Powder coating the wheels

[Axl88]

G’day All

A mate and I are interested in getting our wheels powder coated matte black. Does anyone know of a crowd in Brisbane that will keep the 4by propped up while they powder coat the wheels. We are able to sand off the existing coat of paint ourselves… so it’s more a question of whether they will take the wheels off and keep the 4by propped while they are powder coating them.

The other option is just to do a DIY paint job, but we thinking our efforts will get scratched off pretty quickly.

I know this sounds pretty stupid… but we’ve never had any experience with powder coaters before.

BTW: We have used the searched function. Just couldn’t find exactly what we needed.

Cheers

[drivesafe]

Hi Axi88, powder coating is nothing like normal painting.

To get your rims powder coated, you will not only have to take the wheels off the 4x4, have to take the tyres and valve stems off.

You won’t need to strip the old paint of as many powder coaters either use acid baths or will require the rims be sand blasted, to clean and etch the surface prior to powder coating.

Before you do anything, you need to look at the pros and cons of powder coating because I think you will find spray painting, even if only done with pressure packs, will give you a better long term protection for a number of reasons.

With powder coating, the finished surface is harder than with most paints but if the wheel rims are steel and the powder coated surface gets a scratch that goes through to the steel, the scratch will allow water to get at the steel and it will very quickly start to rust but unlike a painted surface, with powder coating, the rust runs under the powder coat and you don’t know about it until large areas of the powder coating flacks off and there is no way to properly repair the damaged area short of have the whole rim stripped and powder coated again.

As for painting, you can get some pressure pack paints that give you a pretty hard finish and even if you get a few scratches, you can just touch them up.

Cheers

[HeathGQ]

Just paint em with $2 cans from bunnings. that when they get strached and look crap again, just paint em again.

[chimpboy]

Paint is better than powder coat anyway. DIY!

[Loanrangie]

I did my rangie rims a few years ago and cost me $32/ rim for sandblasting and then PC, if was doing now i would just paint them. Mine have lasted well but the current cost is such that for not much more i can get new rims.

[jugger]

get a tin of hammer tone it cops a floggn and it dosnt look scratched. costs bugger all and u just paint on with a brush . and a tip if painting with pressure pack pait with the tyres still on get a tub of vasoline ang whip it on the tyres evenly . theh wipe the edge of the rim so theres none on the paint surface when u are finisid just wipe of the over spray .

[Jeff80]

Even better, paint em in 2 pak, as this is much stronger and forgiving. Ive done it with a rattle can and in 2 pak, and Ive found that 2 pak lasts heaps longer.

You do need a compressor and spray gun though.
Perhaps you could ask a spray painter to do it for beer. They can usually "acquire" the paint and have all the tools.

Just a thought...

[TimMQ]

Sorry for that hijack mate, but....I have a similar question regarding steel bullbar. Pay the 300 odd bucks to have it sandblasted/powder coated or get it 2pac'd?

cheers
Tim

[chimpboy]

You'd have to be nuts to powdercoat a steel bullbar imho - wet paint for sure.

[TimMQ]

Bullbars like ARB come powdercoated dont they?

[Jeff80]

Yep, they do but dont last too long looking brand new...

[sanger]

IMO u got to be mad to powdercoat anything. It costs an arm and a leg and when you scratch it, and you will, there is no way of touching up.

Just get soem $2 export enamal from supercheap. When u scratch just paint over it and its brand new again.

[matthewK]

powder coating is a lot nicer finish then paint yes it can cost , most people just sand blast the rims, and to do it right the rim have to be pree heated then powder coated then back in the oven again for it to bake on nice and good, if its done right it should be harder to chip,

as i did powder coating for a couple of yrs i found that most powder coater hate doing rims anyways,

best off just rubbing ya rims back 2 buck can of paint and clear coat over the top

[Mick.]

I'm a painter by trade and I wouldn't waste my time painting my own wheels with acylic, enamel or 2 pack.

Powder coating is much more durable, stronger and it's gets in areas that a spray can or gun wont. Thats the reason that the top of the line wheels are powder coated instead of being sprayed.

I've got 8 wheels and an exo (to be built) and they will be getting powder coated. Just remember you get what you pay for. If you want a cheap job buy a couple of cans of paint if you want quality go for powder coat.

Cheers Mick.

[Charlie]

Normal cheap powdercoating no better than spray paint in my opinion,we have a line where I work but I just hit my wheels with rattle cans.Powder coat or spray point vs rock gives the same result every time.
Regards Charlie

[Nelso]

I had all my bars powdercoated and have bashed the sh1t out of them on rocks and haven't gone through to the metal yet. It does scratch, but IMO I would have gone right through paint. To contradict this, The next set of bars I do won't get powdercoated due to the cost.

[CHIEF88]

looks like were doin it DIY alex

[Axl88]

Thanks for all the replies guys... gotta love Outerlimits members.
OK... so were thinking we'll just take the DIY option as were both uni students earning bugger all.

So how do you think we should go about this.

Remove the wheels and do them one by one. And also slightly sand the layer of powder coat already on them so that the paint can stick.