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Wire wheel prep for powder coating?

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J

jgrewe

Senior Member
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I have wire wheels on my BE that are painted right now and I'm thinking about blasting them and hitting them with fresh silver powdercoat. I'm even having crazy thoughts of pulling them all apart, coating the pieces, and re-assembling them(I've built bicycle wheels from scratch)

Anybody have anything to talk me out of the total pull apart? Or, any experience with powdercoated wires in general? Maybe future truing issues? I may do a test on a spare rim first to see if I can turn spoke nipples once the threads get coated. paint will crack away, powder will just stretch and smear and strip threads.

I powdercoat just about anything that can't get away from me at the shop since I built a big oven last year, it's a disease...
 
I will have to find where I saw it but I have seen some that talk about powdercoating not being the best for wheels. Just can't say where I saw it right off hand.
Mike
 
I think that may have been wire wheels??
 
I know that truing wire wheels is an art in itself. You may want to find out the cost to get this done before you take them apart just in case you are unable to complete the process yourself.

I do a lot of powder coating also. Quite frankly, I think I do better than the local shops here. I have powder coated the wheels in my bugeye as well as my TR6, but have never done wire wheels. I use the powder coating from Eastwood. I used the Argent silver for my wheels. They have matching enamel in a spray can for that powder. Have you thought about taping off the threads and nipples, powder coating the rest, and then hitting areas you are worried about cracking with the enamel? I have done that on other pieces before with pretty good success. Just my two cents.
Kevin
 
Interesting thought on the painting of the threads,ichthos. My other concern is the spokes creating a big Faraday cage and causing trouble with the powder application. I've got a Hypersmooth 01 gun that I can have a Faraday card put in but I just can't put the cash out for the install when I've had so few problems so far.

I think to get this car back on the road faster the wire wheels are going to get painted. Maybe I'll coat the stock 4 bolt rims since I already bought the powder.
 
One reason not to powdercoat wire wheels is the power coat may conceal cracks and anomalies in the wheel, or at least this is what I've heard.

If you can torque the spokes to spec, I'd just media blast and paint them. My main concern would be the structural integrity of an old wire wheel and/or the spokes being torqued correctly.

Call British Wire Wheel, they might provide some input.

Let us know . . .
 
Or call Hendrix Wire Wheel and ask them.

There have been threads here before about powder coating wheels but I can't remember if the discussion involved wires or steelies.

In addition to Mark's concerns I would worry about the powder coat making it impossible to adjust the nipples later (bonding them to the spokes). If you mask the threads on the spokes and nipples... you introduce bare metal in highly visible locations that will soon rust.
 
I had all four of my wire wheels powder coated in silver. Les Schwab Tires did it for me. They sand blast them clean and then powder coat them. They have a place in Portland Oregon that does it. They ship them out. I got 4 new tires, (the only 155x13 tire they sold, don't have the brand name right now) 4 new tubes, 4 new stems, powder coated, mounted, and balanced (with the weights on the inside) for $500 dollars. They turned out beautiful, they look brand new. It only took a week for them to do it.
 
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