Hello everyone,

I am thinking about putting a black powdercoating on my OEM rims. I have seen some other cars with black powdercoating, a polished center cap and lugnuts and it looks great.

Any thoughts?

 

it would look hot man...do it!!!!

 

Thanks, I agree. Here are some pics hi-jacked from the S2k forum.

 

damnnn that looks sick....I actually recently just got a nice 02 sebring with red interior....i wouldnt mind powdercoating the stocks and then getting a set of AP2's

 

What color is your car? If you have a black one then don't do it. The blue clearcoat on our Nighthawk Black pearl doesn't match at all with black coated wheels.

Any other color looks cool. Not for me though.

 

I have a Sebring Silver S2k and I think the wheels would look awesome if I can get them to look like the ones on that yellow in the pictures. I like the look of the silver center cap and lugs!

 

A few things to do and or think about before you attempt this...

1. And this is important. Are the wheel center caps plastic? If so, you are screwed. They will melt in the powder coating curing process if you can even get powder to stick to them, which it will not. A solution to this is not to fool with the centercaps at all. Have four, one millimeter thick discs machined out of aluminum that match the diameter of the center cap and have those powder coated. While your wheels and discs are out being powder coated, take the original center caps to a pin striping shop and have the (i am assuming) logo on the center cap scanned into the computer. I had 16 made for my wheels and went through 15 of them by the time I had four good looking (you know, centered properly) discs. $1 per logo is fair. Make sure that whatever material you use is UV resistant. Wear latex gloves, and clean the discs properly with alcohol. When the discs are done, use Devcon two ton epoxy and glue the discs to the caps.

2. Remove all wheel weights before giving them to the powder coater. Trust me, if you don't do this, you never will get them off later. After tire remounting, use only wheel weights that adhere to the inside of the rims with stick on adhesive.

3. Make sure the valve stems are removed also. Depending upon the powder coating used, those wheels may see up to 400 F for up to an hour.

4. Chances are the wheels you plan to powder coat already have powder coating on them. This must be removed. Either by solvent soaking (methyl ethyl keytone, or gasoline) can be used for this and it will not affect the machined finish. This will take a VERY LONG TIME (weeks) and can get fairly messy. Alternatively, go to a wheel repair shop or an auto parts store and have them sandblasted. This is much easier on you, but if the powder coating you select is basically a clear with a tint, you may not be happy with the final result. The problem here depends upon the chemistry you select, which I will cover next. Not all powder coatings are compatible when different chemistrys are powder coated over an existing finish. This problem is called "intercoat adhesion failure" and indeed it was experienced by Nicky Pass on his first go around with powder coating.

5. If you paint over shit, what you will get is painted over shit. The wheels must be free of organic soils (dirt, tar, grease and oil) and also free of inorganic soils (rust or aluminum oxide. THEY NEED TO BE SQUEAKY CLEAN!

6. Chemistry. Do NOT use an epoxy based powder coating. Epoxies are the king of corrosion resistance, but unfortunately they will "chalk" (turn white) right before your very eyes when the sun has gotten to them enough. Use either a polyester TGIC (triglyceridal isocyanurate) or an acrylic powder coating formula. Clear powder coated aluminum wheels that come from the manufacturer are almost 99.9% of the time acrylic formulations.

7. If the powder coating you select is a translucent (you can see through the coating down to the base metal) you have to consider this. Most, but not all powder coating job shops will have either a 3, 5, or 7 stage wash system to clean the parts before coating. In one of the later stages a coating of iron phosphate (FePO4) is applied to aid paint adhesion and provide additional corrosion resistance. You do not need this coating. Ask the powder coater not to let the wheels go through the iron phosphate bath. Iron phosphate is very necessary on steel but not needed on aluminum at all. Iron phosphate has a blueish/tannish/brownish appearance and the three colors mentioned do not deposit evenly. You might not be happy with the end result.

8. Chances are you will want a high gloss finish, which for looks is very good. Keep in mind that high gloss finishes have a tendancy to magnify surface flaws and especially scratches, BIG TIME. After you get the wheels back they should be segregated from each other, no rubbing against each other allowed.

9. Go out of your when when you get the tires remounted and balanced that you find a tire shop the has mounting equipment where nothing but nylon tire bars are used to seat the bead of the tire. Powder coatings are very tough when done correctly, but every coating has its' limits. Also tell them to use plenty of tire lubricant.

From the guy who powder coated Smittys calipers. Hope this helps. I have five patents from the U.S. Patent Office regarding powder coatings, so I hope you take this as gospel. Been doing this kind of work for 15 years.

 

Wow! Thank you for the great information.

I planned to keep the center caps as-is. I like the contrast of the silver with the black wheels.

I suppose you are not in the Memphis area, right?

Rep points for a great post!

 

Chicago.

 

Dfreder2, can't you just powdercoat the plastic center caps using your patented plastic powdercoating?

 

"Plastic" is a very broad term.

Plastics can be generally divided into two subsets. Thermoplastics and thermosets. In my case of my recent patent, I was applying powder coatings onto a glass filled thermoplastic. namely nylon. Nylon melts at about 425 degrees f, and the powdercoating cured at 375f, so we were ok there. Thermoplastics, when their melt point is reached, well, they melt, and thus can be reused, hence the recyclability of plastics as a renewable resource (although degradation occurs at some point, and you have to have a mix or ratio of virgin to recyclable material. Thermosets, on the other hand, when subjected to excess heat just destruct themselves thermally.

When I had my wheels chrome powder coated, which I was unable to do because I did not have a vacuum chamber, on the back of my center caps were clearly stamped "PC/ABS" which means polycarbonate/acronitrle butyl styrene. This is a very low melting point plastic, very much like what plastic model airplanes are made out of. This stuff melts at under 200 f, so the center caps would have melted during the curing process. Now if the center caps were made of nylon, it would be a different story.

Glass filled nylon is a very strong structural plastic, but it also costs more. Considering the functionality of the center cap (all it has to do is plug a hole) it makes sense to use a cheaper form of plastic that can still do the job

 

gotcha

 

defreder2,
Thanks for the great powder primer.

I've heard that you can't powder over bondo or body putty. If the mag had been repaired with body filler or putty would it have to be taken down to virgin metal before the powder coat ? I understand the necessity if the coat is to be nude or translucent.