Stuttgart996

I just took my wheels apart last night to polish the lips and am thinking of sending the centers out for a powdercoat (thinking it will be easier to clean than the techni finish).

So I am think of going this route with my 18" FM-10s:






I am looking for a good shop to powdercoat them.

Also here is my car and any opinions on the color scheme would be appreciated:

Cowhorn

Beautiful car and handsome dog!

GL with wheels.

LexVan

Very nice. You could go paint to match exterior (Dark Forest Metallic??)??

Top-Gun

I did some research on this as I also have a set of FM10's and the technipolish finish is pretty scratched. I decided against powder coating for a couple reasons. The first is theres a possibility that the heat involved in the cure process will actually alter the hardness of the forging and that a low temp cure powder is recommended to avoid this (which isn't common from my research). Powdercoat shops typically abrasive blast the parts first and you don't really want this as it will pean and surface harden the centers. I tried mild abrasive (walnut shell) at low pressure and it was taking forever to strip the coating from all the nooks and crannies. Powder is also pretty permenant (requires agressive blasting to remove) and if it chips/scratches you can't touch it up. You'll also have to mask the flange face/edge and the bolt holes as I presume the extra thickness of the coating will interfere with assembly.

Painting is another option and seems to be the safest and easiest plus you have unlimited color options. If the clear is intact you'd just have to scuff them with a scotchbrite, degrease, and paint away. Touch-ups or changes later are also much easier and this process will not harm the forging in any way.

The third option which is the one I plan on going with is having the centers anodized. I've began stripping the clear off mine with an aluminum safe aircraft stripper. Once your sure you have all of the clear off (it takes multiple coats of stripper) its as easy as dropping the centers off at an industrial anodizer. I was quoted $150 to have my centers etched, desmutted, and anodized in a satin industrial silver. Speciality shops can do all kinds of colors but most industrial places only do silver, gray, black, and gold.

JB 911

That's interesting. Can you explain what is the downside to that process?

I'm no expert, but it seems that any work-hardening of the material would only be a good thing as long as you don't reach plastic deformation, no?

What would be the disadvantage of work-hardening a rim?

Top-Gun

From what I understand, after the high pressure forging the temperature of the part and cool down curve is closely controlled to both relieve residual stresses and to achieve the desired mechanical properties in the material. Its possible that the cure temperature of the coating will overlap the temperatures at which the material was processed which could possibly alter what the manufacturer intended for the material.

Theres debate on both sides, I'd just rather not mess with it unless I knew exactly what temp Fikse processed the wheels at and you knew the powdercoater was curing at a lower temp.

aarrow

Color wise, you can never go wrong with just plain old silver. Black would be a very stealthy look with the green. A dark bronze would give a low key "racer" feel. Gun metal would be pretty classy too.

Are you keeping the lips polished or is the whole wheel going to be one color?

Farfelc2s

My Racing Green 997 came with RG wheels from factory.
I also have Rugers that I had painted BBS Gold.
Both look great to me.

Pags993

I think dark gun metal centers would look really good and classy.

Farfelc2s

BBS Gold

eeterp

+1 for gold on a green car.

Stuttgart996

Wow I like that last picture. Now you have me reconsidering....