Powder-coating vs. Anodizing wheels.

anodizing is very thin. I would say powder coating is probably a little better choice for standing up to abuse and possible chips from rocks, etc.

Ray

 

Negative on weakening of the metal. The wheels aren't heated up enough to interfere with the metal's structure, and the results are very solid. Powder coating involves spraying a dry powder substance under very low pressure onto a clean metal surface. Then heating the item to melt the powder material that has been applied. It literally melts on the surface. I've seen it and it is so cool; it melts like icing on a warm cake.

Also, I agree with Ray, in that anodizing is so thin. I wouldn't dream of putting it on a wheel.

I love powdercoating.

 

Be sure you know the shop! I have seen some powder coating oven's get a touch to hot and it will cause problems with cast /forged alum wheels! I have seen a new wheel sent to a shop for powder coating and came back warped due to the oven being to hot! As you mentioned, if you do get them to hot it will also make the alum to soft and will bend with little road abuse.

 

Wheel Techniques in Santa Clara does a nice job of powdercoating. They also paint and anodize and they do a lot of volume so you can get any questions answered there. Talk to Jeff there, though the other folks are pretty good too. They have repaired and painted wheels for me in the past, have not done a powder coat job for me personally.

 

I didn't know that powder coating involved heating,

I thought the powder was made to stick to the object by airating the powder and electrically charging the object to be powder coated while it was immersed in the airated powder.

Is this another process I'm thinking of?

 

You are correct in your assumption. The item must be grounded; usually the rim, or other metal item, is placed on a metal tray or grill that is grounded with a jumper cable or something similar. Then a charge is applied to the material as it is sprayed helping it bind tightly to the item. Once the spraying is complete, it has a powder donut look to it (no shine whatsoever), it is placed into an oven to bake for an hour or so depending on the size of the item. The heat allows the paint powder to complete its chemical process--the millions of little flakes melt into the desired color of paint, leaving a strong hard, chip resistant finish.

That is why so many manufacturers use powdercoating on their wheels. It is a proven process that is used everyday by every high performance car dealer in the country--ask your Ferrari dealer what they do when a trade-in comes in with road rash on a rim. They don't replace those wheels. They refinish them. Unless they are severely cracked of course.

 

Which manufactures are you referring to? Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, MB, BMW all use paint. And consequently when one requires refinishing they reapply paint in order to match the other wheels and factory finish.

 

I'm sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree. I don't know what dealers are near you, but if you were to contact one and tell them your wheel has road rash, and how would they handle it. They'll tell you they send them out to be refinished. This includes Mercedes, Porsche, Lexus and Ferrari. I know this as I know the shops that do the work for them. Park Place Porsche was closed on Saturday and I needed my wheel repaired. The service rep told me they send them to XXXX in Dallas anyway and I can take them there myself and save $30 a wheel and get it back faster. While at XXXX, I told them I was sent over by Park Place and he pulled out a PO to bill. I had to tell him I'd be paying cash. There were wheels there from all the high end dealers--I saw the slips on the wheels.

You cannot repair a gouged scraped wheel with paint. It must be filled and refinished to get it back to new. And now that I know where the shop is and what they can do, I take all my wheels there when they need repair. If you are not aware of this service, you are missing out big time. These guys can perform absolutely incredible work. I rashed and cracked a wheel on my SL500 one day and blew out the tire in the process. The dealer picked the car up and took it to their shop. The manager told me they can replace the wheel at $550 or I can refinish it for $100. I liked the job so much I did two other rims.

Paint is good for MINOR scratches and chips--nothing else.

I know the managers at all the major high-end dealers here in Dallas because I'm a car whore. Knowing where to go when you have issues can save you a ton of money.

Check it out...

I can send you links if you like to several shops that provide this service and who uses them.

Cheers~

 

And as per the factory, Premier only uses paint. He did mine in Silverstone and they look amazing.

 

brokenarrow, Personally I'm not comfortable having cracked or bent wheels repaired on any car not alone a high performance car. And your incorrect stating paint is only good for minor chips or scratches. I had my factory fresh undamaged wheels completely refinished because I wanted them in a different factory color. Any wheel can be painted IF prepared properly first. Many wheel refinishers prefer to use powder-coating as it requires less preparation, masks imperfections and requires less skill to apply. Regardless as to what the wheel refinishers advise you, the manufactures I stated in my above post all use a conventional painting process on their wheels. What happens after they leave the factory may be another story. My local dealer will not repair bent or cracked wheels as a result of possible liability but will repair rash and chips. For anyone that wants to match a specific Ferrari color and finish to their wheels perfectly, paint is your only option.

