Bay Area: Which wheel shop for powdercoating wheels? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

///M5_Madman · 9th January 2006, 14:36

I'd like to get my stock wheels powdercoated black. But I want a local wheel shop that will do a good job for the price. Any suggestions?

beastunleashed · 9th January 2006, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by ///M5_Madman

I'd like to get my stock wheels powdercoated black. But I want a local wheel shop that will do a good job for the price. Any suggestions?

Aren't there concerns that powdercoating will ruin the structural strength of our aluminum rims?

ard · 9th January 2006, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by beastunleashed

Aren't there concerns that powdercoating will ruin the structural strength of our aluminum rims?

The original OE finish is a black powder coat followed by the translucent chrome paint.

A CAREFUL stripping followed by powdercoat should be fine.

E55AMG2 · 9th January 2006, 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by ard

The original OE finish is a black powder coat followed by the translucent chrome paint.

A CAREFUL stripping followed by powdercoat should be fine.

its a black paint...they arent powdercoated, as it does weaken the wheels

ard · 9th January 2006, 20:58

How does powdercoating weeken the wheels??

(I can believe that they are not powder coated - I was told that by a refinisher, but in retrospect they might have been trying to justify their $price)

Essentially charged particles are sprayed to a wheel that is charged with an opposing charge and then the whole assembly is baked to cause the powder to flow and bond.
What weakens the wheel, the heating?

mottati · 10th January 2006, 02:12

i had always heard they were powdercoated too. My experience "trying" to strip them seems to go along with how I understand the shadow chrome.
The outer silver layers came off quite easily with paint stripper. The black layer was a mess, it turned into a 'plasticy' goo that was very reluctant to remove. I brought it to a local shop to strip and powdercoat in black.

I used pacific rims in pittsburg, ca. Iirc, cost was around $125 per wheel. You can do a search for 'black powdercoated oe wheels' or something like that for some pics. They survived several more track events, with R tires after the powdercoating. I'm not sure how that would weaken them either.
Mike

TiM5 · 10th January 2006, 02:36

My stock wheels are at the powder coaters right now (titanium/dark grey colored). I will pick them up Friday. I have had a friend's dad try to bead blast them. The "chrome" came off easy but the black was a different story. The powder coater ended up having to strip them due to the blasting being too difficult and time consuming. I don't understand how this process would harm the wheels. The powder coater said they were powdercoated thus the difficulty.
They are charging me only $198 for the set.

beastunleashed · 10th January 2006, 03:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiM5

My stock wheels are at the powder coaters right now (titanium/dark grey colored). I will pick them up Friday. I have had a friend's dad try to bead blast them. The "chrome" came off easy but the black was a different story. The powder coater ended up having to strip them due to the blasting being too difficult and time consuming. I don't understand how this process would harm the wheels. The powder coater said they were powdercoated thus the difficulty.
They are charging me only $198 for the set.

the potential for harm to the wheels has to do with the "baking" involved with powdercoating. Some shops will not use a low temperature baking method and this will destroy the structural integrity of the metal. But I suppose a low baking temperature would be safer. I have just heard so many people recommend against powerdercoating due to the risk of the rim cracking or breaking altogether.

CB2002 · 10th January 2006, 07:42

A porsche tuner shop (Devek) in Redwood City recommended that I have my wheels repainted by Wheeltech (www.wheeltechniques.com) in Santa Clara.

I got a quote for $222.50 a wheel for shadow chrome (OEM M color) or $167.5 per wheel for silver (OEM BMW non-M color) from Wheeltech. I haven't had them painted yet.

My wheels were repainted by the 1st owner and are peeling.

jclyman · 10th January 2006, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by CB2002

A porsche tuner shop (Devek) in Redwood City recommended that I have my wheels repainted by Wheeltech (www.wheeltechniques.com) in Santa Clara.

I got a quote for $222.50 a wheel for shadow chrome (OEM M color) or $167.5 per wheel for silver (OEM BMW non-M color) from Wheeltech. I haven't had them painted yet.

My wheels were repainted by the 1st owner and are peeling.

The "www.wheeltechniques.com" doesn't appear valid on my machine ... Have you got a phone number for them?

John.

P.S. Bought new OEM wheels ... still have the old ones (just 18 mos. old) ... BMW NA has agreed to pay for refinishing, if I can find someone who will do it ... and, do it right.