Powdercoating or re-spraying wheels?

[raf_gti]

My alloys could do with sorting out, unfortunately the previous owner wasn't especially careful with them.

To restore them to factory standard is it worth considering powdercoating them? I understand it can be substantially cheaper to go down that route?

[B1ggest]

lepsons

[MikeyT]

Depends on budget - you can have them professionally resprayed and they'll look great.

Powdercoating them will make them a bit hardier though.

[Anatol]

MikeyT said:

Powdercoating them will make them a bit hardier though.

Myth, IMHO. The chemistry involved in dry powdercoating and wet-spraying is functionally identical - in one case the components are formulated to be solid at room temperature then ground into two powders and mixed, then applied and heated to a temperature when they are liquid. In the other they are liquid at room temperature and stored separately then mixed just before application.

Both are 2k reactive, ending up leaving an inert plastic layer.

There can be process efficiency reasons for the repairer in opting for wet spray over dry spray (or vice versa), but in terms of durability of the coating, there's little reason to choose between them.

[MikeyT]

Just going on personal experience Tol but I bow to your knowledge!

[Vette]

One application where powder coating is better is with awkward shaped items as the powder is attracted to nooks & cranies whereas paint will have to be applied directly into those areas. I must admit, I thought powder coating was more durable - perhaps it's because it's baked on that it appears to be harder?

Cheers
David

[kds keltec]

I found powdercoated wheels to be more durable then wet paint systems

IMHO

kelly

[7even]

In my experience I have found powder coating to be more durable and generally the whole wheel is done as opposed to just the face, on saying that a damaged/kerbed powder coated wheel looks so much worse than a traditionally painted wheel.

[Anatol]

Our experience is that any scrape that would damage a wet sprayed finish will also damage a powdercoat one, and the powdercoat sometimes comes away in larger chunks, leaving it looking worse, as 7even says.

A lot of the durability of any surface finish is actually in the preparation. A wheel being stripped for a new powdercoat will be prepared very thoroughly because the process requires it. If a wheel is prepared similarly thoroughly (for example with blast media cleaning and etching) and then wet sprayed, then it shares the benefits of the prep. It's possible to cut corners when wet spraying and under-prep, but that's the fault of the repairer, not of the wet spray repair process.

As mentioned before, there are other pluses and minuses of the two systems - unused powdercoat can be collected and reused, for example, and electrostatic dry spraying requires much shorter training and experience times than wet spray - but a powdercoated wheel must be completely stripped, heated to a very high temperature in an oven (much higher energy costs) and then re-balanced. If the front face of the wheel is the only damaged area, a wet-spray finish can be achieved without stripping, refitting or rebalancing, just with the bead broken, and with much lower curing energy costs.

Swings and roundabouts really.

Edited by Anatol on Thursday 20th January 09:34