I was wondering if anyone knows about requirements and limitations when it comes to powder coating or painting wheels. I have gold prodrive wheels that are showing some wear after two cars worth the use. My plan is to strip the paint (to be honest I'm not sure if the gold is painted or powder coated) and repaint or powder coat them black. So, my question: 1. Should I have them powder coated or painted? 2. What is the best way to strip the paint? -Sand blasting or some other kind of media blasting -I heard if the current set-up is powder coated it has to be baked off?? Thanks
Just rattle can them. For the money you will spend having them stripped, blasted, and powder coated, you can rattle can them black about 5 times. You don't really even need to strip the paint if you don't want. Use body filler to clean up any dents and deep scratches. Give the surface a once over with some 320-400 grit sand paper. Wipe clean with alcohol. PRIME and paint. If you absolutely must remove all paint first, just get yourself a can of Aircraft Stripper. Paint it on with a brush, nice and thick. Leave it for about 20-30 minutes. Then steel wool the paint off. And wear gloves, unless you want to peel the skin off your hands. It will burn you. Powder coat can be removed by sand blasting, i'm sure any sort of chemical strip will remove it. All powder coating is is powderized paint that is baked onto the surface rather than applied wet.
Oh boy. I guess that I didn't mention that these wheels aren't going on a 1989 Brat (see attached) . Let me just take a minute to be more clear. I am interested in a professional finish. I could rattle can the walls in my house to save money but the quality would suck. In Minnesota I would hesitate to put body filler anywhere on my car (let alone my wheels) given the constant -300 degree salt spray we get for 9 months out of the year. I appreciate the input but I rattle cant.
To each their own I guess. I don't quite understand how salty roads and properly primed and sealed body filler are an issue. I guess if you simply slopped spraypaint onto your wheels and didn't do proper preparations, sanding and finishing it would end up looking like junk. Spraypaint in a can is no different from any other propellent spread paint. If you prep the surface properly, and seal the surface properly, there is no reason you can't produce professional results that are just as durable as a HVLP sprayed or ionized powdercoat coating. It is all a matter of how much money you want to spend on your finish, and how much work and effort you are willing to put into it. The picture doesn't do it justice, but here is a guitar I painted with off the shelf Duplicolor rattle cans. The finish is smooth and It has stood up to all the abuse I've put into it thus far. In addition, I've painted probably a dozen sets of wheels for other people on this forum. And I have yet to hear a single complaint from them. Lots of them have stood up to numerous winters with their crappy rattle can paint jobs.
