Interior Exterior
Q:
I had my sport wheels powder coated by my friends at HRM... and they look fantastic.
However... the powder coat seems to be chipping off on the pax rear wheel (only, that' I've noticed anyway)...
I had a little off track excursion yesterday (in the rain, nice soft mud) and I initially attributed it to that... but I'm wrong -- the car slid on the driver's side, not the pax side (the driver's was the side facing "forward" on the slide in the mud). Is there anything else that would cause powder coat to come off ? It's in general, coming off where the brake dust sits (around the corners of the wheels, if you know what I mean).
I'm confused...
I know Mark said the powder coat guy will warranty his work so I'm tempted to take it in, but I want to make sure it's nothing I've done.
I definitely have not struck that wheel or done anything "bad" with it so I find it highly unlikely that it's physical damage caused by me...
Ideas?
PS - I have used a citrus based cleaner on the wheels, in addition to normal car wash soap... but that's it.
Cheers.
A:
tough to say, perfect powder coat can be very tough to do, chipping can occur for a number of reasons, not baked long enough or wrong temperature cure, uneven heating. as well as all the other reasons such as user damage, stone chips (most likely) etc
you must seal the chips though! use a touch up paint or clear finish ( though check with whomevers doing the warranty work first for approval ) if you don't seal it the oxidisation will leak under the powder coating and make it worse, and don't think it takes a long time for this to happen bare unprotected metal can oxidise in hours.
thats why i prefer paint myself.
A:
Can you post pictures?
In all case you have to know that not only stone chips can damage the paint but also stupid dealers like mine.
This idiot damaged my 2400 euro 2 months old matte black forged wheels set not using the official items to get off the wheels and caused the black paint go off from the edges of bolt's rooms.
A:
This sounds like improper surface prep. Powder coat is tough stuff indeed. More likely would be some finish flaws or stains, but not chipping.
Once the powder is on the wheel it looks like colored talcum powder. Then it melts in the oven. That part of the process is pretty controlled. This is why I suspect prep.
I just repainted my SSRs again. Black centers, polished rim detail. It only takes about two hours DIY. Get some high quality paint rattle-can like Wurth. Tape up the wheels, no need to remove the tires. Paint the back side first. Then do a few light coats on the "good" side.
A nice thing about using paint is that it is simple to touck up, like 1 minute. And it preserves any heat treat the wheels experienced when made.
A:
HOw does one tell if the wheels are painted or powder coat? I've got the Lotus black wheels, anyone know if painted or powdercoat?
How to find a place that can change the tires without damaging the black?
Chris
A:
HOw does one tell if the wheels are painted or powder coat? I've got the Lotus black wheels, anyone know if painted or powdercoat? How to find a place that can change the tires without damaging the black? Chris
Powdercoat is basically chip proof, compared to paint. You can remove a wheel and test the surface of the finish with a screwdriver, in a hidden place. Paint will come off, PC won't, but might slightly mar.
A:
Thanks Stan,
I guess since I had a small rock chip it's more than likely paint.
Chris
A:
lotus usually paints its wheels so if its lotus OEM its nearly always paint.
i wouldn't go as far as calling powder coat chip proof, chip resilient maybe, tough finishes can be brittle.
A:
Thks Charlie!
Cheers
Chris
A:
Thanks for the replies...
I suppose that means I'll be calling them on Monday...
I assume that if I wait (which I will have to since they are of course closed on a Sunday) I will likely have to have them completely re-powdercoat the wheel ? Ugg... Poor guy had to do it once already -- the wheel was scratched when I picked it up (I noticed before I had even touched it -- they had stacked a bunch of wheels and I guess they moved around enough...).
Uggg.....
If I can get the camera working I'll post a pic.
A:
depends on the severity of the chipping, there are powder coat repair kits available to them, redoing powder coating completely is something you don't want to do a lot.
they'll probably be fine if its a dry enough place, you have to remove the area around the chips as well to repair them, so that'll take care of any oxidisation problems. just if you plan to leave them for a while put some clear over them, but if you're planning to have them fixed shortly they'll be fine. just clean them with a soft cloth and a gentle detergent and dry throughly, powder coat scratches just like automotive paint so take it easy.
A:
I have a little chip in one of the powdercoated wheels on my HRM car, too. It's not all the way down to the aluminum, though... it's still black underneath. Odd.
A:
One think to consider when powder coating wheels, is that the powder coating provides a tough resilient finish. The problem is that if the wheel under the powder coating develops a crack, you may not detect it under the powder coating.
Does it matter on our wheels? Some wheels it does matter, some it doesn't. It all depends on the likelihood of a crack developing...
A:
One think to consider when powder coating wheels, is that the powder coating provides a tough resilient finish. The problem is that if the wheel under the powder coating develops a crack, you may not detect it under the powder coating.
Does it matter on our wheels? Some wheels it does matter, some it doesn't. It all depends on the likelihood of a crack developing...
Tim-
Interesting you should say that... do you mean the wheel might potentially have a crack ? I didn't think Al wheels did that -- I figured they did more of a "crumble" or "bend" then crack -- but what do I know anyway ?
I don't suppose you'd know what would constitute possibility of a crack? A really big pothole? Never really hit any of those either (whew!) but..?
Cheers
A:
do you mean the wheel might potentially have a crack ? I didn't think Al wheels did that -- I figured they did more of a "crumble" or "bend" then crack -- but what do I know anyway ?
I don't know if the Elise's wheels are prone to cracking (I haven't heard of any), but I remember a while back that there was an aftermarket wheel that appeared to develop cracks when over-stressed. It can happen. Or there can be a manufacturing flaw (i.e. air bubble in the casting), that could turn to a crack. Powder coating will not hasten any cracking tendencies, but it may tend to hide any cracks. But many times, people have cracks and don't notice them until the wheel fails anyway...
Again, it's not a good thing or a bad thing, just something to be aware of...
And I have no idea if it's even a concern for the Elise wheels...