Originally Posted by dfreder371

Thanks Smitty. That wheel picture is of MY wheels.

And just by chance, I am my company's powder coating and liquid coating "expert" (boy, do I have these guys fooled) of 50,000 people.

But the powder coating on that wheel is a VERY SPECIAL process that can be done by only one person in the U.S. Gary Goodrich of
www.goodrichtechnology.com Gary charged me $100 per wheel. I paid shipping to and from Pitsburg, CA.

Why didn't I do the wheels myself? Because I do not own a vacuum PVD chamber. Physical vapor deposition. PM me if you want the details. BTW, Gary was farming the wheel business out to another guy in the area, and the rumor was the price was going to drop to $50 per wheel. If you're interested, call Gary. He is a nice guy to deal with. Gary is currently swamped by the real chrome freaks, the motorcycle crowd.

Regarding STANDARD powder coating, hold on guys! There is more to this than you think! No, it is not hard, but it must be understood.

First, your wheels already ARE powder coated, and if you want to change the look, that powder coating has to come off, either chemically or mechanically. I'll let Smitty (Carl) explain the joys of chemical stripping, as I just did his calipers and some other stuff.

Mechanically, have someone sandblast them for you (This is part of GG process, included in the cost. He also repairs wheels also. But be careful I just did some wheels for a guy (who wasn't to happy with the finished product) because he didn't have them sandblasted. Gravel blasted is more like it. Use people who have light blasting equipment (small particle size abrasive).

Don't even think for one second that you can just powder coat over the old coating. You might be able to, but you would be probably conducting a $400 experiment with a 50/50 chance of failure. Something called "intercoat adhesion" could do you in.

I'll keep it simple. It's like mixing oil and water. It just doesn't work.

Powder coatings come in different chemistries such as epoxy, polyester, polyester TGIC (Triglyceride Isocyanurate), acrylic and hybrids (mixtures). If your 2000-2003 wheels have the factory coating on them, that would be an acrylic chemistry and must be removed.

The ONLY coatings you should use are either another acrylic, or a polyester TGIC. The others (especially epoxy) will not weather well (they will "chalk") or don't have the mechanical strength needed for a wheel coating. My recommendation? Polyester TGIC.

Someone mentioned the wheel centers. Those are polycarbonate/abs plastic and cannot be powder coated and will melt. Here is how you fix that. I had 1 millimeter thick aluminum discs made in a machine shop that were the exact diameter as the center cap and had them powder coated also. While my wheels were out being powder coated, I took a center cap to a local pin striping shop, and they scanned the Acura "A" and surrounding circle into the computer and had 16 full size emblems made for $25. Make SURE they use a material that is UV (sunlight resistant. Clean the discs with alcohol while wearing plastic gloves and apply the decals. I used 15 of the 16 before I had four nicely centered decals.

A fair price for a powder coated wheel should be in the $50 to 100 per wheel, and remember, painting is very simple, it is the preperations where all the work lies. Just ask smitty.

I am off to Indianapolis this afternoon to go help design a quick color change powder coating booth at Gema, my company's powder coating equipment supplier. On friday when I am back to work, I have 5 or 6 photos I will fwd to smitty so you can see what was done.

If you find a TGIC color/effect you like but think the gloss is too low, no problem. Have the job shop add a second coat of a high gloss TGIC clear. But this will cost you more. The second coat can ONLY be applied after the first coat is applied and cured, and that is usually, for a wheel due to its high mass, one hour at 375f.

Questions? Ask here or PM me. I've been PCing for 15 years and have made every mistake possible with the stuff, so I know what to avoid.

Probably the best thing I can do when I get back for you SERIOUS guys is let me know what town you are in, where the nearest (somewhat) major city is you are willing to take your wheels to, and I can provide you with a powder coating job shop who belongs to PCI, the Powder Coating Institute.

The cleaner your wheels are when you drop the off at the powder coater will get you the best job possible.

Oh, and BTW...don't forget to remove your valve stems and your existing wheel balance weights.