Thoughts on powder coating wheels

[Pete_COG_TN]

I really like the silver wheels more than the black. Thoughts on having my current low mileage black wheels, powder coated silver or buy some early model silver wheels off eBay and refurbish them as needed (and sell the black ones) . Looks like powder coating bakes the wheel at 400F for close to an hour. Wonder what that does to cast aluminum. Also just the risk of having anyone else handle them. Thoughts and opinions?

 

[2andblue]

Looks like powder coating bakes the wheel at 400F for close to an hour. Wonder what that does to cast aluminum. Also just the risk of having anyone else handle them. Thoughts and opinions?

Your wheels will be fine at the typical 350*F - 430*F temperatures used for powder coating, there will be no substantive changes of the resting metal at this temperature.

Have an experienced, reputable shop perform the work! Cannot be said enough - proper, thorough cleaning to include removal of all oxidation is critical. The cast aluminum is porous and ‘absorbs’ road grime, oils, dusts. The biggest challenge with PC cast aluminum is the inherent risk of contamination to the paint from ineffective cleaning prior to coating / curing. Paint contamination leads to not only surface texture and color inconsistencies but also peeling down the road - (pun intended… lol).

Wayne, Carol & Blue

 

[Just Cliff]

You can always just strip the black paint off; they are shiny aluminum underneath the black or silver paint which ever you have. I did it on my 08 years ago & I rattle canned the center portion of the wheels. Much easier to care for & don't show scratches, should you scratch them you can polish it out. They probably well over 100,000 since doing this & they still look good.

There is a current picture I posted on the last page of what have you done thread.

The attached picture is from when I first did them.

 

[Pete_COG_TN]

Your wheels will be fine at the typical 350*F - 430*F temperatures used for powder coating, there will be no substantive changes of the resting metal at this temperature.

Have an experienced, reputable shop perform the work! Cannot be said enough - proper, thorough cleaning to include removal of all oxidation is critical. The cast aluminum is porous and ‘absorbs’ road grime, oils, dusts. The biggest challenge with PC cast aluminum is the inherent risk of contamination to the paint from ineffective cleaning prior to coating / curing. Paint contamination leads to not only surface texture and color inconsistencies but also peeling down the road - (pun intended… lol).

Wayne, Carol & Blue

Thanks, Wayne. There is a reputable shop close by that does bead blast them before PC with excellent reviews. I know it's not uncommon to PC wheels but browsing through car forums, there are some that expressed concern on loss of strength. If it was really a problem one would think wheel manufacturers would be putting out strong warnings not to PC.

 

[Pete_COG_TN]

You can always just strip the black paint off; they are shiny aluminum underneath the black or silver paint which ever you have. I did it on my 08 years ago & I rattle canned the center portion of the wheels. Much easier to care for & don't show scratches, should you scratch them you can polish it out. They probably well over 100,000 since doing this & they still look good.

There is a current picture I posted on the last page of what have you done thread.

The attached picture is from when I first did them.

Thanks Cliff. That wheel looks very good. I wondered about the finish underneath the paint. So you re-painted the spokes/hub after stripping the paint (for a little contrast?).

So how did you strip the paint? I've rattled canned bits over the years but not much experience stripping paint off. Thanks for the help! Any particular brand of stripper.

 

[Just Cliff]

Thanks Cliff. That wheel looks very good. I wondered about the finish underneath the paint. So you re-painted the spokes/hub after stripping the paint (for a little contrast?).

So how did you strip the paint? I've rattled canned bits over the years but not much experience stripping paint off. Thanks for the help! Any particular brand of stripper.

The paint comes off fairly easy, I just used regular household stripper since that's what I had lying around. You could buy something stronger like aircraft stripper if you wanted. The best I can remember, I just used a plastic type scraper like you use to apply Bondo & a stiff nylon brush to clean off paint. Use a cheap throw away brush to apply it.

Yes, I painted the centers for contrast. The centers are slightly textured & probably won't strip easily or look good if stripped. Not to mention the small curved surfaces of the spokes would most likely be a pain in the a$$ to do.

Once or twice a year I'll go over them with some Semi chrome to brighten them up. Semi chrome has been my go to polish since the 70's, excellent for aluminum..

 

[Strawboss]

I did PC my KZ wheels 15 years ago and I really HATE, HATE, HATE the black wheels of my '22 and was wondering what I could do. Cliff's solution looks great and seems to fit the bill for me. With all things, PREP,PREP, PREP is the key, most PC places around me will not touch bike wheels, in fact, the place that did mine was a new place opening up and said they would not do bike wheels again. They've stood up well and I'm happy, but I like the look of Cliff's wheels. Good luck.

 

[Bud]

Looks great Dave!

 

[Pete_COG_TN]

Yes Cliff's solution seems like a good possibility, but I'd go with painting the hub & spokes silver for an all silver look. Maybe some subtle blue highlights on the spokes. Saw a vid of a guys blue zx14 where he had his wheels redone in silver with a little blue. Looked very nice.

Thanks again for the input

 

[SethInIllinois]

Wow, that's a beautiful KZ550! I believe that's the engine they used as the basis of the water-cooled 600 in the ZX600-A/C, ZL600 Eliminator and a few others.

 

[jim snyder]

I had the wheels on my C-10 powder coated years ago and they looked great. So much easier to clean also. Found a local shop that did both of them for $100. Not sure what the going rate is now. Would like to have my FJR wheels done .

 

[TireguyfromMA]

I had the wheels on my 98 VFR800 powder coated black many years ago and they still look great, although i don't ride this bike as much these days. The one thing I will say about PC in general is that it doesn't touch up as well as a good spray on laquer finish and certain oils will stain PC, so make sure you read up on what to keep away from your PC wheels.

 

[cuda]

The older I get, the less I want to be on my hands and knees, I'm full of arthritis...

The black powder coat looks great. I just scrubbed them with Purple stuff twice. before coating, they were really dirty.

They are filthy now, but they look Great

 

[Bud]

The older I get, the less I want to be on my hands and knees, I'm full of arthritis...

The black powder coat looks great. I just scrubbed them with Purple stuff twice. before coating, they were really dirty.

They are filthy now, but they look Great

Buy a nice lift. Spend some of that old rusty money Jim. Compared to the Tesla truck, it's like buying a candy bar.

 

[cuda]

Nah, I'm not a showboater, I could care less,

The freaking bike is 13 years old, I have too many toys, and too busy with life,

Two Hurricanes ago, I put my bike in the rear building, and a mini Tornado came down my driveway knocking down trees,

It ran up the roof ripping shingles off in a jagged line. My bike was there protected

well the air pressure blew out a few sheets of the drywall off the 12ft ceiling and landed on my bike, I don't plan on fixing it,

It adds character, Just like all those deep wrinkles on my face and neck.

My dream girl...