i have been wanting to powder coat my cast 06 superglide wheels for awhile. the problem is the timing, i even have gone so far as buying new bearings, rotor bolts for my front wheel with the plan of sending it to get coated the next front tire change. well my front tire needed replaced pretty bad and there was a couple rides i didnt want to miss so i just replaced the tire without getting it coated.

the places i know around here will either cost "a lot" and can do it in under a week or are priced good but the wait is close to a month since they are first come first serve and wait to do everything in big batches.

now i am getting close to needing a back tire, sometime in the next month or so. i am thinking i might just paint the wheels to get it over with and to save some money. I have used appliance epoxy on my lowers and a couple of misc. parts and they have held up pretty good, some chips and stuff on the forks but overall they look alright for being painted 4 years ago

i have some dumb questions about painting wheels.

1) what about plastidip vs. appliance epoxy. i have seen several people use plastidip on truck wheels and it seems to look good. how does it hold up and can it look glossy like appliance appox?

2) i would asume i need to take off the rotor and pulley, so i should just get new bolts for both right or can you paint it with them on? If you take them off i assume you have to clean/mask the areas where they come back together.

3) I want to replace my bearings, just for piece of mind because the miles are starting to add up. should i paint the wheels after the bearings are installed. Same question with the tire, should i paint it after or before the tire is installed

4) the most pyso question of all. It seems to me that you would have to paint it then get it balanced because the paint wieghs something and there is no way it is balanced afterward

any suggestions from folks that have painted thier wheels would be helpful

 

1. They do have a plasti-dip clear coat that will make it shiney.

2. Probably much easier to remove that stuff and , yes, mask off the mounting surfaces and replace the bearings while you have it apart...I would throw the bearings in before you paint since you will mask it off anyway and less chance of fouling up your paint. Do new bolts for piece of mind.

3. Yes to bearings and I'd wait and do tire after.

4. have the installer use Dyna beads...no weights on your wheel and self-balances even though I think you'd have to have a heck of a run in your paint to notice it's out of balance!

 

do not dip your wheels it is a nightmare to get off and brake dust sticks to it like glue and will eat int your wheels. Yes i recomend bearing replacement when you caot wheels but rotor bolts will not be needed only new pulley bolts in back... to be honest many times after you figure materials to paint you are really close to our costs to powder the wheel. We balance with dyna beads for customers this way you do not have ugly wheel weights on freshly coated wheels. More than happy to get you out some quotes if you would like. Either way paint will chip, powder will not... every tire change you make you will have to repaint your wheels if you rattle can them or even use a quality 2 stage. Do not dip them it is a nightmare to remove no matter how much you read that it just peels off. I deal with it daily from the kids that hit their wheels on their cars in it, and it looks like ****, so they bring them in to be powdercoated. this may be one of those hang back and save some coin to do it the right way situations. I am more than ahppy to help anyway i can

 

oooh if you use stick on weights the bearings HAVE to be in the wheels to balance them

 

I have been hearing about dyna beads for a while but i don't know anyone personally that uses them.
Do they actually work?

 

I run Dyna Beads on my bike and they work perfectly fine. As Joe stated Powder Coating is the way to go, but if the OP really wants to paint them I believe Duplacolor makes a kit with primer, paint and clear coat for wheels. Personally when I have the money I will be shipping mine off to Joe.

 

dyna beads work great it is what F1 cars, semi's, and pretty much every power sport i can think of run... they work way way better than wheel weights bud, if they where not effective they would not pass inspection DMV testing for sale and would be considered a danger

 

i will give the dyna beads a try, i dont really like the looks of the wheel wieghts anyway
where is the best place to get them?

 

we order them in bulk from dyna bead. best route to go. also a small vibrator, no joke, like a pocket rocket on the valve stem will make install of these 1000000x's easier. if not it will take you over an hour per wheel to get them in. so wait for the wife to leave and raid her toy closet hahaha works i laughed when it was suggested now we have one in the shop for that reason

 

thats hilarious
do you leave it out for your customers to see