Q: painting or powder coating wheels?

[nickleinonen]

all right. i finally got a pretty good deal on some take off wheels. . the guy has the polished aluminum ones and the chrome clad aluminum ones. . now i want black wheels, so 2 options i can see. . paint my wheels myself, or have them powder coated. . the polished ones would be easiest to powder coat, but how are they to paint? can the chrome clad ones be painted easially?

same price for either. i just need to decide somewhat soon [the take off's are wheels & tires. he has someone who wants the tires alone, so i am getting an ok deal on the wheels alone like i want. . ]

i am leaning towards the polished aluminum ones... [but being cheap, i want to paint the wheels unless i can get a good deal on PC]

opinions???

 

[BHolm]

The chrome ones I have had look like they are regular alum wheels with a thin wrapper of chrome on them. It looks almost like you could peel it off. I would definately think the polished ones would be easier to work with. I would also defiantely go with powder coating on wheels because it is a lot more durable than paint. Road debris and brake dust are likely to be hard on paint no matter how good a job it is.

 

[Bob4x4]

You will have to remove the cladding to do either finish. The powder coat will hold up much better but the painting can be done.



Bob

 

[JBallou]

How would you go about removing the cladding of crome? Sandblasting, and then powdercoating? or do they need to be chemically stripped?

 

[Bob4x4]

The cladding is glued on,it must be peeled off.



Bob

 

[231jasonS]

someone posted pics on removing the cladding, im sure it can be found on a search.



I did mine and it was not easy, but worth it. Under the cheap chorme is the alum non polished wheel.



i painted mine and so far so good. one thing i like about the paint is after i switched tires and wheel weights i touched them up in about 2 mins.

 

[Blakers]

The secret of powder coating is the preparation. It must be corrosion and oil free. After you take that cladding off, you might want to sand blast them, so the powder coating has something to stick to. Urethane powder coating is probably the best as it will not fade, but epoxy is tougher. It will fade off rather rapidly though.

There is nothing wrong with paint, if you decide to go that route. Again, preparation is the key. A paint with a hardener is best. It may hold up better than powder coating.

Blake

 

[Cattletrkr]

Powder coating is paint, just a different method of application. A good paint job will be just as good as powder coating. At least that's what my buddy the auto-body guy tells me.

The powder coating on my Ricksons is junk, the paint on my truck is fine.

I'll second what Blakers said.

 

[NUKEMAN]

Painted mine, but only use them in the Winter now. Check out the Readers Rigs for photos.

 

[kparker]

I have powdercoated several sets of wheels. Powdercoat will stand up to more abuse than wet-paint if prepped properly. Make sure you interview the shop and verify that they do bead blast the parts first. Some shops will try to get by with only a little scotchbrite. The powdercoat can flake off if it doesn't have a good surface to bite into.



KP

 

[bighammer]

I just had 4 H2 wheels sandblasted and powdercoated for $160. Is that a pretty good price? (I always thought it was more $pendy than that)

I'm going to have them do both my Ranch Hand bumpers and my Tough Country running boards for another $160. (sounds like an even better deal)

 

[MrBee]

Powder coating done correctly is waaaay tougher than conventional paint.

A good option is to have them powder coated, then repowder coated with clear. I have had many race car frames done this way, and the only way to strip this off is sandblast!

If I were going to paint wheels, it would be powder coat epoxy with a clear coat. Last forever. As stated before. pre paint prep is key!

 

[Blakers]

If I were going to paint wheels, it would be powder coat epoxy with a clear coat. Last forever. As stated before. pre paint prep is key!

Does the clear coat protect the epoxy from UV rays? If not, the epoxy will fade from the sun.