Anatol

Gentlemen, I am thinking about powdercoating a set of 17" Cup wheels, standard alloy, no mag.

Would you recommend doing this or are there serious cons?

Thanks for your advice!

Rocket Rob

I hope its a good idea. I just picked up my set of Cup 1's from the refinishing shop. The powder coat looks fantastic.

merrick

I hope you don't mind me asking... How much was it to powder coat? I am looking to do the same thing. I can tell you that on my 01 Range Rover they actually had a re-call on the rims that were painted and replaced for powder coated ones (I was told at the time this was due to an inferior paint with no clear coat!?!?!?!? They faded and the paint was down to the primer in less than 2 years of ownership) The powder coated rims have never faded and still look new to this day.

Rocket Rob

My cost was $160 per wheel including the center caps. No shipping costs. The refinishing shop is near my house so I just dropped them off myself. The time to have it done was appoximately 1 week.

Marc Shaw

Any problems with chipping the powder coat when changing tires or tightening the lug nuts?

Marc

CWay27

You'd have to drop the wheel to chip it unless they powdered over the old finish where it doesn't usually hold very well. The major cost in powdercoating wheels is prep work. It's really a bitch to sandblast the old finish off.

grsilvia1

Anatol,

I powdercoated my TechArt 18's back in 2002 and they still look great. I've been through four sets of tires since then and about 30,000 miles. Also, I'm in the Air Force, so the car has moved with me from Sacramento to Tucson and now to Hawaii. I can't comment on how they would stand up to snow/ice/salt in a cold climate, but they've done well in warm climates.

Hope this helps,
Gary

90 C2 Cab

Anatol

Gentlemen, thank you for your feedback. I guess I will go for it.

RonCT

I'd never powder coat wheels because the heat can reduce the strength of aluminum. Do some searches and you'll discover the science of this. If you are talking about painting, then that's another matter - no issue I can see other than possibly increasing the weight of the wheel

CWay27

Ron I really don't get the big fuss about heating the alloy. Most wheels on the market are already powdercoated from the factory. Now a days the powder curing doesn't need as much heat as before. Two piece wheels are also heated to fit the centers. Ever noticed how the hot rod gurus like Boyd Coddington assemble the wheel barrel with the centers. The barrel is heated in order to expend and then the center is inserted.

I wouldn't worry too much for powdercoating regular stock wheels but in the case of light alloy wheels like fikses, I would go with anodizing.

RonCT

My point is that there are processes that can be fine and those that can damage the wheel. So why take the risk? To have colored wheels on top of the factory color? I guess I'm just wired such that whatever color the wheel is that I bought is the color it's going to remain. I did have a set of Cup 1s that were shot, so I had my shop refinish them in factory silver with clear coat. I agree with you that there are shops that can certainly do powder coat without damaging the wheel, but I'd rather not risk it and / or pay the price.

CWay27

I get your point Ron.

If you want your finish to last you must get the surface to bare metal. We once powdercoated wheels on the perfect original finish, thinking we could save a few prep steps but the coating chipped right off.