Thinking of getting a dedicated set of rims for a winter tire set up.

I heard powder coating temperatures can affect wheel strength, so I am considering painting. Anybody have experience with either process?

 

Powder coating is the way to go. A good powder coating shop will not overheat the rims in any way and the process will produce a hard chip resistant finish that will outlast paint many times over. Paint has little ability to resist chipping compared to powder coating.

I sold my Evoque with black powder coated wheels and they were beautiful. No chips or scratches regardless of the weather or terrain. Keep them waxed and everything just slips off like they were teflon coated. Cost is about $650 for all 4 if you take the wheels in to have them done, more if you take the wheels and tires in and they have to break them down and re-do them. Those are San Diego prices so you may have better or worse in your area. Dealer charges about $1300 for same service.

 

Got a deal for $400 here in LA to have all 4 RRS wheels powder coated to match my 2013 Black Design package. Haven't picked them up yet, but vendor seems reputable and looking at quality of pieces that were waiting to be picked up, should look good.

 

In my business we deal with customers who powder coated parts large and small. Parts are sprayed then baked at 300-350F for about 20-25 minutes. That is really not very hot when thinking about metals/aluminum. You should be just fine. Powder coating is significantly more durable than painting.

 

I paid $75/wheel to powder coat mine. Been very happy with them, so far a year now.

 

Had mine done for $100/ each. Got them back (not mounted) and they look great.

 

350ºF is enough to adversely affect the strength of an Al wheel.

Do your own homework and draw your own conclusions (I'm not interested in getting into another keyboard battle over this), but I've seen the end result of powder coating wheels enough times personally to stick with painting my wheels.

 

Racer X is correct. Many aluminum alloys are precipitation hardened. As precipitation hardened alloys age, they loose strength. Heat would only accelerate the aging process, even if it is only 350°F.

That being said, lots of people powder coat aluminum wheels and I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself. I'd be more concerned if I were running low-profile tires though.

 

My understanding is that you want to stay away from powder coating forged wheels while powder coating cast wheels is more acceptable. I've been a paint-only guy myself due to the greater variation in colour available so I never really delved into the 'why' of it.

 

Powder coating any aluminum alloy wheel will progress the aging process to a point where the wheels lose most if not all of it's ductility, resulting in a very brittle wheel.

When you side load a wheel (like when you're cornering), even though it's not apparent, the spokes will deflect ever so slightly. After powder coating, however, that deflection will produce a micro crack, which will continue to grow with each deflection, until...



If you're really unlucky and don't catch it in time, the cracks continue to propagate until the wheel separates from the center. I've seen this happen at more than a few track days, never with good results.