ANY ISSUES WITH POWDERCOATING WHEELS?

[WIGGLE2]

I am wanting to powdercoat my wheels. I never REALLY thought about it, but what are some thoughts about this process taking the strength out of the wheels via affecting the heat treat of the wheels? I'm not sure just HOW hot they heat aluminum to powdercoat. I DO know when we heat aluminum cylinder heads for welding, they need to be re-heat treated. There isn't a whole lot of mass with these wheels, obviously...just not sure.

 

[user_deleted]

hey you!!! they'll be fine. literally millions of wheels out there in service that have been powder coated and work perfectly. the baking oven isn't hot enough long enough to affect the wheels. just be sure your coater guy blocks off the whole for the tire valve, rotor bolts, and both L&R sides of hub for bearings. you'll love them when they're done.

 

[WIGGLE2]

Hello John!
Yes....That's what I was thinking, but the MORE I thought about it, I thought I'd get some opinions from some other people as yourself. If it was a 'large' Ford Mustang wheel, I don't think I'd be AS concerned, as there is a lot more mass involved. Thanks!!

 

[pur pony]

no problems.. i powdercoated my own and others have powdercoated theres... go for it!

 

[ali]

You'll be fine

 

[snrusnak]

It's fine they only get up in the area of ~400 deg F IIRC. Also, I don't believe the wheels are aluminum, I think they are magnesium, or something else, just an FYI.

I just had mine done a few weeks ago:

 

[WIGGLE2]

Looks nice!! I'm going to sending mine out soon then!! Thanks for the input guys!!

 

[ali]

Make sure who ever is doing the powder coat tapes the center bores

 

[wally]

Tape up all your bolt holes and bearing recesses! It is going to cause you endless nightmares when trying to refit everything.

 

[netty2424]

Yup, my PC guy said he brought my parts up to 350 and kept them there. Nothing those wheels can't handle.

 

[Reamer]

How long do they let them bake for, and how did you strip the old coating off?

 

[snrusnak]

The guy who does the powder coating for me is very good. They media blast everything to remove the old coatings. He always has taped off necessary areas without me even discussing it with him. Although this time around he did not tape off the wheel bearing bores on the front wheel, so I had to dremel that portion of coating off. It was no big deal, he must have forgot or something, but if he had forgot to tape everything off then it would have been a big deal.

 

[Hammer]

No issues at all, part temp should be right around 400 for 10 minutes. As for removing old coating most use a chemical strip then profile blast for proper adhesion. As stated above make sure they know what needs masking before the job is started.

 

[Reamer]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

[WIGGLE2]

I'm seeing some nice work here! I definately feel good about doing it now! Especially as its only there (400 degrees)for about 10 minutes. thanks again guys!!

 

[TPEHAK]

Hello. I have a bunch of questions.

1) What kind of tape did you use to mask the holes and surfaces before powdercoating? As I understand the tape should have heat resistant. I am going to mask the wheel by myself and then I will give it for sandblasting and powdercoating.

2) Will the tape work while and after sandblasting? I don't want to sandblast the holes and contact surfaces.

3) My Buell has "hero blue" color like on the picture below. How can I let know to a painter that I need this particular color? Does this color have the number, paint code?

4) Is it OK for tire and for keeping air pressure in the tire if the rim will be powdercoated inside under the tire lip like on the picture below?

 

[konarider94]

A good sandblaster will eat right through duct tape. That's what I typically use for masking during the blast and just try and avoid the masked area.

For powder they sell a high temp tape or we have plugs for most smaller to medium holes.

I don't believe paint codes work for powder. I think you can get little sample pieces of different colors from powderbythepound.com. they charge a small fee but just pick a couple blues you think will be close.

No problem on powder coating the lip. My friends and I built a powder coat oven and have been doing parts all summer. Wheels included.

 

[nicholas900]

Hello. I have a bunch of questions.

I would just ask the coater to do the masking and be clear what you want blasted and what not. I just had a bunch of powder coating done, frame swing arm and stuff. The guy was great. He uses high temp tapered plugs for all the various holes for blasting and coating.

As far as colors, Prismatic Powders is great. You can order up to five FREE samples at a time. They must havesent me 20 different samples. The anodized blue looks close. Also look at electric blue and Bentley blue might work.

 

[joebuell06]

snrusnak was right. The wheels are magnesium, which has a casting temperature of ~1200°F and a melting point of around ~800°F. That is for the average Magnesium Alloy wheel used in the automotive industry, so I am sure Buell wheels will hold up just fine. I am a Mechanical Engineering student who is doing a lot of focus on mechanics of materials/material properties.

 

[EricZ]

The wheels are not magnesium. They are aluminum. Buell did make magnesium versions of the XB wheel but they only came on the XBRR and you could buy them as a race part. All the factory XB wheels are aluminum.