Wheels - powder coat or paint?

I picked these wheels up from Gaijin a couple of days ago, they're genuine splits and in staggered fitment, japanese, but unsure of the manufacturer. They're in need of a refurb which is all good, as whatever I bought was going to be redone black.

lovely car, engine bay's awesome! Hope you don't mind me posting the pics Gaijin.

They're going all black, probably without centre caps but I'll get a set of blanks done in black too just in case. I'm 99% certain that I'm going to go for a satin powder coated finish like in the first picture below, although when I saw pics of Pred's car with the wheels painted in a gloss finish (second picture) it gave me a few second thoughts.

What I'm not so sure about is whether it's straight forward to powder coat split rims, I had read or heard somewhere that there was a chance that the coating could crack when being re-assembled. The condition of the centres in particular mean that some sort of blasting will be necessary first (bead/sand/soda) and I'm guessing that painting isn't practical after blasting as the blasting will leave the surface pitted. Has anyone had any experience of coating split rims and have they been ok when re-assembling? Or, has anyone had their wheels painted after they'd been blasted, and if so what was the finish like?

http://www.ccwheel.com/files/gallery/TOYOTA/SUPRA/MKIV/C14/zoomed/09.jpg

Powdercoat black:cool:

Powdercoat black:cool:

lol, I know, I must have wrestled with that decision for all of 5 seconds when I saw the two pics side by side (no offence Pred!), it's whether it's ok to coat splits that I'm wondering about, as I can achieve the same look with paint but I don't know if the blasting will mean that painting is out.

If you soda blast them and get a really good finish you could have them anodised black.

Thanks for the reply Chris

I have been wondering about anodising, there's a company local to me that do it but I haven't spoken to them yet. I have a set of aluminium tuner nuts that I want to get anodised, any idea of a ball park cost to get them done (so that I know if I'm getting a good deal, or getting my eye wiped!)?

I want a satin/matt finish for the wheels themselves so ruled out anodising for that. I assume then that soda blasting will leave a good enough finish to allow me to get them painted?

I tried annodising my outer lips but it didnt work very well as there such a deep dish on my rears.

I ended up powdercoating mine in gloss Black, ive had no problem with the powder coat cracking around the splitrim bolts either and they've been done a while.

Also resealing them is easy so dont worry about that, a lot of wheel refurb places make a big deal out of doing splitrims when its quite easy just time consuming.

The 1st thing is take them apart then get them chemically stripped and youll then see how good the surfaces are, fine media blasting wont mark the lips and to be honest if theres no pit marks the best thing i found was to scotchbright them as in my 2nd pic.

A few pics of mine for you

Anodising matt finished alloy gives a matt anodised finish. Soda blasting is OTT for powder coating, grit blasting is fine. The cost of anodising 20 wheels nuts should be about 10 quid. 4 wheels about a tenner to fifteen quid each. That does not include any prep work.

My powder coated wheels cost between £40 to £50 per wheel

I have had two sets done now, a stock 17" set and my Gram Lights.

Ian Jemison Engineering are good, for blasting, repairing and powder coating rims. I even trust him with magnesium rims. £50 per rim if they are one piece, or ready stripped down 3 piece rims I think.

http://www.alloywheelrepairs.com/

Or you could speak to Ibrar a trader on here in B'ham (speedwells) thats where i did my wheels

I even trust him with magnesium rims.

Thats good to know as the company I used wasnt happy working with magnesium wheels, something about them exploded if not treated properly

*ollocks Magnesium in powder form is nasty, and SOMETIMES turning it can be iffy, but explode....? Pleeeeeeeaaaase Ever seen a F1 rim "explode"? Or any other one of the myriad bits of them explode? They aren't pure mag anyway.

Thats good to know as the company I used wasnt happy working with magnesium wheels, something about them exploded if not treated properly

I think you were being fed a line there matey.

The only thing with magnesium is that if it catches fire, it's a real pain to extinguish.

When I was at Williams the machine shop were milling some part in magnesium over the weekend. It caught fire and they couldn't put it out. Destroyed a 1/4 million pound machine centre.

It was something to do with the chemical cleaning/stripping process

Powder coated id say

im in the same boat... still unsure what to do with mine, leave them matt black or paint them silver with black centres

i actualy quite like the sound of anodised matt black but i bet that aint cheap

Ian Jemison Engineering are good, for blasting, repairing and powder coating rims. I even trust him with magnesium rims. £50 per rim if they are one piece, or ready stripped down 3 piece rims I think.

 

http://www.alloywheelrepairs.com/

I had the wheels on my 1st Supra refurbed by Ian Jemison. His work is 1st class, although you do pay for that.

It cost me £650 to refurb the wheels. This included stripping the wheels, assembly, new bolts and powder coating in gold and silver. They still look like new and this was done well over a year ago.

(The wheels fitted to the Supra at the back)

Cheers guys, some very useful info I'll keep you posted.

powder coat them.

It was something to do with the chemical cleaning/stripping process

That's right, magnesium will melt away in an acid bath, however can be powder coated without any issues, I have done a few sets before

No offence Ibrar, for some reason I thought you had stopped with the wheel re-furb? For sure Ibrar turns out lovely work, car and wheel wise

very nice jim, look forward to seeing them on the car

No offence Ibrar, for some reason I thought you had stopped with the wheel re-furb? For sure Ibrar turns out lovely work, car and wheel wise

No offence taken Chris, I don't mind at all

Well, I went for satin black in the end and have just got the wheels back from the powder coaters, they look awesome imo I'm a bit disappointed in the finish on one, there are a few tiny pit marks where I guess air escaped during the heating/drying part of the process, but that's being picky really as it's only noticeable when close up. Busting to get the tyres on and onto the car.