Heavily Corroded DIY Wheel Refurb

[oli8925]

I've not done a wheel refurb before and I'm looking to jump in at the deep end. I'm unsure how best to attack these wheels to strip back the corrosion and get them ready for prep. Everything I've come across online just mentions scuffing up the old paint - these are a bit further gone. Is it just a case of using harsher grit or should I get them blasted or dipped? Looking for a decent finish but not expecting professional quality, and as long as it doesn't break the bank or they might as well go to the pros.

Any help appreciated.





Also a question regarding the painting stage, I want to keep the satin white finish, what paint should I use to do this? I have a compressor and painting equipment for it.

[VW]

Before you commit, get a qoute from a local powder coaters.

Ive refurbed a few sets of wheels and the savings over having them blasted and powdered isnt as great as you may think and doesnt go anywhere near far enough to offset the amount of effort involved.

I think the last set of 15's I had done came in at under £150.

Refurbing wheels well is always more hassle than I remember!

[oli8925]

There are a few local places I want to try for a quote, problem is they are closed on a Saturday which doesn't help much. Most wheel specialists around here charge around £350 for a set of wheels though.

[bluebirdpremium]

I'm in East Anglia and there's a couple of powder-coating companies around here that do alloy wheels for £50 each, and they do a really good job - I work for a Renault main dealer and we use them for scuffed alloys on sales cars. Might be worth looking 'round a bit more for a better deal as 350 seems a bit steep, try looking for general powder-coating companies rather than alloy wheel specialists as they might not be as greedy, but I know from personal experience that DIY wheel refurbs never turn out as well as you'd hope, plus the finish won't be anywhere near as durable as powder-coating.

[VW]

£350 is silly money!
For £60 a wheel you can have them (not your style wheel) stripped, diamond cut faces, repainted centers and all re cleared!
Shouldnt be more than £40 a wheel to have blasted and powdered really.

As said, not only is it always more expensive amd more work than expected, they never look as good.

[jaykay]

Go to powder coaters- not wheel refurbers, as its a single colour wheel. I was paying £30 each for blasting and coating any colour.

Rc's after having there heavily corroded bull burnished finish blasted off and flat silver

[g40jon]

Be careful with powder coating, some alloys don't react well to it and it can cause them to crack (I seem to remember the 16" wheels on mk2 mx5s suffered with this). Another thing to consider with powdercoat is that if it gets damaged, it can't be repaired. Scuff it and it'll need completely redoing.
The face on the weds look in pretty good shape, if it were me I'd get a drill mounted abrasive wheel like this

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115mm-Polycarbide-Nylon-Mesh-Disc-Wheel-Abrasive-Paint-Rust-Removal-Shank-U326-/301267683773?hash=item4624f409bd:g:NFMAAOSw-4BXYwEG

Then wet paint them. If you are going for plain old white, hammerite smooth spray paint works very well and is very durable.
Alternatively consider getting them painted in 2 pack by a bodyshop.
Just a couple of alternatives to think about!

[penski]

Remember that powder coating is a heat treatment and as such can change the properties of the metal; hardness, brittleness and so on.

*n

[Dez]

It's also an 'eggshell' coating, in that it doesnt actually adhere like paint does to whatever you put it on. If it's compromised and water can get in behind it(in other words, if it gets chipped at all), it will corrode between the coating and the metal, hidden from view, then fall off in big chunks.

It really is a totally unsuitable coating method for pretty much any part of a car, yet you still get huge amounts of people paying good money for it when they'd be far better off just having stuff painted in a conventional manner.

[waveman1500]

I have to disagree with you Dez.
Powder coating can have excellent adhesion and corrosion resistance. I work for an OEM and we have powder coated wheels. They pass the GM "gravelometer" test with no worries.

Having said that, of course, like any process, powder coating can be done very well or very badly. To do it right, the wheels should be treated with adhesion promoter, then primer, then colour and then clear. Some of our wheels have a six-stage paint process, with both powder coat and liquid paint coats. The wheel is baked in between each coat.

penski, I also disagree regarding heat treatment. The oven temperature required to bake powder coat is nowhere near hot enough to affect the properties of the metal. We are talking about temperatures which the oven in your kitchen can achieve easily.

[VW]

Ive not tried it, but ive also been told powder coat can be touched up with a little powder and a hot air gun.

Anyone tried that?

[lufbramatt]

Try these guys, about 45 mins away from you, £140 a set for a basic gloss finish

www.rimtecrefurbs.co.uk/?page_id=226

No association just had very good service from them in the past.

[Rob M]

Yeah, get them done professionally.
I started on a set of 240Z rims which were as bad all over as the inners of your wheels.
I broke my balls to get just the one up to scratch.
Pay the money and save the aggro.

[gib]

Not trying to write an essay but I work for a powder coating manufacturer and our sister company is a trade coater.

