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Powdercoating Wire Wheels

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chuggy

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Hi there,

Has anyone powder coated their wire wheels? If so what colour silver to go for, there seems to be so many to choose. Is there a colour that matches the original?
Is it advisable to block off the centre hub and not powder coat this area?

cheers
 
Is the powdercoat flexible enough not to crack on the wires? I'm betting that there can be a lot of stress in that area.
 
Funny, I just finished up a lengthy post on this very subject on another forum.

Powder coating wire wheels has its problems. Mainly, it will be impossible to true the wheels should they ever need it without damaging the finish. Powder coat also cannot be easily touched up when scratched or damaged. DO NOT paint the splines. They must be clean, bare metal with a coating of grease on them. If you do powder coat your wire wheels, have them sand blasted first to maximize adhesion and prevent flaking.

The only "good" way to powder coat wheels is to do them while completely disassembled. This way the spokes and nipples can flex without cracking the finish between mating surfaces, allowing rust to set in and migrate underneath. Of course you may scratch the finish while assembling the wheels, and if this happens it is difficult to touch up.

A more practical solution is to spray them with standard paint. Moss, Eastwood and others sell silver wheel paints which are close to the original finish. Of course you can use whatever color you like if originality is not important to you.

I recently did a partial rebuild on my TC wheels including sandblast and paint. I used a self-etching primer followed up with Moss Silver spray paint. My only mistake was doing it on a cool day and being in a rush, but despite a slightly flawed finish in places the paint seems quite durable and can easily be touched up if damaged.

My paint booth: https://www.mgnuts.com/temp/tcwheels1.jpg

Refinished wheels on the car: https://www.mgnuts.com/temp/tcwheels2.jpg
 
rick_ingram said:
Is the powdercoat flexible enough not to crack on the wires?
Click to expand...

Powder coat is flexible which is one of its many benefits. However it will crack if bent too far or flexed for long periods of time. If the metal is not properly prepped before powder coating then adhesion will be poor. A small crack will lead to the finish coming off in flakes. Not good! Blasting off old powder coat takes a lot of time.

Any powder coating facility worth using will refuse to powder coat anything not first sand blasted. The shop I use has small metal color chips. They also keep a few on hand which were not sand blasted before coating. They give you one of each and tell you to bend them back and forth.

The chips which were blasted first can be bent 45-degrees back and forth without cracking or flaking. The chips which were not blasted first immediately crack and start flaking. The remaining flakes can be pulled off with your fingernail.
 
thanks for all that. I've had the spare wheel sand basted back to bare metal. At the moment I'm experimenting with the spare. My intention was to powdercoat them but now reading your posts I'm thinking i'll prime and spray silver.

The wires on at the moment have obviouisly been sprayed in the past but are badly in need of revamping.
 
I would never powder coat a wire wheel unless I completely disassembled it & powdercoated each spoke, center piece & outer rim separately...when you powder coat the entire wheel, you, in effect, turn some 70 different pieces into 1 big piece...& everywhere separate pieces come together, powdercoating will crack & allow moisture under it...IMHO.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Refinished wheels on the car: https://www.mgnuts.com/temp/tcwheels2.jpg [/QUOTE]

By 'refinished' Steve, do you mean 'painted' or 'powdercoated'? If powdercoated, how many miles do you have on them?
 
I blasted my wheels and sprayed them with Eastwoods silver. Probably about an hour an a half to blast Etch prime & Paint. Same wheels in picture below. Within 100 miles I have chips from any little kick up of a pebble on the road. Not sure how much more durable the PC would be for the $$. I can always pop off a wheel mask & respray again if they get too chipped.
 
tony barnhill said:
By 'refinished' Steve, do you mean 'painted' or 'powdercoated'? If powdercoated, how many miles do you have on them?
Click to expand...

I painted them with Moss silver. I have driven about 3500 miles since I painted them a few months ago. No chips or other damage, but they are a different style than MGB wheels and may be less susceptible to such things. I'm not really sure.

I had to replace three spokes during a trip to Oregon so there are a few scratches, but this is one advantage of paint over powder coat.
 
How did you wind up replacing them? Did you happen to have extras with you?
 
Yes, I always carry a couple of each length spoke and a couple nipples in the TC. The wheels are original 1949, and are not nearly as sturdy as MGB wheels. So I need to be ready for some on the road maintenance.

A funny story... After replacing a spoke in Bend, Oregon, I found myself without a tire pump. I carried the wheel across the street to a bicycle store to ask for a shot of compressed air. They asked incredulously what that wheel was from. I answered "from my tandem". The looks on their faces was priceless! Then I fessed up and had a good laugh.
 
Believe it or not, Home depot and others, sells Industrial Rustolium rattle can paint in "Hammered Silver". It creates a beautiful very tough finish for wire wheels. And it's not that expensive. Even though I have chrome on mine, I experimented before with this paint and was very pleased with the results. PJ
 
Keep in mind that the original color was not really silver. It was sort of a gray-silver. The paint formula changed constantly by small amounts, but I'm not aware of any shiny silver being used.
 
Steve, I didn't mean to imply that "Hammered Silver" was an original color. I just thought that it looks nice and is very durable. I agree that a concourse color is more of a flat grey/silver. PJ
 
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