Recommendations for DFW wheel powder coating shop

I have a set of 4 OEM wheels for my Vue that I'm looking to have refinished (powder coated, preferably), and I'd like to find a shop here in DFW that can do it. They're 18"x8" for reference. I found one guy down in Houston on another forum I visit, but he couldn't do anything bigger than 17" wheels.

They're currently painted but 2 of them are seriously marred due to some brake fluid that got all over the paint (no, it wasn't me!). I'd need to have them all stripped first.

Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks.

http://topkoat.net/
Joe Galvan is owner. He is a car guy. Quality is awesome. My dad and I both have had alot done there.

My dad had almost everything off his 32 vicky done there.

I've had tons of misc car parts done, bike frames, etc. I actually have a set of 17s sitting there now waiting to get done.

+1 for topkoat. He PC'd the valve cover of my '99 a few years back. Quality work!


http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0032_large.jpg

Sweeeeeet, thanks guys. I can make Kennedale after work some day.

Their was a lot of talk on the S2000 boards about wheels breaking after power coating.

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=747360

also

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=718603


If you are still going to do it make sure they use a low temp process. This guy found someone local that does low temp.

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php...ic=775555&st=0

Interesting discussion, but not really conclusive, IMHO. Besides, these are stock wheels, not some uber-lightweight aftermarket jobbies. I've seen post-crash pics with these wheels, and they're pretty stout. Also, it's not like these wheels will ever see anything more than a casual auto-x, if that, aside from normal "drive-it-like-it's-stolen" street use.

Just wanted to give you the info. You can make your own choice, but their is no doubt in my mind temps over 300 deg f will change aluminum.

Thanks for the heads up. That's the first time I've ever read about PC causing wheels to get brittle and snap like that. I've known several others to PC these OEM wheels and they've not shattered or snapped or bent, and I know at least one of those guys does some pretty heavy driving. I guess if they snap, I'll know why!

Why is it when you go on a Honda forum it's full of flashy avatars, gifs, icons, and alot of opinionated idiocy? I waded through some of the crap and found this post by Emilio at 949Racing. He also didn't have any animated crap on his post; go figure.

There are special low temp powders that can be cured at temps below 150°. Your typical powder coater does not use these powders. The common used powders curing closer to 300° most definitely have an adverse effect on T-4, T-6 heat treated aluminum A356.0 and 6061 alloys used in road wheels whether they are gravity cast, low pressure cast, flow formed, billet or net forged. The stronger the base design, the less likely it is to fail when weakened by improper PC.

For those that might argue that brake heat has the same effect, it doesn't. Brake heat is transient. Powder curing is sustained unfortunately, not too dissimilar to annealing some fabricators will perform on 6061 T-6 to make it easier to form or repair.

Your average street guy will never find out about aluminum wheel failures due to powdercoating. Those of use that have been around motorsports for a few decades, hear of them every now and then. At least two well documented instances in Spec Miata in the last 3 years. Post crash metalurgical anaylsis determined PC to be the cause. So yeah, don't believe everything you read on the interweb http://www.s2ki.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif

Powder coating of any kind voids the warranty on our 6UL and 6ULR wheels.

5Zigen generally makes a good wheel so I would be surprised if the failure shown in the OP was a result of any design or manufacturing deficiency. Will be interested to see what the root cause was,

Ok I call BS on Emilio. I know he is supposed to be a respected miata person, but that is just BS.

T-4 can be aged to T-6 by holding it at 400F for a few hours (depending on thickness).... That means it gets STRONGER by holding at those temperatures. This process is called artificial aging. To anneal (weaken) you have to reach temperatures over 700F.

FYI welding locally anneals aluminum to T-0 the COMMON practice to get the strength back without heat treating the whole part is to artificially age it at 400F.

The only thing powder coating can do is "over-age" aluminum, but if it is PROPERLY heat treated T-6 it would take several hours to overage and get any significant loss in strength. The drop off is quick after that. So... If the wheel was improperly heat treated originally it IS possible for powdercoating to cause significant loss in strength, but the wheel was already bad.

Yeah, wasn't really intending to start a "PC your wheels is going to shatter them" thread. ;P I'm not real concerned about it. Sure, a few hard-core racers have had PC'd wheels break on them, but the ol' Vue is getting up in miles now and I'm not going to be doing any (more) track or AX time in it (probably... :D ). If I shatter a PC wheel, then I'll post up and say OMGWTFBBQ U D00DZ WERE RIGHT I'M SUCH A N00B!!! mkay? :)

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Originally Posted by slowchildmiata

Ok I call BS on Emilio. I know he is supposed to be a respected miata person, but that is just BS.

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Yep, the guy's that make wheels don't know what they are talking about. ;) I think you will get the same answer from any wheel mfg. if you ask about PC ing their wheels.

Not saying you won't be fine in this case, but I would never PC coat light weight wheels.

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Originally Posted by Robert

Yep, the guy's that make wheels don't know what they are talking about. ;) I think you will get the same answer from any wheel mfg. if you ask about PC ing their wheels.

Not saying you won't be fine in this case, but I would never PC coat light weight wheels.

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I'm quite inclined to agree. Then again, these tubby btches are about as far from Superleggera as you can get. OEM GM wheels are not exactly known for their Collin Chapman-ness. They're built to handle dumbass drivers curbing them and driving over massive potholes in Detroit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert

Yep, the guy's that make wheels don't know what they are talking about. ;)

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I am saying that. Just because he makes wheels doesn't mean he knows how to design them or anything about metallurgy/ heat treating. He pays others to do that for him, as he should.

Like I said previously the temperatures that PC subjects the wheels to will NOT anneal any cast process heat treated wheel like Emilio claims. That is rubbish. It has the possibility if you had a wheel that was on the high side of T6 heat treat that it would age it to a T7 and have a slight increase in brittlement and loss of strength.

Show me some proof that wheels act completely different than any other cast aluminum that has been heat treat.

That being said forged aluminum is a different ball game and it would be adversely changed. So if he is trying to lump them together that is his ignorance.

I just checked and Supperleggera wheels are forged...

Ignorance is bliss

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Originally Posted by slowchildmiata

I just checked and Supperleggera wheels are forged...

Ignorance is bliss

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I wasn't referring to any specific wheels, I was using "Supperleggera" in the sense Lamborghini does, meaning "super light" in Italian...

Enough ranting about PC destroying wheels! Please stop hijacking my thread! :)

I agree Dante, The info was more for others that may be reading this thread thinking about PC ing their light weight race wheels.

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Originally Posted by Dante

I wasn't referring to any specific wheels, I was using "Supperleggera" in the sense Lamborghini does, meaning "super light" in Italian...

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I thought you meant the wheels, too. And I was surprised how heavy they were, yet still be called Supperleggera. That's right up there with the Red Delicious apple.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slowchildmiata

I am saying that. Just because he makes wheels doesn't mean he knows how to design them or anything about metallurgy/ heat treating. He pays others to do that for him, as he should.

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What he said.

Before you guys just write off what slowchildmiata is saying, you might want to crack open some engineering text books. He knows what he's talking about, it's his job to.

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Originally Posted by jrj512

I thought you meant the wheels, too. And I was surprised how heavy they were, yet still be called Supperleggera. That's right up there with the Red Delicious apple.

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Yeah, what's up with that? Their neither very red, nor delicious. Now the Pink Lady, on the other hand... mmm that's a juicy one I enjoy from time to time.