Well this has been the longest Friggin' winter I have ever lived through....the only saving grace is I have been able to do some nice work on my ride over the winter.

My Question to the forum is: What is the process to have your wheels powder coated?

I am considering having my Grey BBS MR wheels done and I want to know what has to be done to the wheels to get them ready to be PC'd.

Is the finish that is on them PC or Paint?

I have been quoted $100 / wheel - does that sound like a good price?

Are there there some PC materials that are better to use than others?

Is there anything in the process that could damage the wheels - sand blasting for example?

I'm feeling gloss black wheels for my GG Evo......what do you think?

Thanks for your input - Sick Speed

 

Let the powder coater take care of the prep work, it's much easier and it's typically part of the price.

$100/wheel is the right price.

Look at the different percentage of gloss that the powder coater has available. Most of my customers like the 60% gloss black.

Darin

 

around here is 45-55/wheel depending on color.

 

+1 here also unless you choose one of the "Chrome/Metallic" type finishes. My powdercoater did all of the prep work for my wheels.

 

The factory finish is powder and must be taken off completely. Let them do that for you. $100 per wheel is not bad, but I have seen cheaper. Just make sure that included stripping the wheel and not trying to coat over the original coating.

 

Thanks for all the great info - my coater suggested 60% gloss black as well - He will do all of the work to prep the wheels. The $100/Wheel includes the entire cost for cleaning and removal of the existing PC finish.

Sick Speed

 

here is a price guide to help you
http://www.liquidpowdercoats.com/
this guy also cleans them very thoroughly and has hundreds of customers in the philly area

 

I was actually looking into this today. If you are removing the pc to apply the new coat, the rims will need to be gassed to eliminate all the moisture in the aluminum and then prepped for powdercoating. I was told the price is around $40 a wheel for gassing and coating but didn't include media stripping or buffing the final coat when finished. I am currently looking into renting a sandblaster and stripping them myself.

 

Great info just spoke with them and will def havve my rims coated by them.. guy by me was charging 150 a rim!!! So thanks for the post

 

Don't bother renting a sandblaster to strip the wheels. That coating is so tough that you would need a media that is too harsh to use on your wheels. Most shops chemically strip them. Trust me on this one. Pay the extra money and let the shop do the prep work. It is major PITA getting them down to bare metal. I have done it several times. I also have a commercial media blasting cabinet and it will not remove the PC without some really abrasive stuff that could damage the wheels. As far as the gassing. It is actually called "outgassing" and the shop should not be charging extra for this. It is a normal routine anyime that you are coating aluminum. Basically all it entails is prebaking it for an hour or so to release any gas in the aluminum that could cause bubbles in the finish. I have never heard of buffing powder coating before. Why would you want to do that? If you want a glossy finish just pick a glossy powder. I have used some blacks that look like 10 coats of clear coat. base coat paint. Very nice I base this on several years of experience powder coating things myself.

 

Thanks for the input, I almost just rented the sandblaster, air compressor and media for $80 for four hours. I'll look into the buffing he was mentioning(unless he thought I meant painting) and try to find a company that does chemical stripping.

Does anyone have any experience in over the counter chemicals for stripping powdercoat I could use myself?

 

I dont know if this is true of the MR wheels. But the OE 8 rims are base coat and cleared.

For the record - I never recommend PCing rims. There is two types of coating: high temp and low temp. When you heat up the metal to high temps it restructures the lattice structure of the metal. Think of it this way - it takes something that is not aligned at 90 deg angles and then makes it so everything is at a 90 deg lattice.

Low temp is Russian Roulette - but my .02.

What does this mean for rims - embrittlement. Which could cause the rim to fracture or worse case fail completely.

Last winter I just spent a weekend morning - sanded my OE 8 rims with 3 grades of paper (got off any big scratchs or rash and the sticker), cleaned off all the dust, drove to a painter friend of mine, and had him custom paint my rims for me. Cost was $125 for all 4.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k6...o/standing.jpg

 

Today I was quoted $575 for 4 wheels. This includes all prep work and a 3yr warrenty. Is that a high price?

 

yeah around here is $60-70 a piece for 18's

 

17" O.E. Evo 9 wheels 35.00 each flat black, stripped and coated. This is my second set done for my BFG drag radials.