DIY powder coating my rims help needed .

[GophersGarage]

Hi gents well I am working on final stripping of my wheels.

and wanted to ask for help.

he is the same wheels I will be working on

silver inside with polished lips

can someone tell me if I need to prime bare rims before colour?

also since they will be silver colour I wanted to give clear powder to the lips after I polish them back to the oem shine.

can this be done

I have the eastwood powder coating gun

any help would be great

 

[bareass172]

I'm not trying to sound stupid, but I'm not familiar with Merc rims. If those are machined cast aluminum you will have to contend with off-gassing. I'm not a pro powder coater or anything, but I know enough to know that rims that are machined from cast will off-gas when baked and you'll end up with pits in the finish. The key is to pre-bake the part to a certain temp, then pull them and shoot them, then bake the rest of the way. I have a very close friend who does coating as part of his business several days a week. He's the one who clued me into this problem. I wish I could tell you specifics, but I don't know them, but I thought at least if you knew you could do a little research.

As far as clearing over the polished, I assume it should work but I imagine someone with experience will step in. I actually own the same gun, but just after I bought it my friend informed me that he does this so I've never had to use mine. Rather than fool with my Eastwood and a small home oven, he shoots and bakes in his industrial one.

Good luck!

 

[astroracer]

Powder coat, no primer. Paint, use primer.
The shop that does my powder coating does an initial bake at 600 degrees to burn off any oil or grease that may be on the parts. Cool down, then coat. It will depend on your oven but a household oven won't get hot enough to burn oily contaminants off so make sure you degrease very well before applying color.
Don't clear coat the bare aluminum. leave it naked so it can be polished and maintained. Clearing it will only protect it until it gets it's first chip. Then compare that to a corroded factory wheel after a few months.
Mark

 

[f575gtc]

powder coat, polish lip, use a epoxy clear over everything lip and center.

 

[GophersGarage]

thanks guys so you think bare polish lip should leave it at?

as to clear I was thinking powder clear not spray gun clean

 

[bareass172]

I'm a motorcycle guy, so I always choose the polish option (no chrome, no clear) because I know that eventually I'll pick up a rock, or in your case maybe scrape a curb. When that happens it'll be impossible to fix right. If it's just polished, you just bust out the sandpaper and work it back close, then chase the sandpaper with polish to make it shine. The problem with polish is exactly what you're trying to prevent - maintenance. The polished needs to be kept up with or it will oxidize.

So the forever conundrum - polish all the time to maintain it or clear and hope nothing happens. It's a tough call... If you don't want to do clear you could always try this stuff:

http://www.shineseal.com/

The guy who started that company used to run a company called "Zoop seal". I know nothing about this new company, but the old product was a 2 part epoxy that you mixed and applied to fresh polished parts. It actually formed a ceramic barrier to effectively seal the parts for about 18-24 months, then would wear off and need redoing. Let me be clear, I know nothing about this new product, but the old one was very popular. I believe they just went out of business because it was an expensive product.

 

[astroracer]

thanks guys so you think bare polish lip should leave it at?

as to clear I was thinking powder clear not spray gun clean

No clear on the polished aluminum. Leave it bare so you CAN keep it polished. You have to make your own decision but, go look at a factory aluminum rim that is a couple of years old. THAT is what you will be dealing with once your clear coat gets chipped.
Look for a product called White Diamond. Here in the states it's carried by O'Rielly's and Advance Auto stores. This is some good stuff. It improves the shine over Mother's Billet Polish and keeps it for a long time.
Mark

 

[GophersGarage]

all good info thanks guys. most likey will leave it bare.

I made a lathe do to the polishing

I used a spindal and a 3/4 hp motor with a belt. should be ok hope speed is good.

my brake lather was to slow to spin the rim for sanding etc.

I am just holding off now since I am trying to find a shade of silver powder for the wheels to be close to oem.

do I clear the silver? or I cant because it wont stick?

 

[fitz11]

It sounds like you haven't done any powder coating yet. I would do some practice pieces before you do the wheels. New powder coat ***** to strip if you screw it up.

 

[retrobuilder]

FYI, powder can be tricky to mask and get the edge you want. Not as simple as solvent paint systems. Lastly powder may not have same detail in the logo area when heated.

Certainly possible though.

 

[astroracer]

You don't need a lathe to polish the lip of a wheel... I am in final polish stages of the new rims for my truck and I use a corded drill with cones and buffs...
Sanded out to 2000 grit.

After a couple of sessions with red and white rouge.

There is some hand polishing to do to finish up but this was easy and you don't need a big lathe to do it...

Mark

 

[bareass172]

My buddy used a drill press with a jig to spin his. Dangerous as hell but really fast, lol

http://forums.bareasschoppers.com/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=172&p=10782&hilit=polish+wheel#p10804

The key with polishing like that is what astroracer just said - sanding slowly down to 2000 grit paper, and then polish. The more graduations you take from 220-400-800-1000 all the way to 2000 make the job that much easier. I learned this after years of hurrying from grit to grit and wasting time and having "ok" results. Slow transition between grits, take my time up front and it saves time in the long run and yields better results.

 

[GophersGarage]

great info thanks guy for your input, been a big help