most of the wheel failure links people show are from people taking CHEAP daily driver wheels onto the track and beating up on them. There is no link here, let me speak from years of experience in the industry.

As for what you what one is better, painting or powder coating, it really comes down to taste. Powder coating provides a little better coverage of paint and some better scratch resistance, but a well painted wheel can provide similar if not identical results. Painted rims are more dependent for quality on the quality of the painter where powder coating is idiot proof.

[OrbitalEllipses]

My wheels are powdercoated...but if I fuck one up it's because they're 15lbs and cast.

[M-17]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

My wheels are powdercoated...but if I fuck one up it's because they're 15lbs and cast.

What color did you go with?

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by M-17

What color did you go with?

You saw it in Atlantic City!



Gold.

[M-17]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

You saw it in Atlantic City!



Gold.

Ohh yeah.... derp.

[OmarGC]

God this thread makes me want to tease and show my fresh powdercoat...

[BlaineWasHere]

I did a bunch of research and decided on powder. I found a local shop that does a low temp process for wheels that bakes for longer at a lower temp.

[dsgerbc]

I'll leave some links here from my bookmarks on the topic for powdercoating _forged_ wheels.
Numero uno - decent article. Also scroll down to questions to see his take on powdercoating wheels.

A topic on a forum for engineers. Lot's of proper technical terms and things google if one wants to research further.

Handbook on Metallic materials. Go to page 3-276 for charts of tensile strength change from temperature exposure for alloys used in forged wheels. Heck, I'm even gonna post it here.

Sadly there isn't a similar picture for cast alloys (356-T6 I think), but I never researched powdercoating cast wheels, so it might be out there somewhere.

Based on this I tend to think that half an hour at ~3XX F won't do much damage. If one wants to be very safe (keep in mind that the chart below is room temperature and there could be some effect from powdercoating during heavy track use) - look around for low-temperature (sub-300F) powdercoating. It's gonna be more expensive.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Mine were low-temp cooked for the coating. Made sure I found the guy who does low-temp stuff and gave me the spiel about wheels (especially forged ones).

Originally Posted by blur

Can you clear coat after powdercoating?

Yes, my wheels have a satin clear coat on them to subdue some of the flake of the metallic powder I selected.

[Kiske]

Bump

Looking into Gloss/Mirror/Hyper Black myself. I haven't really found any local shops that do sub 300* temp coating. The only time I've had PC done was on an eaton blower housing and I didn't think much of the finish (could have been the shop skill.)

Would love to here more on the topic.

[Dooley]

@Kiske I see you are in KCMO, I actually do powdercoating for all of the dealerships in the area as well as work for people like KC Trends.

Our company is Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists and you can PM me for any details or questions you may have. We do plenty of low temp curing and will gladly give you a tour through our Wheel Remanufacturing Facility where all of the work is done. We are just located in Blue Springs, MO.

[f0rge]

In my experience painting never ends up looking anywhere near as good as powder coating.

The difference is the media blasting/prep work and a professional doing it versus some dude in his garage.