Anyone have experience with clear powder coating?

dang

dang

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I'm starting to polish my Style 5 wheels and would like to coat them with a clear coat or maybe a clear powder coat. I have an extra wheel so I'm going to do some test areas with different sanding grit to see how the clear coat covers but don't know how to prep for clear powder coat. I can call a shop but thought I'd ask here first. All I know for sure is I don't want to polish my wheels every six months.

When I restore plastic headlight lenses I sand with 1000 grit to a consistent "fog" across the lens then clear coat and it turns crystal clear. Not sure if that's the case with aluminum.
 
Fwiw, I think powdercoat is crap. It's so overhyped. You can't touch it up so if it gets a chip, and it will get chipped, your kinda screwed. I'd suggest 2k clear which can be removed and can be touched up, wetsanded and buffed...

My 2 cents
 
tferrer said:
Fwiw, I think powdercoat is crap. It's so overhyped. You can't touch it up so if it gets a chip, and it will get chipped, your kinda screwed. I'd suggest 2k clear which can be removed and can be touched up, wetsanded and buffed...

My 2 cents
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I've always felt the same way about powder coating so I wasn't that excited about it. I clear coat body panels all the time so I'm comfortable with that. Maybe my test sanding will make the decision for me. :)
 
I have clear powder coated a few aluminum parts. They came out OK, but it has been hit and miss with adhesion with my home setup. I believe new wheels are powder coated when manufactured. Have also seen photos of wheels that failed after being powder coated at too high a temp, so if anybody goes with powder coat, make sure the process does not exceed 400f and is done by someone with wheel experience.
 
Why not look at doing the wheels in Cerakote? Google it and see how good it is I powder coat wheels and all sorts of parts, it is all in the prep and how well it gets cured Been thinking about doing Cerakote for quite awhile now Look on the Porsche parts for sale on Pelican parts and look up a guy called Tru6 |His stuff is amazing

Thanks, Rick
 
Do you guys know what grit to take it down to before clearing with Cerakote? I haven't been able to find the prep for it.
 
dang said:
Do you guys know what grit to take it down to before clearing with Cerakote? I haven't been able to find the prep for it.
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Check out youtube for polishing wheels. There are a million videos on the subject. You raise
a good point though. Trying to get good paint adhesion on parts sanded to a mirror finish is counter intuitive. That seems to be where ceramic coatings prevail.
 
Cerakote is fantastic but the pallette is limited so say your trying to do a very particular silver (like csl wheels) the best you can do is get somewhat close. There isn't a way to blend and match factory color codes etc, as far as I know..
 
tferrer said:
Cerakote is fantastic but the pallette is limited so say your trying to do a very particular silver (like csl wheels) the best you can do is get somewhat close. There isn't a way to blend and match factory color codes etc, as far as I know..
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Only plan on using clear.
 
Markos said:
Check out youtube for polishing wheels. There are a million videos on the subject. You raise
a good point though. Trying to get good paint adhesion on parts sanded to a mirror finish is counter intuitive. That seems to be where ceramic coatings prevail.
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Yes, with clear coat you typically go around 1000g sand paper when clearing over existing paint, like clearing a painted panel next to a new panel. When I do headlights I use the same method and it works awesome. Polished aluminum? No idea. The only way to know is to test multiple areas on my extra wheel and see what happens.

This is after removing the factory clear with no sanding/polishing, etc.

IMG_20210125_175506877.jpg
 
Check out prismatic powders, they have lots of colors You have to go right to the bottom of their website to get access to their cerakote bottom right hand corner They also have direction on how to prep it They say not to use glass bead, if I remember right, there is also certain chemicals that cannot be used to clean and prep There is a difference between air dry and baking it as far as durability

Thanks, Rick
 
Problem with clear coating polished wheels is that when you get a stone chip or kerb mark and water gets under the lacquer it starts to spider and look horrible.

I'd leave them unlacquered, polished and protected with a high quality wheel sealant to keep them looking bling.
 
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