Powder coating my enki racing rims . Want advice.
 

I want to powder coat them a different color . The original white is chipping off and it's real easy to get them dirty.

Now I got a few ideas. Dark purple . Bronze or some typ of gun metal black or super shine black.


The rims on in my sig. Thanks everyone.


Dave

I think i've heard it's better to paint than powder your wheels, so they aren't exposed to heat like that.

Silver. With a polished lip.

i thought powder coating are strong for heat resistince and chiping lol
thos rims are not ment for be lip typ rims so if i polish the lip it will look weird.
although i do like the silver idea, that was one of the original color for thos rims.

i would go with bronze, or a gun metal

My vote is for bronze:icon_tup:.


John

id check with enkei before you do that... ive heard that powdercoating can damage certain alloys. not the powedercoating itself, but the baking process.

anyway, red is like the worst color car for painted wheels lol... i would say gloss black.

The temps used for powder coating are low enough to not hurt the alumium. Most powders cure at 400F for about 10 min, some cure as low as 375F. Normal powders will handle 600F all day long once cured high temp powders will get into the 1200F range. The normal powders are more durable than the high temps when it comes to abrasion etc. The high gloss black will show scratches from cleaning but it sure looks nice.

If you can spend the extra money get them powder clear coated after you put choose a color. It should come in around 50% more per wheel but it makes the stuff incredibly tough. I was doing a set of my own wheels for my RX2 restoration and had an issue with uneven temps in my oven. The clear yellowed a little so I had to re-do a wheel. I hadn't bought the special stripper for powder coating yet and I figured I would media blast(aluminum oxide) the stuff off and start over. It took me 3 1/2 hrs to blast the outer face of one 13" steel wheel. My time to blast that same face when the rims were first done; 15minutes. (I ordered the stripper the next day!)

I vote gun metal with a high gloss clear. Can I ask what you are going to pay for each wheel?

Thanks for the thread Kensin, I've been interested because I've been planning to PC my brand spankin new PF-01's this weekend. Unfortunately, I'm still not completely convinced on whether I'll PC or paint the wheels.

For you own decision, below is by far the best thread I've found on the subject.
"Aluminum Wheel Failure After Powder Coating?"

One thing that is very clear is that HOW the powder coating process is conducted could be critical to the metallurgical effects on the wheel. You decide, cause I sure can't... though I am leaning towards doing it after confirm the shop's procedures.

Good thread there. The biggest thing I can see is the estimated time the guys are talking about for the wheel to be hot. It takes my oven about 12 minutes to get to 400F. Thin stuff follows the oven temp pretty closely. Steel wheels will lag the oven temp about 25F by the time the oven air is 400. It takes about 3 minutes more for the wheel to hit 400. Aluminum wheels take a few minutes longer.

So, for an aluminum wheel the temp ramp goes from about 95F to 400F in 19-20 minutes. Once the part reaches 400F the timer starts for the 10 min cure. They can be taken out of the oven right then, or, I usually just open door and let them cool down to about 120 so I can grab them. Total time for the whole process is about 40 minutes, time above 350F is probably about 25 minutes or less if you can pull them out at the end of the cure time.

bronze ftw or a black and bronze combo

Thanks for everyones advice!
I'm now thinking of Bronze or gunmetal black with clear finish . One of my girlfriend got a red s2000 with bronze vs wheel and it looks pimp.

Jgrewe, I'm paying 120$ each wheel. The shop that's doing it for me is the best pc shop in palmsprings.

Spoke with both a reputable paint shop and a powder coater this morning. I thoroughly inquired about the entire PC process with the latter. The owner had all the right answers about outgassing and annealing times, so the PF01s are at Extreme Powder Coating. The wheels will be done in matte black and ready for pickup in about a week. It's going to be ~$125 per wheel. The range has to do with the complexity of the stripping process.

I'll post pictures once I have them back.

nice to know !
show some pics when the wheels are ready .
what are the original color ?

Good thread and good link Carlos. Kensin, I think I have the same wheels and was also considering PC. I have the same dilemma...bronze or gunmetal. I think I will ultimately go with bronze though

Carlos,
I wonder if you could do the Technos that way too? (I'd wonder with them being magnesium and all).

I went with a semi-gloss black powder coating on my Enkei NT03+M rims. I also added a red "time attack" stripe. IMO it looks great, however you can see the brake dust pretty quickly on any type of semi-gloss or gloss black.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/IMG_2358.jpg
Sorry about the poor quality of the pic (and yes the car is up on jacks :nod:).

That's a good questions, Peter. I assume the manufacturer took the annealing effect of PC'ing into consideration when they originally coated the magnesium wheels at the factory. Anyways, I'll need to figure it out, since i have a rim with a chipped lip that I'll need to eventually fix.

That looks REALLY good. I may have to reevaluate bronze...

going full bronze !
and nice looking rims silverbullet ! need some full car shots

+1 Also try to blast off the previous color and then powder the new color on.