Powdercoat wheels / Clear needed ?

[razordog]

I'm going thru the expense of having a set of USP wheels powdercoated. Is it wise to have the wheels shot with clear after they're done? Any drawbacks?

I had the same Powdercoater do another project a couple year ago (Sandcar frame and panels) and at the time they didn't recommend clear over powder saying the clear would crack. Maybe it depends on the project/application, powder used and the clear used.... not sure.

Appreciate anyone's experience with doing the same.

[razordog]

Disregard.... turns out the Powdercoater will be clearing the wheels. Got a call this morning and he said they would be powerdercoating the wheels this morning then clearing them later today. When I mentioned shooting clear on the wheels he didn't hesitate, he said with wheels its a must.

[VMRWheels]

Definitely. Most people who powder coat wheels will clear them, its part of the process of applying the finish.

-Charles@VMRWheels
www.vmrwheels.com

[razordog]

A word of caution to those considering sand blasting your wheels for powerdcoat. My Audi USP wheels required some extensive sand blasting to remove the original finish. I was told that they had to use a heavy grit media and it still took 6 hours to do 5 wheels. In doing so the powercoated finish has somewhat of a orange peel effect when you look close at the finished product. Not bad but when your paying a 150.00 a wheel I guess I expected factory like wheels when the job was done.

I would recommend checking into having wheels professionally stripped first then having the wheels blasted. In the final step of blasting have the wheels blasted with a fine grit media to smooth the surface.

Using someone who specilaizes in powdercoating wheels might be well worth the extra expense of any additional shipping charges if you're looking to get your wheels back to OEM like finish.

My two cents.

[levishness]

what color did you have them powdercoated? i am doing that and looking into it. thanks for the info already. should i buy a certain type of wheel before powdercoating it, or does any wheel need stripped b4 the powdercoat.

mike

[razordog]

what color did you have them powdercoated? i am doing that and looking into it. thanks for the info already. should i buy a certain type of wheel before powdercoating it, or does any wheel need stripped b4 the powdercoat.

mike

I had my wheels powdercoated a silver cover, similar to the original color but not an exact match. My major goal was to clean up the curb rash on two of the wheels then I had a couple major scratches on the spokes on the other two.

I would check with your powdercoater but my experience is they always want a clean, paint free surface to apply your powdercoat color. Like I mentioned before my experience with trying to strip an Audi wheel turned into a mess. Using a quality stripper it barely begin to remove the old powdercoat after 1 coat of stripper, I would have ended up spending days on stripping had I chose to do it myself. Again I'd check with someone that offers the stripping service and ask what there experience has been removing powdercoat from a xxx brand wheel.

Now I see many people paint there wheels where they go over the existing powdercoat and that certainly seems like a good option if your wheels are in good shape (no curb rash, big scratches). Then they'll clear the wheels to protect the surface from the elements/brake dust. Maybe it holds up ok, sure it depends on how harsh your winter weather/roads are. No experience with painted wheels so just interjecting here, should check with others how their painted wheels have held up.

Good luck.