Aluminum, unlike steel, does not take kindly to cyclical loading and will fail after a finite number of cycles. It will work harden itself until becoming so brittle that it begins to crack. The properties of aluminum can very greatly though depending on the alloying metals used.

Racer X, there are likely many factors that contributed to the failure of that wheel. It most likely would have failed eventually, whether it was powder coated or not.

 

It's a stock Honda S2000 wheel that was powder coated that color.

I can dig up plenty of examples of stock and aftermarket wheels that have failed the same way after powder coating, where un-coated wheels have had no such failure.

That said, I've seen enough failures to never powder coat any of my wheels, regardless of what sort of service it's going to see.

 

Where was this done? I just got a "new" set of steel wheels and I'm thinking about what to do with them.

Also, when a wheel is powder coated, is it the entire wheel, even the part covered by the tire, or do they mask off that part?

 

where did you get yours done at? and how did they turn out? I'm in LA as well and I'm looking to get mine done. thanks

 

I use this paint for my wheels.
https://www.dipyourcar.com/Kit-Wheels-cat/
Easily removable, very forgiving, and do not have to remove the tire to get a good clean edge (self cutting)

I've used the anthracite, and flat black finishes.
A friend did his whole (brand new) BMW 650I in flat black, to protect the paint.
Was cheaper than the 3M sheet you can use that are clear, and offers the same amount of protection.

 

Thank you for sharing, where did you go to get the rims done? I'd love them to do mine.

 

FYI that post is 8 years old, so you may need to look anew. (A quirk of this forum, it seems, is to 'suggest' posts that can be v old).

If you are looking at changing your rim colour, then I'd agree with the comments about powder coating weakening the rims. A better option (my opinion) and far cheaper is to PlastiDip them. You can do a full set of rims for less than $50 if you're prepared to put in a few hours and the result can be excellent and is very durable. Maybe not concours quality finish, but they can look great.