Powder coating wheels... Good idea or no?

kycobra08

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So the chrome cobra wheels are starting to bubble up and pit on my car from previous owners lack of winter maintenance. I'm wanting to get chrome fr500s and keep these cobras for winter. Is it possible to have the chrome removed and have the wheels powder coated black? Of so how strong is the finish and will it chip or scratch easily? Thanks
 

Tractionless1

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Mine are perfectly smooth. Don't powercoat the face of the wheel that touches the hub nor the face which the lug nuts contact.

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blkGT500nCA

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Your biggest problem is going to be the peeling chrome. I own a powder coating business and we charge extra for damaged chrome, if we'll even touch them. The problem is that you can sand blast off the damaged stuff but when you heat the wheel up afterwards in the oven it'll start to peel again. (this happens more often on aluminum. Steel wheels aren't usually so bad.)

The solution is to blast the wheel clean, then heat it up in the oven to 400 then apply a "red oxide primer" while the part is still hot. Once the wheel has cooled you can hit whatever spots may have peeled with a da sander. Then depending on what the customer wants to spend you can either do some more primers to smooth things put, or move on to the color coat.

These were aluminum Mercedes wheels and the chrome was peeling BAD!




Blasted, and blasted, and blasted. Then Heated them up to 400* and shot the RO primer hot. Which tends to orange peel.


Let the wheels cool then shot them with another type of primer to smooth them out.



Cleaned the wheels up and shot them with "Black Magic". :D

 
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kycobra08

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Wow those Benz wheels look super nice. What would be some things to ask to make sure the guy is gonna do it right? What does powdercoating usually cost for wheels? And how would I have them stripped to help the guy out?
 

SonicBlueOval

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Wow I like! Why not do the part the hub and lugs touch?

because the powdercoat is usually somewhat thick compared to paint. You dont want to put it in the mentioned areas because after you tighten the wheel on, the powder coat can cause a misaligned wheel at minimum and possibly even a loose wheel once the powder wears or squeezes out of those areas.
 

blkGT500nCA

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Wow those Benz wheels look super nice. What would be some things to ask to make sure the guy is gonna do it right? What does powdercoating usually cost for wheels? And how would I have them stripped to help the guy out?

Thanks man. An 18" wheel is probably going to run you anywhere from $75-100 per wheel for a single coating. Additional coats usually cost 50% of the first coat.

The best way to strip the chrome is to send them to a chrome shop and have them do it. There are ways to strip it off with acid, a battery, some cables and some lead, but what you're left with is pretty toxic. The problem with blasting the chrome off of the aluminum is that you need to use a pretty aggressive media to get it off and that harsh media will damage the underlaying metal. It also takes awhile to blast off chrome, nickel, and copper with the right equipment, with the wrong equipment, forget it.

Sometimes it's better to just get new wheels because to do it right and to where it will last, it's not cheap. Damaged chrome sucks.

"If the chrome is bubblin, the price is doublin."

You could always do a textured powder too and it'll hide a LOT of imperfections.
 

kycobra08

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THats cool. I want them for the winter and have chrome fr500s for summer. That way I could just put the shitty pitted rims to good use instead of in the trash. Unless there's another suggestion
 

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