Powder Coat or Paint for Wheels

I recently picked up a set of OE Miata steel wheels that somebody did a very poor job of spray painting black. My plan is to make them silver again and use them primarily for storing the car. I'm just going to put something cheap black and round on them (think old takeoffs).

Obviously, I can blast and spray bomb them, but I'm also tempted to powder coat them, or, more correctly, have them powder coated. Is there any reason not to? If I wanted to drive on them occasionally, do I need to make sure that the lugnut seats don't get coated? Will powder coating stand up to mounting/dismounting tires and or the application and removal of wheel weights?

why go for all that trouble for storage wheels? you can get some very good and strong wheel paint at any autostore.

A lot of online conjecture about the heat from powdercoating weakening wheels--especially forged ones.

I had a set of Konig Villains powdercoated 9 years ago and they've survived a couple of track days and a bunch of auto-x. The finish still looks gorgeous, BTW.

gamby wrote: A lot of online conjecture about the heat from powdercoating weakening wheels--especially forged ones. I had a set of Konig Villains powdercoated 9 years ago and they've survived a couple of track days and a bunch of auto-x. The finish still looks gorgeous, BTW.

Im gonna have to raise the BS flag on that one. The annealing (softening) temperature of aluminum is significantly higher than the temperature typically required to powdercoat wheels.

Right. The temp to melt aluminum is 1220 degrees F. Powder coat is only heated to 390 according to wiki. I imagine brake rotors are over 390 degrees in a panic stop.

Joey

93gsxturbo wrote:

gamby wrote: A lot of online conjecture about the heat from powdercoating weakening wheels--especially forged ones. I had a set of Konig Villains powdercoated 9 years ago and they've survived a couple of track days and a bunch of auto-x. The finish still looks gorgeous, BTW.

Im gonna have to raise the BS flag on that one. The annealing (softening) temperature of aluminum is significantly higher than the temperature typically required to powdercoat wheels.

Duplicolor high performance wheel coating is my wheel paint of choice.

mad_machine wrote: why go for all that trouble for storage wheels? you can get some very good and strong wheel paint at any autostore.

Powder coating (the way I would do it) would be less trouble. There's a local place that you call that will pick-up and deliver. (Their main gig is patio furniture.)

Paint would be a bit cheaper, however. I don't know the price for the powder coating place, but I'm sure it's more than the beer I would have to buy a buddy to use his media blaster and a can or two of wheel paint.

The reasons I'm thinking about it are (1) there's a chance I will end up driving on them occasionally so I want them to be pretty and (2) I'm bored and don't have anything more interesting to think about.

I had a bunch of my wheels powder coated. They look great. Had a brake line fail and leak all over one, no effect. A little overkill for storage wheels, but it's your money

I had good luck with the duplicolor stuff as well. Just make sure you put the clear coat on afterwards.

$10 worth of Duplicolor paint. It wears very well.

I love the duplicolor stuff, I have the black on my bike's wheels and on the stock daisy wheels on my Miata. They look perfect on the bike, they have held up really well. The miata wheels got a little chipped on the two of the lips when the tires were installed, but to be fair, I only let the Miata wheels dry for a day, I let the bike wheels cure for a week before mounting. Also, the place I had the tires put on has old equipment and employs a bunch of monkeys. But they are cheap, and they give me stickers on whatever I bring it, so I keep going back :).

So, in summary, Duplicolor wheel paint = really good stuff. Figure on at least one can per pair for full coverage.