Powdercoating and rubbing down clearcoat

[Mr Whippy]

I had my wheels refurbed by a place in Leeds called David Holmes Services...

I was recommended to go there by someone else (perhaps too easy to please) so was happy to use them.


Anyway, the wheels are generally ok, but in areas the clearcoat looks quite bobbly/orange peely (opposite the valve/hanging point on all four mainly). I mentioned this and they said they didn't miss any and it all got covered ok.

So, my question is can I rub down the offending areas with compound to get the laquer to a mirror finish?

Is there any risk of the clearcoat being too thin?

If there is, should I expect a mirror finish on the wheels, and if they haven't coated them deeply enough to allow them to be smoothed afterwards should I be asking them to rectify the areas in question?

I paid £45 per wheel, 15"x6" so they were as much as other companies would be charging.

Dave

[wildoliver]

Well as an example I charge £25 more per wheel but I always remove the tyres, valves, weights etc, and the wheels don't leave my premises till they are perfect.

You pays your money.......

[Mr Whippy]

I took clean (faces stripped to clean ally but interior still covered in brake dust) alloys with no valves or tyres, and picked up in the same state, just with coating all over.

Had I paid VAT then your prices seem pretty damn good considering all the tyre work...

Unfortunately I didn't get a paper quote, so it was £40 each when I left them there, and £45 when I went back, and when I mentioned a cheque they said it'd have to be +vat, so I had to pay cash to avoid yet more unexpected cost.


If I take some pics can you advise?
It's not terrible, generally the coverage is only very slight orange peel that you don't really notice, it's just opposite the hanging point the tube light reflections change from an ok sharp reflection to a rather dull diffused reflection...

Dave

[TONYATSWISSOL]

We have always used Metal magic who are based in Barnsley they do a top job .

[wildoliver]

Sure post some pics up.

To be honest though I can't remember the last set of powdercoated wheels I saw that were 100% in terms of finish.

Hence why most of mine are painted.

[Julian64]

What sort of paint do you use on that. Are wheel paints special or are they same as bodypaint 2k derivates?

[Mr Whippy]

Nice lick of paint there, looks very nice!

I'll clean them off and take some pictures with some diffuse and sharp light just so you can see the clearcoat issues.

As I said though, I'm happy to finish the surface myself, it's just I'm worried if I assume there is plenty of depth there and there isn't it's another £50 to have it re-done... and with the finish in the worst place looking very orange peely it's almost as if there isn't much on rather than the application was not as good.

Hey ho, will post up some pics, and will have to make more time to go back and have a winge at them. In my view if they can't guarantee I can rub it down without going through to the base then it's their fault for not adding enough coat to allow it to be made good.


Wish I'd asked on here first rather than just taking someone elses advice (though his wheels came out ok, guess they were just lazy with mine)...

Dave