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Powdercoating/chroming warning!


Digsy

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  • 4 weeks later...

My view is that wheels cracking after being powder coated is an urban myth. When a wheel is first made it is heated to a very high temperature, alot higher than any powder coating process. Alot of it has to do with the wheel itself, If it cracks towards the outer edge then that will be alot down to loading, if it is towards the centre then alot of that is to do with heat transfer from the discs and calipers.

 

Alot of wheels that do crack or fracture tend to be those that have had a hard track life as that is when the wheels go under extreme loadings and heat transfer, that is why alot of track cars go for fully forged to get that extra strength, if you are just a track whore then just a well made strong wheel from a reputable wheel manufacturer should be ok. Wheels that have been designed for the road and not the track are more likely to break especially if they are pushed to the limits all the time, basically a full time track car.

 

Powdercoating is not to blame but on the other hand, powdercoating can hide alot of previous abuse as it fills alot of cracks and shoddy repairs etc.. I have heard on several occassions that some people have had cracks on their wheels resulting from track use and to make some money back, did a shoddy repair job and then powdercoated them to hide it........resulting in major headache for new owner when the wheel falls to pieces. :scare:

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  • 8 months later...
My view is that wheels cracking after being powder coated is an urban myth.

 

Just a little bump... it's not a myth. It's very much true. There's a favourite picture of Rota wheels, some Subzeros, that were used only on track, and really hard on track, for 2 years, and had no issues.

 

The owner, who we know, had them powder coated to sell on. First time out for the new owner they twisted.

 

Yes, it is possible to powdercoat a wheel safely, but not all places are aware of the heat treating a wheel gets in manufacture giving it a large portion of it's strength, and re-heating to a fair high temp for a prolonged period effects the structural properties.

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My view is that if the heat treatment is carried out correctly during the refurb and powdercoating process then it is highly unlikely that you will experience a wheel failure.

 

I have provided this service for a number of years now and have probably turned out circa 120 sets of wheels and not had one failure.

 

I have also done around a dozen sets of GT4 rims with no issues.

 

My own 6 sets of rays that I run on my track car have also been powdercoated and again to date, no issues.

 

So to summarise, I believe that if the PC process is done correctly then all will be good. :thumbs:

 

Alex :)

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I've heard this many times and mostly its been dismissed as an urban myth. I've heard if done properly it wont weaken the rims at all, but if done incorrectly then it can have this effect.

 

I'm with you on this one. Slow heating and then slow cooling should have little no effect on alloys. If the process was repeated 400 times, then maybe they might become brittle, but realistically, look how many wheels are refurbished everyday.

 

Its more likely that a few bad pot holes hit in the road would cause more damage than the refurb process. I've Seen wheels damaged from a single impact and then others after a few repeated ones. The damage is certain. I've also had a few sets of wheels refurbed and never had a concern about heat fatigue failure.

 

You can never say never, but what are the odds.... Lottery ticket anybody. :lol:

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Im no expert, but if you google broken alloy wheels you get images of all sorts of wheels breaking mysteriously, powdercoated or not. I do wonder, looking back at a previous post, if the wheels were already damaged and weakened before powdercoating/refurbing and a bad refurb was done.

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  • 1 year later...

Does anyone know of any places around London (North London preferably, so Herts etc) that do a good job at powder coating? If not, wet painting? I've got stock Rays.

 

And this wheel cracking issue, I'm assuming if they're coated at the right temperature then it shouldn't be a problem?

 

There is a guy near the Royal Free Hospital in Hamstead thats done several sets of Rays for me.

If your interested them pm me for details.

 

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Does anyone know of any places around London (North London preferably, so Herts etc) that do a good job at powder coating? If not, wet painting? I've got stock Rays.

 

And this wheel cracking issue, I'm assuming if they're coated at the right temperature then it shouldn't be a problem?

 

There is a guy near the Royal Free Hospital in Hamstead thats done several sets of Rays for me.

If your interested them pm me for details.

 

I think if he was in any kind of hurry he would have found somewhere in the last 34 months :lol:

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My view is that if the heat treatment is carried out correctly during the refurb and powdercoating process then it is highly unlikely that you will experience a wheel failure.

 

I have provided this service for a number of years now and have probably turned out circa 120 sets of wheels and not had one failure.

 

I have also done around a dozen sets of GT4 rims with no issues.

 

My own 6 sets of rays that I run on my track car have also been powdercoated and again to date, no issues.

 

So to summarise, I believe that if the PC process is done correctly then all will be good. thumbs.gif

 

Alex smile.gif

 

I agree totally with the above, PC curing occurs at between 180-200C, I imagine that Alex's track tyres operate at between 90-100C and the heat from his discs at well over 200C, this heat is directly transferred to wheel. You can even get burnt from letting the hot air out of a race tyre :scare:

 

It is fair to say that you'd be foolish not to ues a reputable company to carry out PC on the wheels of your pride and joy, and by offering that knowledge that's where this forum excels. I persononally use BA wheels in Norwich, the service, finish and expertise this company offers is fantastic, they remain in service because of this.

 

To say that PC will warp discs is bit of a misnomer, however attention to detail will warp discs. Don't mount discs to an uneven surface ;) why would you?

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  • 5 months later...

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