 

I said nothing of bent wheels, you did, but even these can be repaired on ocassion.

Road rash: wheels that have been rubbed or scrapped along a curb or other verticle surface, removing paint and sometimes small amounts of the metal.

These CAN be repaired to manufacturers specs (not chrome). You should call the dealer as they do have them repaired regularly for their used cars (all the dealers do that I know of in Dallas, Park Place Porsche, Lexus and Mercedes, as well as The Porsche Store, now Boardwalk Porsche and Boardwalk Ferrari. You can paint your wheels any color you like, but if you get a scrape, they can be repaired. Depending on the car they come off will determine (also the extent of the damage) if they are painted or powder coated. Call your dealer and ask them where they send their road rash wheels that CAN'T be painted.

I honestly believe you are not aware of this type of work or how it is done, it's very accurate and reliable. You should do your homework before dismissing this as an option. There are dozens of these shops around the country that do great work.

I don't know what you drive, but I'm a member of the Porsche Club and a Ferrari group here and many of them track their cars, and some do not. They all have their wheels done when something goes awry. The work is fantastic and the results sound. They even x-ray their work. This isn't some car dealer spraying paint on a wheel. I doubt they x-ray their work for metal integrity.

Who is your dealer?????

 

A buddy of mine had his done here (I have no relation w/this shop)

http://www.wheelwizard.com/

With great results. He has a Lambo Murcielago in mint condition, and has won numeorus awards for his car. He'll be joining the F ranks soon as his 430 is being delivered next week.

These guys have done mine on several ocassions. I like the inside of the wheel clearcoated after the powdercoating goes on as it makes the wheel easier to clean and shiney as hell. They'll also polish any wheel. The only work they won't do is chrome, they'll send it out (unless they've changed that, but I don't think anyone does chroming in DFW).

http://www.wheelrepairbyadam.com/wheelrepair/process/proc_2.html

These guys are known throughout the country and share most of the Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lexus work with Wheel Repair by Adam. Again, I have no relation to any of these shops other than they've done work for me. This shop was also known as Wheels America, previously.

http://www.fixrim.com/

 

B, I'm very aware of the work your referring to however, just not a believer in repairing cracked wheels. And with regard to the cars I own(ed) should that matter, you check my profile here and 6speed.

 

I guess different strokes...

The reason I ask which car you own, you may own a car that has rims that cannot be repaired. No shot meant,..only sincerity.

I understand your opinion, and I would not repair a wheel that is cracked through or severely out of round, but everything else (for me) is fair game. I sold my 997S Porsche, but had my wheel redone and would post pics of it and would challenge anyone to tell the difference. In fact, it looked better than the other three because, as I mentioned earlier, I had the inside clearcoated--otherwise, it was a perfect match.

Cheers~

 

a quick question here for you guys, can powder coating be done again to a different color? the reason I am asking is that I just bought a set of Hamann PG3 from Ken Griffy Jr, and he had these powder coated to match the color of the car. The more I look at this the more I think of going back to silver or a color that is close to ball polish. If so, where do you guys recommand I go around New York area?

Here is a picture.
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I can answer part of your question, they can be re-coated. Here's the rub according to the guy that did mine; the rear challenge grill I have on my car was originally powdercoated when it was new. He knew this because as he was sandblasting the old paint (or powdercoat in this case), it throws off sparks. He says it's a sure sign the metal was powdercoated. So he had to strip it down to the metal using paint remover and sandblasting before proceeding to recoat. You CAN recoat, it just has to be really cleaned off.

I do not know anyone in the NE. My vote is for ball polishing, and any wheel remanufacturer can handle this for you. Search for "wheel repair, NY" in google and get some thoughts by the members...

B~

 

Certainly ball polishing will give a stronger chrome-like color and shine, but I thought you still had to protect the finish when done. Pardon my ignorance, but after ball polishing don't you still have to coat them with something to keep the aluminum from tarnishing? So you are still left with the base question of clear coat paint, clear powdercoat, or anodizing.


