Powder Coated Alpinas

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WALTER

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Hi,

I just had a set of Alpinas powder coated and they turned out great. I purposely chose a brighter silver than normal because I wanted them to stand out. I have another set of Alpinas that are a darker silver and always thought that the darker color hides what is a brilliant looking wheel (my personal opinion).

The guys who did the job (Area 51 Powder Coating Holly Ridge, NC) did not paint the centers black as you can see in the pictures; that would have added considerably to the cost and they were not sure how good a job they could do, so I have decided to tackle painting the centers black myself. I have read all the topics associated with wheel painting; however, because my wheels are powder coated I had a few questions:

1. The wheels were sandblasted to bare metal prior to powder coating; do I need to sand the centers back down to bare metal prior to primer/painting or can I just lightly sand and primer?

2. What is the correct color for Alpina centers? Grey? Gloss black? Semi-gloss black?

3. What grit sand paper should I use?

If I can manage to paint these myself and not goober them up too bad, I will have a like new set of Alpinas for under $1500!

thanks,

Walt

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hmmm

I think the black paint you select will adhere well if the base is clean and other than shiny.

Were it up to me I'd have a go at the centers with some 220 grit wet-dry sandpaper, and a little water to keep dust from gumming up the sandpaper. Just enough effort to haze the surface will be about right.

Taping/masking off the centers will be a bit of a chore.
 
I think I'm correct in saying that originally the centres were very dark grey mettalic although all the ones I've seen (refurbed) my own included are either semi flat or just flat black. I did some 14" alpinas a number of years ago and did the centres grey and they looked awesome the thing is that the caps in the middle are black so most people go with the black on the wheel as it matches plus you only need to paint them once instead of color + laquer.
As for keying the surface all you need to do is use a scotch brite ( it looks like a pan scourer) or just use a pan scourer as they'll get between the numers and letters better, also you can use them dry as they don't clog. If you want to use paper 320 grit is as rough as you need.
 
I bought a set of new in the box alpinas a while back and the centres are satin black.

Your wheels look great.
 
I believe they came stock with a black painted center. What a lot of people don't realize is that the black paint is applied by the factory to go over the center edge by about 2 - 3 mm. Many people that have them restored don't paint past the center edge because it would it is a big hassel. It is usually how someone can tell if a wheel has been restored or not.

Here is a pic's of a stock (unrestored) wheel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24576060@N07/3408133664/
 
I concur with "30csl" as my NIB Alpinas were "satin black". The factory painted the centers black and slightly outside the center as noted. I am sure this was done strictly for manufacturing convenience. It is more tedious and expensive to just paint the centers with no overlap.

The purists prefer the overlap but the centers look more finished with no overlap. IMHO.

If interested, I can help with a convenient method to paint the centers black.

P.S. Don't even think about sanding the powdercoat down to bare metal in the centers!
 
I'm all ears for the tip on painting the centers; I've been racking my brain on how best to do this without goobering it up.

Thanks everyone for all the advice,

Walt
 
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