Paint or Powder Coat
- Thread starter RichardG
- Start date
lacroupade
Veteran
a11y said:
Are we married to the same woman ally?? :roll:
paddy wright said:
I got mine done recently, I'll try get some pics up once I've cleaned them again.
I didn't want to, but I went for powder coating because it was cheap and easy and local. Lepsons are good if you can deal with sending 4x wheels via random couriers who need them packing, and then 4x tyres delivering and getting fitted right. It's just a nightmare. Oh for a Lepsons anywhere but London hehe
Anyway, the finish on the four (I think they re-did my one test one I took in, and one of the fronts which it was appears to have thicker paint so I think it's that one) was better than the example one they did, much smoother lacquer overall... lumpiness in areas, but not on the main faces. However, there are a few places on each wheel where it's just a bit of a bug bear when the wheels are clean. After a days worth of brake dust you can't tell, and only when you clean the wheels inside and out and rotate it to the right angle and get within 50cm and point can you tell
All said and done, I'd prefer a proper wet paint finish and them to be mint, but you just never know if the wet painter is any good until it's too late, so it doesn't guarantee OEM quality and perfection either.
All said and done they are wheels, and it's an old car. No point spending £££ trying to make it perfect when it's a daily driver.
Incompatible said:
As per cracks and stuff around the hub centre/bolt holes. The paint will compress a bit, and crush. It doesn't crack per se. It's almost like a thick plastic coating that is quite soft under large forces, rather than a hard glassy surface like wet paint lacquer is under such conditions.
The thing that annoys me is that the hub-centre is never masked off, or flattened etc, so when refitting the wheel to the car you have to work around the wheel bolts a bit at a time to force the wheel on over the hub, and you can see it scraping the paint back to fit over. Not ideal but again, it's just a set of wheels in the end of the day, and given 5 years they won't be any worse than a set of brand new wheels might have got in that time anyway.
Dave
I really don't understand it either.aquazi said:
The unsettling thing is that I have seen threads on several other forums (STi, 350Z) where guys have fractured wheels after PC.
Usually after wheels have seen more stress than you would see for normal street use. (at the track etc)
I know of one person with a Subaru STi that contacted BBS (BBS are the OE wheels) about powder coating his wheels.
BBS said flat out DO NOT powder coat them.
IDK... It could be the way the PC is done, how much heat etc.
Wheels (normally used) could have had prior imperfections that were exacerbated by the curing process.
Too many variables and no conclusive data.
BUT, there's just too many of these occurrences for me to feel comfortable about the process.
I was thinking about getting my M wheels done a shade darker to go with AW,
but I'm not sure what I'll do now.
Anything not so solid doesn't seem to fare well when powdercoated.
Ie, superlight delicate wheels don't seem to take well to the heating process it seems.
Things like OZ superturismo type wheels for example with their thin spokes seem to be the types that do fail.
Five big fat spokes on a 107 Ellipsoid I am happy with...
I don't think I'd even bother reconditioning fancy multi-spokes with PC because they are just so hard to paint full stop it won't look good. Best bet is to sell on and buy some new wheels, probably works out cheaper...
Hmmm
Dave
Ie, superlight delicate wheels don't seem to take well to the heating process it seems.
Things like OZ superturismo type wheels for example with their thin spokes seem to be the types that do fail.
Five big fat spokes on a 107 Ellipsoid I am happy with...
I don't think I'd even bother reconditioning fancy multi-spokes with PC because they are just so hard to paint full stop it won't look good. Best bet is to sell on and buy some new wheels, probably works out cheaper...
Hmmm
Dave
Got up this morning, jumped in the car to go to Tesco's only to contfronted by the tyre pressure warning light, pulled over and yup! nearside rear was flatish, no problem thought I, whipped out the compressor from besides the battery and tried to put air in the tyre. It was coming out as fast as I could put it in Bollox!
Fortunately it was only a few hundred yards to the local tyre centre so I limped round there to see if they could do anything.
It was then we noticed the directional Falken 452's were going the wrong way.
Anyway using there big compressor we got air in the tyre and managed to reseat the bead, took it outside put it in a big bath and bubbles from the rear bead, no problems said the lad I'll whip the tyre off and reseat it properly.
So I had just got a coffee when he poked his head round the door 'your days about to get worse, you need a new tyre' the bead had been damaged internally and in their opinion it had been done when refitting the tyre after the wheel refurb.
So £140 lighter I got back home and rang The Wheel Specialist and informed them of what had occurred 'Oh I thought we'd got away with that, we noticed the tyre was damaged and tried to seal it, they were very hard to get off'
They are refunding me the £140 (the cheques in the post) for the new tyre but what is really p****ing me off is they the fact they said nothing about it, I am now having serious second thought's about getting them to redo the wheels even though I'm not 100% happy with them.
Fortunately it was only a few hundred yards to the local tyre centre so I limped round there to see if they could do anything.
It was then we noticed the directional Falken 452's were going the wrong way.
Anyway using there big compressor we got air in the tyre and managed to reseat the bead, took it outside put it in a big bath and bubbles from the rear bead, no problems said the lad I'll whip the tyre off and reseat it properly.
So I had just got a coffee when he poked his head round the door 'your days about to get worse, you need a new tyre' the bead had been damaged internally and in their opinion it had been done when refitting the tyre after the wheel refurb.
So £140 lighter I got back home and rang The Wheel Specialist and informed them of what had occurred 'Oh I thought we'd got away with that, we noticed the tyre was damaged and tried to seal it, they were very hard to get off'
They are refunding me the £140 (the cheques in the post) for the new tyre but what is really p****ing me off is they the fact they said nothing about it, I am now having serious second thought's about getting them to redo the wheels even though I'm not 100% happy with them.
Well this day just keeps getting better, went outside to double check the tyre pressures and noticed a small chip in on of the spokes then loads of damage to the rim, straight back to the tyre centre, saw the owner 'don't tell me he's marked them?' so my newly refurbed alloys go in for a refurb next week.
I just feel like
I just feel like
RichardG said:
Idiots - putting on a damaged tyre they were aware of and trying to "get away with it". Just stupid on any car let alone one that will most likely be doing some speed and hard cornering any time soon.
I never trust anyone with my wheels now they have been refurbished. Always clean and take a quick photo when they go in to somewhere -it's much easier to spot damage on a clean wheel.
Ok as promised some time ago this is the kind of damage my clumsyness on the NE run caused
After the intial refurb they looked like this
Then I noticed the flat and the tyre centre left me with this on afew points on the rim
and this on a couple of the spokes
the wheel is now in Colourworx in Dumfries for its 2nd refurb in a week.
In the words of Monty Python, always look on the bright side of life.
After the intial refurb they looked like this
Then I noticed the flat and the tyre centre left me with this on afew points on the rim
and this on a couple of the spokes
the wheel is now in Colourworx in Dumfries for its 2nd refurb in a week.
In the words of Monty Python, always look on the bright side of life.
Still makes me wince just thinking about it,as i was following RichardG when the wheels were crunched on the NE run was quite surprised not more wheels were crunshed as it was a very narrow gap not much room for error.Glad to see them getting back to their former glory. 