rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Looking to have a set of wheels repowder coated or refinished and wondering if there are any good shops people can vouch for locally?

Thinking about doing a set of calipers with the wheels also.

Anyone get a set done and can say anything about the experience with the people and the quality of craftsmanship and finished product?

TIA

1BADSP

iTrader: (4)

The 2 that I have used are finishline coatings in milwaukie,or stb coatings on 105th.

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

How was the quality?
Good people to work with?
How much did they ding you per wheel?
Did you have to color match and did they do a good job color matching?
Any cons?

Thanks for the info!

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

What about wheel repair shops?
Anyone have any positive experience with these?

Most I am sure could do presentable work, any notable people that you have worked with that give you that warm fuzzy feeling of competency?

Probably going to be coating a set of wheels here very shortly and would like to get in with someone that wont disappoint!

1BADSP

iTrader: (4)

i haven't had wheels done,but i did have the cross members and suspension done from both RX-3 and 7.they did not need to color match as everything was done in black.stb gave me a good price because i have done buisness before and i tokk a lot of stuff at once.

FD3SEngineering

iTrader: (4)

May I inquire to why powder coating? Some manufactures warn against it, esp with high performance wheels, as it will weaken the factory heat treating. Painting them with a high quality automotive paint is the best choice, for that I recommend Apex Restoration and JP, he does great work.

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Out of shear ignorance to put it bluntly...

This is what I was told the factory coating was, and I wanted to bring them back to “like new” factory condition.

How does one find out what the stock coating on a set of TE37s is?
I have looked around specifically for this answer, but came up almost completely empty handed.

Any experianced information you could pass along or info you could point me to that would inform me of the proper way to restore a surface on such a wheel?

I called around, and from the people I talked to (granted they are trying to make a sale) they did not mention this was a odd or strange thing to do at all?

Any experience you or anyone else is willing to pass along would be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

BTW do they have a site you could link to? Not able to find them on a preliminary search?
But searching here people have nice words to say about there service.

Otay

iTrader: (13)

I'm not a metallurgist so take this with a grain of salt... aluminum is heat treated to increase it's durability, also called aging. This is a process where a temp is maintained for a calculated period of time depending on the alloys used.

These temps are maintained for a significant length of time(in excess of 8hrs usually). After this process, again depending on the alloys used, there is a calculated cool down process(usually dumped into room temp water, not even kidding)

These temps are in the 400 to 800+ ranges or the Eutectic range. Long story short the alloys will be liquid in the aluminum at a molecular level. This allows the alloys to be more evenly disbursed. You then solidify them during the cooling process and ta da --- stronger and hardened aluminum.

Go into the Eutectic range again after aging(hardening) and you can potentially weaken the grain structure of the alloy by allowing dislocations in the metal to develop. Basically
un-hadrening the metal.

Sooo, find out what alloy the wheel is made from and then determine the powder coating temp involved (there are high and low temp powders), time that the wheel will be exposed to that temp and finally perform an excessive amount of calculations to determine if any detrimental weaking will occur to the aluminum.

Orrr just wing it like the rest of us. I just had a set of HRE centers coated for my FJ Cruiser and really 30min at 375 C doesn't scare me a bit.

Hears the funny part, theoretically you can un-harden your wheels doing enough racing. Notice how nascar is all steel or how magnesium wheels can burst into..well, a lot hotter magnesium ;-)

Hope that made a little bit of sense.

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Those are some good points. I had not even considered this, despite knowing quite a bit about this subject.

Funny thing is, you have prompted me to do just that.
Its actually not that bad they are just tables you can cross reference

Thanks

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Has anyone dealt with Wheel Kraft NW ?

Or Portland Powder Coating ?

The Spyder

iTrader: (8)

Wheel Kraft NW is always a good choice, had them fix a few wheels. Apex is also a good choice, its www.apexautospa.com if I recall.

Hows your car?

aznboimazdafc3s

the shop located all canyon road in beaverton does powercoating on wheels.

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Pretty good actually, once I got the paint on it anyway, and my poor little car didnt look like a lady bug anymore!
(That was very embarrassing for me, I explicitly informed the painter of my schedule well before hand as well as reminders along the way, but he insisted all would be well and finished long before the date arrived..I knew I should have just stuck to my guns and waited until I had no pending appointments )

I still have a few little bugs that need to be worked out like squeaks and rattles, and a faulty analog water temp gauge, (shouldn't worry about it considering the obvious caveats to its existence, but its odd to have a malfunctioning gauge) other than a few odds and ends, just regular maintenance fortunately.

Congratulations of you fledgling business!

Hey Mark is “The Spyder” and “FD3SEngineering” both your personas on here?

I also have some parts I need to return to you, last few times I mentioned them, you neglected to instruct me how I may return them to you.
I am guessing they are inconsequential to you, but they are still sitting in a box with your name on them ready for their return.

The Spyder

iTrader: (8)

Yes, the FD3S is the shop account so more then just me post on it .
You could always stop by the shop, just give me a call 5039410465.

Marc