To the OP.
• If you want single basic colour go to a coater and agree on what standard colour they have that you will accept and make sure all wheels are done as a batch (colour can vary batch to batch at the cheap end of the market).
• Ask what finishing and prep they will do and what you can do. A lot of trade coaters will strip and coat the entire rim which means you will have to clean up any mounting faces and lug socket inserts. If the faces are going to be hard to clean up pay extra to get them masked of they will understand and do this for a minimal price (its standard procedure).
• Try City Wheel Refurbishment in Birmingham, you will find a few horror stories about them but if you do a bit of digging. The stories tend to be about 10 years old or more contrived than they first appear. Over Christmas I had 5*16” bare rims ( Compomotive MOs) stripped and coated with no masking for £20 each with no issue. It took about 30 mins to remove the coating on the mounting faces for each wheel.
• If they chemical strip to bare alloy ask about degassing as the requirement varies massively by rim and needs to be considered.

In General

Powder coating has come on a long way since the egg shell era of the 60-90’s. If you drive a Nissan that is less than 10 years old the fuel filler pipe will be coated by material we manufacture and as mentioned this is rigorously tested. The days of a coating peeling off are largely gone, some curse word gets out but it is limited as selling curse word is not a good trading method these days.

Gravelometer Piccie for those interested. Put bit in ( Fuel filler pipes on top) and chuck stones at it for days on end and see if the coating falls off.


Humidity tester, scribe the parts and then see if bits fall off whilst its at elevated humidity and check for oxidation under the coating.


QUV tester see if it discolours in super duper sunlight.


Salt Spray pretend you have left your part in the sea for weeks on end and see if the coating falls off.


We also do around 20 standard tests the majority being related to making it not fall of or look like its going to fail.

If the base material is suitable and suitably prepared then adhesion and crack propagation / penetration will be far better than any wet coat solution (paint). And these days the equipment and materials used make it very hard to get it wrong. But wet coat is easier and generally cheaper hence they both have a place in the market.

The process is a thermal one but the temps ( per heat and bake) are far more tightly controlled than even 5 years ago. The biggest fixed cost for a coater is heating the parts and any trade coater will have the temps as low as they can get away with typically 180-220 C which will not affect a rim. This is the oven temp not necessarily the part temp. (There was an ASA adjudication in the UK a few years back relative to this where a coater stated it was dangerous to coat rims and they were found guilty of “misinformation of some sort” Can’t remember the exact wording).

Always the caveat of you can get it wrong but those companies don’t stay in business long as the set up required to coat is not cheap.

In answer to a Q some materials can be retouched by heating and apply more material some can't ( wont get in the tech bit as this post is far too long as it is.

[VW]

I worked at a powder coaters 20 years ago.

Our testing was less high tech!

We beat the first peice off the line with a hammer repeatedly to try and get the coating to flake. If we couldnt make it flake the batch was passed

[g40jon]

GIB: Essay or not, that was an interesting read!

[Jez]

Feb 26, 2017 22:55:56 GMT g40jon said:

Be careful with powder coating, some alloys don't react well to it and it can cause them to crack (I seem to remember the 16" wheels on mk2 mx5s suffered with this). Another thing to consider with powdercoat is that if it gets damaged, it can't be repaired. Scuff it and it'll need completely redoing.
The face on the weds look in pretty good shape, if it were me I'd get a drill mounted abrasive wheel like this

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115mm-Polycarbide-Nylon-Mesh-Disc-Wheel-Abrasive-Paint-Rust-Removal-Shank-U326-/301267683773?hash=item4624f409bd:g:NFMAAOSw-4BXYwEG

Then wet paint them. If you are going for plain old white, hammerite smooth spray paint works very well and is very durable.
Alternatively consider getting them painted in 2 pack by a bodyshop.
Just a couple of alternatives to think about!

I take it these abrasive discs are safe to use on alloys and won't remove any material?

[BT]

Feb 26, 2017 21:01:00 GMT jaykay said:

Go to powder coaters- not wheel refurbers, as its a single colour wheel. I was paying £30 each for blasting and coating any colour.

Rc's after having there heavily corroded bull burnished finish blasted off and flat silver

That looks like it's in bluewater so you've got to be fairly close to me. Which makes me ask seen as your localish. Where have you had £30 a corner done? Be very interested at that price. Best I've found locally is £250.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

You could also try Lepsons, in Gillingham, Kent. They've been doing this sort of thing for yonks:

www.lepsons.com/

[g40jon]

Feb 27, 2017 14:22:22 GMT Jez said:

Feb 26, 2017 22:55:56 GMT g40jon said:

Be careful with powder coating, some alloys don't react well to it and it can cause them to crack (I seem to remember the 16" wheels on mk2 mx5s suffered with this). Another thing to consider with powdercoat is that if it gets damaged, it can't be repaired. Scuff it and it'll need completely redoing.
The face on the weds look in pretty good shape, if it were me I'd get a drill mounted abrasive wheel like this

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115mm-Polycarbide-Nylon-Mesh-Disc-Wheel-Abrasive-Paint-Rust-Removal-Shank-U326-/301267683773?hash=item4624f409bd:g:NFMAAOSw-4BXYwEG

Then wet paint them. If you are going for plain old white, hammerite smooth spray paint works very well and is very durable.
Alternatively consider getting them painted in 2 pack by a bodyshop.
Just a couple of alternatives to think about!

I take it these abrasive discs are safe to use on alloys and won't remove any material?

I've used them many times, I used to diy refurb a lot of wheels! You can abrade the the aluminium if you push really hard, but you've got to be really trying!