Thread: Powder Coating Wheels?

Powder coating looks great when new and holds on for a while. Eventually paint chips will occur and the oxide will creep under the paint and the adhesion of the paint will fail resulting in flaking paint.

Enamel will be easier to touch up and while it might not be as hard as powder coat it seems to hold on better and not flake off unless the rust starts to bubble under the paint.

Painting them is a better option, at least you can repair them a lot easier when you get a paint chip or even worse a scrape, very hard to repair scrapes in powder coating without it standing out like dogs balls.

Baz.

Since I have some good experience in this field I would not powder coat anything on my 4wd!

Not only are the responses correct about looking good for a while are true the other hidden factor is the stripping cost to redo if it does fail.

Powder coating is a very stubborn son of a to remove (ten years experience on this matter)

Now you are aiming for an enamel? still not quite tuff enough for me I would aim for a industrial 2 pack polyurethane not easy to apply but the are fully repairable and you can always buff them down the track after scratching them up, I have a set om my work Triton 2 years still look reasonably new will post pics if needed

On another note is worth thinking more about your primer as this is the most important coat and cost that should be considered, Something that states the it's a epoxy "SEALER" is very important and something that has a zinc rich property will go a long way in protecting your steel

Pm me if you need any particular brands happy to help you out. (North Brisbane)

VM_M

Thanks folks, much appreciated. I had a look at the chassis of a IIA a few years ago which somebody had powder coated. It had started to lift, and moisture was getting in under the surface and attacking the steel. I reckon I will go for painting after all - I just thought it was worth asking the question.

Cheers,

John

Sounds like the chassis wasn't prepped very well for the finish to do that so quickly. Once sand blasted, it needs to be primed immediately with a special primer that can be powder coated over. I had some steel outdoor chairs done years ago (when working at a place where heaps of sandblasting and powder coating was required on stuff) and those chairs lasted over 10 years outside - not undercover - before any signs of corrosion became obvious.

Having said all that, I agree with the other posts about paint being preferable to powder coat for this application.

Cheers - Gav

I had some wheels powder coated.
When they came back from the powder coaters, the looked great. So white and clean.
They stayed that way for a while.
Did you know steel things flex?
Wheels flex more than the powder coat. Lots of fine cracks appeared over the rims. Then rust appeared in the cracks discolouring the rims.
I don't think I'll be powdercoating steel wheels again.