Is powder coating of aluminum wheels dangerous?

Krzysztof

Krzysztof

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Interesting:

(... )A maximum exposure temperature / time of 90 ° C / 40 min. Must not be exceeded during painting work
will. Powder coatings with higher temperatures and exposure times are not permitted. On
Due to the heat input and / or the wetting with paint, it is recommended to replace existing valves after the painting work (...)

more about can be read here:

Is powdercoating bad for rims? Yes, and illegal in Germany. So is using heat to bend them back. | RTS - Your Total BMW Enthusiast

Most powdercoating establishments, including rim repair ‘professionals’ powdercoat and then bake rims between 300F and 400F for around 15-20 minutes. What if I told you that baking aluminum alloy wheels at 300-400f will weaken them permanently? Aluminum is annealed when new, which for the laymen...
www.rtsauto.com www.rtsauto.com

I was not a fan of powder coating anyhow. The problem is most of wheel shops is still and ONLY doing powder coating. They claiming 180C (~300F) is used by wheel manufacturers so it is safe.

Good to know even if you disagree to that report
 
There are many views on this subject. I googled "is powder coating aluminum wheels safe" and got mostly positive answers.
 
Seems crazy NOT to use heat when repairing wheels. I've seen welded aluminum wheels being used for years without issues and I thought heating the wheel is helpful up to a certain temp.
 
There's a difference in coatings, process used for manufacturing, age etc etc. I'll never powdercoat a wheel. Not necessarily because of compromising the wheel (but concerning with old, cast wheels), it's that powdercoat can't be touched up and once it's compromised, it can let moisture under the coating. Paint is easy to touch up and remove if you ever need to refinish. Not so with powdercoat. It's much tougher to get off if you want to refinish. My 2 cents after dealing with lots of wheels and powdercoating...
 
A very large Boston based wheel repair shop would not powder coat my stock CS wheels because they are magnesium and would catch on fire. I couldn't convince them that they were aluminum and they refused to touch them.
 
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For the crystal-level mechanism behind "baking" the wheels during hardening the powder and repairing bent wheels with the torch, I will not speak and I can only listen to the others.

I do agree about corrosion (oxidation) occurring on some powder coated wheels as I have faced it.
Another con's of powder coating is that quite often marks on the wheels are being flooded by the powder and it is hard to read basic rim parameters.

But also a fact is wheels in my BMW were told to be powder coated in a factory. The question is if the factory used low-temperature painting process than?
I can't imagine ISO/DIN and OEM certified factories are violating the safety rules.
 
tferrer said:
There's a difference in coatings, process used for manufacturing, age etc etc. I'll never powdercoat a wheel. Not necessarily because of compromising the wheel (but concerning with old, cast wheels), it's that powdercoat can't be touched up and once it's compromised, it can let moisture under the coating. Paint is easy to touch up and remove if you ever need to refinish. Not so with powdercoat. It's much tougher to get off if you want to refinish. My 2 cents after dealing with lots of wheels and powdercoating...
Click to expand...
I think some of this is the internet thinking of powder coating over the last 20 years. It will chip, it will chip and allow water in, etc. I agree you can't touch it up.
The powder coating process has come a long way in the past 4-5 years. The coatings are much more durable and not subject to chipping like they used to. The coatings are more flexible with out cracking. It has become the standard for many restorations. Maybe not Coupes but certainly some very high end work.
All my suspension on my coupe it powder coated black. It hasn't chipped or come off yet. Well over a 1000 miles.
Just saying... It's your decision.
Gary
 
My biggest issue with powder coated wheels is the loss of detail on the lug data. Manufacturer, offset, etc. gets muddled, especially if engraved. I haven't had an issue with durability of powder coat, but have avoided it for touch up reasons on some parts (like rocker guards on my jeep).

I powder coated my Wilton and it's holds up to abuse quite well. No chipping...

Bullet Vise Resto

Hi Folks, I thought some of you might appreciate this. I bought an infamous old Wilton C1 bullet vise on CL for $100 last year. Let me know if this picture works... Freshening up the handle. I’m using a Nylox (nylon) flap disk to remove the old scale from the raw steel handle: Greasing...
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