Anodyzing Wheel Centers
- Thread starter Ohmess
- Start date
I haven’t but I looked into it for steering wheels. You need to prep the underlying aluminum to achieve the desired finish. So if you want satin wheels you could bead blast them and anodize. If you want a nice smooth finish you need to polish the aluminum slightly.
In all honesty, painting makes a lot of sense. For Weds however, you can get away with powder coat. I don’t like powder coating wheels because you lose all fidelity on the lug markings. Weds don’t say anything interesting though.
Take a look at the weds that @Gary Knox painted with Wurth paint. Turned out great!
Edit: I forgot to mention that most anodizing shops won’t do small batches. I found a place in Indiana that will do boutique work or small batches. This is where I learned the most about the surface prep. One hiccup for me is that removing old anodizing etches the surface. So if you are using an out-of-state shop to chemically remove the anodizing, you need to find a nearby surface to prep the aluminum. Either that or ship the part four times and prep in your locality. Shouldn’t be a problem for your wheels but helpful info for others.
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Note that aluminium comes in different grades, for different purposes. Certain casting grades contain high lead quantities that form light/dark stains or a dull greyish hue while anodizing. If these parts were anodized before, and not suffer pit corrosion, go right ahead; they likely be fine. But if they were never anodized, and possibly casted, you may not achieve the finish you hoped for. I can post some pics (will add this evening), as I have tried it with a scrap part (Non E9). It went from scrap to crap...