Powder Coating Alloys

[guytom]

This may be a dumb question but is it ok to get your alloys powder coated??

 

I only ask cos I know the process involves heat treating the alloys (or so I'm told) and I thought it might weaken the wheel or sumthing like that. Another thing that made me ask is that I had a mate who had black wheels (not on an Elise) and he had 2 that cracked near one of the spokes & I wasnt sure if it would be the blackening process that would do that.

 

Apologies in advance if I'm talking tripe but I dont want to bugger my wheels............

 

If it is ok to do does anyone know of a good place to get them done (or another alternative way of getting a good quality black finish) around the Coventry / W mids area.

 

Thanks.

 

[steve-n]

most alloy wheels are powder coated and clear laquer applied, to seal the wheel. I can get your alloys re-finished for £150.00 (all 4) inc vat.

 

Tyres must be off and its a five day turn around.

[DunkHSP]

I worked at a coaters for some years and here are a few tips for anyone getting wheels coated:

 

1. Consider what is involved getting original coating removed. Some will advise shot blasting others will use a chemical strip both done, correctly are suitable. Some will charge extra for this or even ask that you get it done. Wheels that have been stripped more than once may cause problems with the coating process.

 

2. Pretreatment. A good coater will have some form of pretreatment process which creates a chemical bond between the alloy and the powder. Without a pretreat you have an 'envelope' coating, any scratch deep enough to penetrate the coating will soon lead to the coating lifting. In saying this, a good envelope coat is very sturdy.

 

3. Type of powder. Polyester powder coating is the best for 'outdoor' applications although there are other good powders. Colours are usually RAL coded or BS coded. Look on the net or get a colour chart. Gloss, semi-gloss and matt all are available in most standard colours.

 

4. Get a good coater!! Obvious really but must coaters hang there wheels from hooks to spray them. A bad coater will pile powder on which will build up on the flat areas and corners such as spoke joins. In the worst case this leads to a wheel that is near impossible to balance. Also ensure that masking is carried out correctly, again fairly obvious but very important.

 

As regards to temperature most powders cure at about 180-210 degrees celcius for about 15 minutes. Your wheel itself will only be at that temp for about 8-10 minutes so really unless they are erally flimsy no damage should occur.

 

£150 for a full set seems a good price to me.

 

When I was coating the following applied:

 

Gloss = nightmare

Semi Gloss = OK

Matt = nice

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

[guytom]

wow dunk, thats mega helpful thank you v much

 

The finish I'm goin for is Matt black cos I think it looks ace, am waiting for a quote off a company in Brum (cant remember who cos I did it at work!) but when I get it done I shall post some pics up on MLOC.

 

Thanks again to both of you 4 the answers

 

 

[dss123]

Join the club Guy,

 

Black wheels look awsome!

 

 

Dunc

[guytom]

ur right Dunc, Black wheels look ace , I just wish I'd had the balls to go for an orange one like in ur picture - looks bloody great I think...............

[dss123]

Cheers Buddy,

 

Would like to see a pic when you get them done.

 

Cheers

 

 

Duncs

[Scott_Mac]

Hmm, some dodgy reports on SELOC about getting them done, Liam has had several crack on the car (on track even!!)

 

So be sure to get them done somewhere reputable if you are going to do it.

[s55shh]

There was a special notice issued by Lotus a few years ago which concerned the heat treatment when powder coating used wheels. I beleive it related to the original AWI rims. There had been failures which had been attributed to the powder coating heat treatment so they were saying don't do it.

Whether it is always a problem or not I don't know, or whether it was hiding a problem I don't know (I've seen corrosion behind the spokes of original finished wheels).

Either way, I've spray painted mine. Infact they were professional done but not very well so I did them myself with spray cans and I'm really happy with them. It also means that if you do catch them you can just touch them up rather than parting with more money!

[Mark A]

Powder coating can lead to failure if done incorrectly, the length of time at a certain temperature is only a small part of the story, the fact it gets there is more important. It is possible to do it properly but the temperatures used are quite low relatively, the average powder coating place can't do it properly, look for a proper wheel refurbisher or similar.

 

This is what happened to Liams wheel during a trackday in France, this was the 2nd or 3rd one to go.

[Scott_Mac]

Not all bad Mark, he has 3.5 spokes still attached

[Loafing Wafu]

Currently going through a spending spree at the moment and i'm thinking of inversting some cash in getting the old alloys back to their prime.

 

This company seems to be respectable but has anyone had any first hand experiences with them.

 

http://www.lab-tab.co.uk/alloywheels.php

 

 

Next dilema is whether to get them redone as standard, matt black or anthracite.

 

Me car's black with photos in the my vehicles section. Anyone board and fancys photoshoping what it could look like in the other colours is most welcome to.

 

Ta very much.

 

Keith

[Gareth]

I've powder coated mine and so far have had no problems.

As long as they are not baked too high for too long they should be fine.

[Loafing Wafu]

Come on help me out people.

[Black Swan]

Can recommend Tyre Warehouse in Melton Mowbrey 01664 822 482 (they do NOT sell tyres anymore). Have seen their work a number of times and can not fault them. With many cars, with all wheels the same size, they will often loan you a set of spares while they sort yours.

 

Peter