For those who are planning to powder coat rims....it weakens ur rims?

[LegendRacer]

I was calling around to see the pricing for painting my rims in calgary, and the first place i call was a rim repair shop...and they told me that powdercoating the rims will weaken the rims becasue of the heat required to powder coat it.

Is that true? i was shocked to hear it, and want to make sure first because i dont want weaker rims lol and im sure people here dont either

[notaverage]

Most heat treatment to metals change it's material properties. Can't say how hot the oven gets in the powder coating process, and I can't say if it will make the metal stronger or weaker with the heat treatment. But it is true, that there will be a change in material properties if the oven is hot enough.

[packerjd04]

Ask them if it weakens it enough to actually be a problem. ?

[08Coupe]

People have been powder coating and chrome plating wheel for years..I know several guys with bikes with powder coated rims and if it was bad it would be really bad for them!

[LegendRacer]

hmm, well from this rim "repair" shop, they said they will NOT do any powder because it will weaken alloy rims. And since they repair rims, im sure they know what hey are talking about. They are willing to paint, but no powder coating

I think those who want to powdercoat/paint there rims should find out more before jumping right into it, u dont want rims that bend just from a slight curb kiss

[600hppot]

powdercoating: 390 degrees for 10 minutes in an oven.

I can't see how the same procedure for baking a cake can weaken alloy metal.

I call

[LegendRacer]

sounds logical enough...

for 10 minutes at 390 shouldnt change too much. But i know the finishing is alot nicer, just wanna be careful, dont want weak rims when i only got one set lol

[dangeris]

People have been powder coating and chrome plating wheel for years..I know several guys with bikes with powder coated rims and if it was bad it would be really bad for them!

Tru dat man! ALl of my race bikes have powder coated wheels and dipping into a turn at 120mph would not be a good thing if the powder coating weakened them

[Beatrice]

I'm looking to powdercoat a set of rims also and after doing some research, powdercoating theoretically can weaken alloy rims, especially if they are forged. I can't find the documentation now, but it was a technical site for engineers or something and I'll try to summarize what I remember.

The site basically said, forged aluminum alloys cure anywhere between 325 degrees and 390 degrees. The manufacturer determines what temperature they cure their product at. The higher the temp, the less time is spent curing. The alloys are also cured a specific amount of time to maximize tensile strength and also to optimize the crystalline lattice that forms inside the aluminum. So throwing a set of rims in an oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees would overage the alloy, reducing overall strength. But then, forged alloys are usually rated at something like 18000 psi, so a slight loss in strength may not really be a big deal unless you're racing on the weekends or something.

Cast alloys are slightly different, in that cast products hold up marginally better to heat treatment. I didn't really read the whole thing about cast aluminum because I'm looking to powdercoat forged wheels, so that's all I remember. I just remember them saying casting is a different process from forging, so overaging the metal isn't as big an issue as with forged products, and it's generally pretty safe to powdercoat them.

As for the motorcycle parts being powdercoated, motocycles don't weigh as much as cars, and therefore need less support from its shoes. I don't think a motorcycle could generate 18000+ psi of force to warp its wheels, so it's a non-issue, and therefore safe. However, with a car, I can see how a large amount of force could theoretically be applied to the wheels during hard cornering or emergency maneuvering, so overaging could be an issue. Plus, you don't want your shoes to fall apart just because you dinged them on a curb on accident or have them shred to pieces on the highway because it couldn't hold itself together (worst case scenario).

I think the best bet is either chemical dipping (anodizing) or this new technology called duracoating (which is basically painting but with some crazy polyurethane polymer or something). Just my 2 cents.

[LegendRacer]

lol now i have to triple think myself again -.-