Lou

 

I think you'll get a couple of opinions here; first, if you don't clearcoat them they will need to be polished periodically to maintain their lustre. Second, if you clearcoat them they may yellow on you due to the suns UV rays. I've done both but have never had the car long enough to really provide you a solid testimonial. On my 996 Porsche, I clear coated them and they really cleaned up nicely, but again, I didn't have the car very long (maybe two years) to determine if they yellowed. On my E55 I did not clear coat them, I left them naked. I polished them up maybe once every couple of months and actually enjoyed watching them go from shiney to a mirror finish in 10 minutes (a wheel that is). I enjoyed the polishing process too (and no, I'm not volunteering to polish anyone's wheels).

I will tell you (it is my experience) the naked wheels polish-up better and have a higher shine than the clearcoated ones. I can't speak to the chemical composition of the clearcoating material, but can share my thoughts--I believe the clearcoat will freeze a good shine (8 out of a possible 10) for a good long time. The naked wheel, it may slip to a 6 or 7, but can be brought back to a 10 status easily. This is not scientific, obviously, and a lot of factors come into play. From my experience, that's how I d rank the two methods.

I hope it helps.

Cheers~

 

My brother in law is a truck driver and has to polish his naked alum wheels very frequently (every two weeks) to keep a good shine on them. Of course it gets driven hundreds of miles per day in all types of weather, but other than the frequency, the concepts are the same. From having watched him do it, I swear it is far more work than I would want to do. I had been looking into ways to preserve the shine recently and what I came up with through various internet searches was that clearcoat does obscur a bit of the shine (as you noted) whereas annodizing will better preserve the shine. I won't repeat the other pros and cons that you've already gone through.

There are some shiny 'chrome' powdercoats now that seem interesting but i've not seen one in person. This may be another option. I was considering this for the steel wheels on my trailer ... it would need to really impress me before I would consider it for a Ferrari wheel



Lou

 

Lou, I used to wash 18 wheelers when I was in highs chool, and some had to have their wheels polished. That is a big job on those big wheels. I remember the days.

I swear, I smear the stuff on, rub it around the rim for no more than five minutes. Then I buff it to a fine shine. But I can understand you not wanting to do it you lazy ass--just kidding.

I haven't seen that steel or shiney powdercoat you're talking about so I can't comment on it. I'd love to see it if you go with it though. I guess I just am biased towards the naked metal. I've even considered having my 360 stock rims ball polished. I love that bare metal look. It looks hard, and finished, especially if you take it through the wheels like I did on my cars. The finished look is really tough. Damn! I may do it myself. Look what you've started now.

 

With powder coating depending on who is doing the work, and the same goes for Anodizing. If powder coating or the Anodizing, process is not completed correctly the powder coating starts pitting and the whole process will needed to be repeated again. As for Anodizing wheels it’s a process of dipping or spraying a coating on the rims, if its not done right the material will start to fade and again you will have to have every thing taken apart and start allover again with the coating process.

As for rigidity there should be no problem with the wheels that your planning to get coated, now what is important to ask is will they be dismantling the wheels???? Meaning separate them since they are 3peice wheels? Reason this will allow for better coating for a neat and fit finish of the coating process.

As for structural rigidity with rims that weigh less then 17lbs for street use are subject to every easy bending due to pot holes, but I would think the HRE wheels your going to be getting will weigh a bit more and thus will not have this problem. The heaver the rim is the harder it will be for it to bend but there are various cases that this can be proven wrong.

Even though with powder coating the item are heated up to 700F temps in an oven, I would doubt the rims would suffer any deformation but again the problem is the rim weight, Anodizing is a liquid dipping process or can be sprayed on but this will either way will require the rims to be completely dismantled to be coated properly.

Should you be worried structural rigidity of the rim ask the HRE to have the rims "Magnaflux" this process is used in automotive engine rebuilding to check for notable cracks on the rims before they are sent back to you. In many cases it all really depends on the rim weight.

 

Thank you for the helpful info.
Ken

 

if u keep re-powdercoating the same wheel over and over (ie. changing up the rim colors over and over), the rim does get weaker cuz metal is removed when you take off the powder coat layer