Powdercoating wheels
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Tourer
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Powdercoating wheels
I'm looking to powder coat the wheels on my bob black. A local powder coater will do it for $20 per wheel. That is with the wheel laced still. Are there any cons to doing it in this manner? Removing the laces from the wheel and hub costs a lot more money. Does anyone have any pics of powder coated wheels that were done with the entire wheel (hub, laces, wheel) intact? Thanks
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,958
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From: West Tennessee
RE: Powdercoating wheels
There's no way in hell I'd do it with the wheel assembled. Then all it takes is one adjustment and the coating cracks off with no way to repair it.
I'm planning on doing mine in the near future. I'll work with a local bike shop that can disassemble the wheels, prep them and send them off to the coater. A shop that can also relace and true them afterwards as well as mount the new tires.
I'm planning on doing mine in the near future. I'll work with a local bike shop that can disassemble the wheels, prep them and send them off to the coater. A shop that can also relace and true them afterwards as well as mount the new tires.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 257
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From: N Cal
RE: Powder coating wheels
That cracks me up. Spokes flex. You'll have cracks everywhere if you don't take the wheel apart. Have you seen any of this guys work? Ask around about him before you really use him.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,950
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From: Colorado Springs, CO
RE: Powder coating wheels
The wheels are chrome, aren't they? You can powdercoat chrome, but you have to give it some texture. A light bead blast works good for that.
The wheel is going to flex a little. Powdercaot will absorb a lot of flex without cracking. That's one of it's big advantages. As long as it sticks to the surface, it will flex a lot. You can make paint somewhat flexible by adding a product called (oddly enough) Flex. It's used on plastic bumpers and fiberglass cars.
One of the biggest problems I see is with the bearings. They are sealed, and filled with grease. In the oven the seals may melt, and the grease may run. That will ruin your bearings and your PC job. I'm sure there's a way to remove the bearings, but that adds to the cost.
Paint and powdercoat generally look exactly the same. However, you can do some special things with powdercoat that you can't easily do with paint. I love the look of translucent colors over polished alum. I also like the translucent colors over bead blasted chrome. It looks like a very deep fine metalflake candy.
If I was going to powdercoat your wheels, here's what I would do. First, do not take them apart. Clean them like you would any part for painting.
Powdercoat using 1 part gloss black and 2 parts high gloss clear. Or 1 part flat black and two parts semigloss clear, depending on the look you're after. That will alow the textured chrome to shine out from deep in the black in the sun light. But in shade or at night they will just be black.
After it's dry, use a razor knife and score the coating all round the adjustment nipples at the thread end and the rim end. That will prevent cracking during use, and when you need to adjust them.
Powdercoating can be repaired when you get small chips. Just use auto paint chip repair.
The wheel is going to flex a little. Powdercaot will absorb a lot of flex without cracking. That's one of it's big advantages. As long as it sticks to the surface, it will flex a lot. You can make paint somewhat flexible by adding a product called (oddly enough) Flex. It's used on plastic bumpers and fiberglass cars.
One of the biggest problems I see is with the bearings. They are sealed, and filled with grease. In the oven the seals may melt, and the grease may run. That will ruin your bearings and your PC job. I'm sure there's a way to remove the bearings, but that adds to the cost.
Paint and powdercoat generally look exactly the same. However, you can do some special things with powdercoat that you can't easily do with paint. I love the look of translucent colors over polished alum. I also like the translucent colors over bead blasted chrome. It looks like a very deep fine metalflake candy.
If I was going to powdercoat your wheels, here's what I would do. First, do not take them apart. Clean them like you would any part for painting.
Powdercoat using 1 part gloss black and 2 parts high gloss clear. Or 1 part flat black and two parts semigloss clear, depending on the look you're after. That will alow the textured chrome to shine out from deep in the black in the sun light. But in shade or at night they will just be black.
After it's dry, use a razor knife and score the coating all round the adjustment nipples at the thread end and the rim end. That will prevent cracking during use, and when you need to adjust them.
Powdercoating can be repaired when you get small chips. Just use auto paint chip repair.
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Tourer
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RE: Powder coating wheels
You all can laugh, but it has been done with success before. There is a gentleman on another forum that has done it with success a couple different times. I understand the possibility of cracking, but like one other said, if done right, it shouldn't be a major problem. I thought for $20 I would give it a shot, if it sucks, I'll remove the powder coat. Time will tell.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2006
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From: N Cal
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Tourer
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RE: Powder coating wheels
If any of you have $2000 to donate to me, I will gladly buy new wheels that are professionally powder coated black. Until then I will continue to ask questions to get that warm and fuzzy feeling ya know. 