Getting rims powder coated

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Bobacuda

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I have 5 good 14” sbp ralley wheels that need a new coating. Since this car should outlast me, I wanted to get the bare rims powder coated. DAMN!

Here in the San Antonio, TX area, I have been told $125-$150 a wheel, blasting and prep extra. I can buy new rims for that.

I guess this is just another service that people are pricing out of the reach of us old car guys.

if you know a good PC place near SA, let me know. Otherwise, it looks like rattle-cans.
 
From my local powder place I paid 50$ per wheel to sandblast and 20$ per wheel powder red.
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I would not powder coat wheels again. I did it on some AL wheels and had many issues, chipping, buildup in the wrong places, cracking 4 years later.
 
A local place in Abilene Tx wanted $150 each to strip and powdercoat my 15x7 steelies. I didnt want to sandblast them myself even though I have access to a sandblast cabinet at work. Just being lazy i guess. Well that price perked me up. I told them no thank you, and just went thru the trouble of blasting 1 wheel per lunch hour per day. Took em home, primed and painted them myself. I think they werent interested in my business. $600 total, I could have bought nice mag wheels for half that price. They may not want your business. Rims are a pain in the *** from what I understand about powder coating.
 
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I would not powder coat wheels again. I did it on some AL wheels and had many issues, chipping, buildup in the wrong places, cracking 4 years later.
I talked with Leanna about powder coating some old five spoke aluminum wheels i have, and she flat-out wont do used aluminum wheels (new, never mounted, that's different. )
How she explained it, she can get used steel wheels clean enough to powder coat, but old aluminum wheels absorb soaps, other stuff (i forgot exactly what she mentioned) and tire dressing that she cant get out of the aluminum, without using a mega-expensive, mega-toxic cleaning agent, that she refuses to use.
I can't say i blame her.
 
My buddy owns a wheel refinishing biz . He does all the Porsche , Rover , Ferrari etc wheels around here . I have helped him out in the shop reconditioning alloy wheels prior to powder coating . 150 per wheel is excessive . 75-100 at most for steelies... and that should include straightening.
 
I am running wheel covers on my car that are held to the wheel by many sharp edges. It will scratch through powder coating as well. I decided to prime and rattle can them black as this would be easy to touch up in the future.
 
paint them. you can easily touch them up.

powder coating will chip. and youll pay another 55 per wheel to fix.

i will never powder coat another set of rims
 
Wheels can be very intricate pieces to work with.

What hourly rate do you suppose those prices come out to for the person doing the work?

If you have a high enough CFM compressor and a sand blast hopper, you can blast and paint them any time you want.

...and if you don't the saving over the cost of doing a few sets of wheels looks like it might pay for the tools.
 
paint them. you can easily touch them up.

powder coating will chip. and youll pay another 55 per wheel to fix.

i will never powder coat another set of rims

I cant think of a thing I want powder coated on my car , parts are more important , I can make everything look decent ---------
 
Don’t knock the cost. Remember it is still a country where you don’t like the price- go elsewhere.

a lot of the shops that offer powder coating make way more money with production parts or even frames. They do one frame for 4 hrs and make $1000.00 profit. They do 4 rims an hour and make a lot less profit possibly only break even. As a long time business owner I have stuff we only do if necessary. Mostly work load is slow. If I’m busy doing government welding work... the local guy with a mower deck needing a patch waits. “Not fair?!?” Yes but I’m not stopping a $10,000 job for a $25 2 hour job. Employee costs are thru the roof. Maybe the powder coating shop mentioned can do it cheaper as a “fill in job” or he just does not want to do it at all and is throwing a big cost to scare you away.

I agree with NOT powder coating for all the reasons listed above. Here in New England I hate powder coating. One small scratch and the cancer (rust) travels like a wild fire and it seems to rust rot very quickly as compared to a properly covered Rust Oleum. Plus if you ever tried to sand blast power coating off- it takes 2-3 times as long over sand blasting paint It’s self. JMHO.
 
I did my own before powder coating places popped up everywhere near me.

Already owned the sand blaster

I bought a powder coat gun from princess auto (harbour freight) $72.99

https://www.harborfreight.com/10-30-psi-powder-coating-system-94244.html

I also bought an infrared temp gun to check temperatures in the oven.
Bought my powder from prismatic powder Powder Coating Colors & Custom Coatings | Shop | Prismatic Powders

Used an old kitchen oven for curing the powder. I already had the oven but you could find a cheap used one on the classifieds. I dont reccomend using the wife's oven :)


My labour was free.
There is a learning curve to it, but the I did it myself factor is satisfying. I have powder coated tons of crap now for myself, since I own the gun :)
 
Blasting wheels is a dirty miserable job, the blast material shoots right back at you.
I did blast the wheels on my duster myself, primed and painted them.
It took alot of time.
I do have a pair of mags at the local sandblaster right now, they were nasty.
I figure when I get the mags back, then I will have to re-blast with glass beads, then soda, before sanding and polishing. Alot of man hrs.
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This is a pic of the spare tire I did on my Duster, it came out fine, its just paint, but still alot of work.

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The orange was too much color, so I did the other 4 wheels in black.

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I've blasted and painted six rallye wheels and two steelies.

At $100 each, I've paid for my 32 CFM, used compressor, sand hopper and new gun.
 
I talked with Leanna about powder coating some old five spoke aluminum wheels i have, and she flat-out wont do used aluminum wheels (new, never mounted, that's different. )
How she explained it, she can get used steel wheels clean enough to powder coat, but old aluminum wheels absorb soaps, other stuff (i forgot exactly what she mentioned) and tire dressing that she cant get out of the aluminum, without using a mega-expensive, mega-toxic cleaning agent, that she refuses to use.
I can't say i blame her.

It isn't soap. It's the silicone in Armor All and tire wet products that leach into the porous aluminum/alloy over time that no amount of "traditional" metal prep or hours of outgassing can remove. It will make them look shiny in some places while matte or dull in others, and in extreme cases can result in physical bumps you can see up close and feel. They'll look all right from ten or twenty feet ... but that's not good enough to meet my rigorous quality control standards. If I'M not happy with my own results, there's no way in Hell I expect you to be happy either.

Used aluminum wheels are one of very few things I will not try to restore. You're better off time and money-wise just buying new ones.
 
Yep. 15x7 steelies. After I sandblasted clean, i filled the wheel cover scratches on the lips with JB weld and sanded smooth. I also filled small clean pits in the bead with JB weld and sanded smooth. I then primered these with PPG epoxy primer. I painted the backs and insides with gloss rustoleum since it's not seen, the rim faces I painted with Akzo Noble high gloss black.

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Those look good man....Nice Job Moparmat2000.
I am in the process of painting my 14X6's for my 70 Road Runner
I have to use Rattle Can …..

If I was close to you I would be sending them your way.....LOL
 
I had a local company do a pair of Ralley style sbp 15x8 wheels. Blasted, powder coated argent, and they even top coated clear. They really "pop". $50 each.
 
The big harbor freight blast cabinet will fit a 14" wheel straight up. I blasted 4 of them and painted em, before I went with 17" wheels.

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