flashp

I wanted to share my experience with powder coated wheels with respect to using my car on track on one occasion. This is not intended to be a discussion thread but purely advisory. Any are welcome to comment but I shall not be posting further once I have shared this.

My wheels were prepared by The Wheel Specialist of Fareham in accordance with their warranty conditions and seemingly global policy, so expect the same procedure to have been followed by any branch.

The overall finish and appearance of the wheels was completely satisfactory, however, the area of concern in my instance was both the hub face and tapered wheel bolt seats. These had been powder coated fully.
During my time on track the coating became sufficiently hot to melt this coating on both the hub face and tapered seat.

I have received advice from well respected businesses who have experience in preparing vehicles for track use and they have advised that this could have potentially had serious consequences such as wheels parting company with the vehicle had I persisted in using the vehicle.

The trader has resolved my issue by stripping, masking off appropriately and re coating.

As I have said, this thread isn't intended to discuss the process of powder coating wheels or indeed the trader but to highlight a potential safety issue. It is for the individual to decide what to do with this info, if anything.

sunnyjones003

iTrader: (12)

Ive got powdercoated wheel and yes they will part from my experience. My passenger wheel come loose while driving back on a long trip. 10 miles from home the steering went mental. Found all 5 nuts were loose and the wheel just hanging on.

F1 CJE UK

iTrader: (8)

Olly Clark warned me about this last week after I had my wheels done in white.

Think I will drop the wheel company a email.

Thanks

blackpoolrock

So are we saying the part that sits on hub should not be coated also the insides of the holes the bolts go through ?

jura11

iTrader: (7)

We've run powdercoated wheels on the track and we never have issue with them,but this probably depends on the wheel design than on actual powdercoating

Jura

gazzawrx

iTrader: (11)

This happened to my gaffer, he had the wheels powdercoated on his merc, then one day he was driving down the motorway and he said all he remembered was a bang and seeing his wheel come flying past him, luckily he managed to keep control of the car enough to pull up on the hard shoulder so he could retrieve his wheel. Hes quite lucky really as hes still here today, it could of been a lot worst

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

Alloy wheels have also been know to crack and break after powder coating.

MattyB1983

iTrader: (51)

I've read a few threads about issues resulting from powder coating.

banny sti

iTrader: (68)

Eggy cracked a spoke on his rota at curborough back in feb, but we expected this as the powder coaters made the mistake of using heat during the coating!

turbomax

iTrader: (5)

i have had a few sets of wheels done and never had any problems. this may be due to the amount of times i took the wheels on and off and the coating came off the seats/shoulders.

you should tighten/check alloys when on track every time you come in as well. easy to forget i know.

Coc-ker

iTrader: (1)

I think that as the powder coat melts from the mounting face, it means the wheel is no longer flush and this presumably allows the wheel nuts to undo as effectively they are now loose.

Tim.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Depends on wheels which are powdercoated,if standard OEM wheels you will powdercoat they will break,on aftermarket wheels depends on more factors,but we run powdercoated wheels on the track/drag strip without the issue


Jura

salsa-king

Thanks for posting. Very interesting.

Had the wheel specialist come across this issue before?
Glad they fixed the problem for you though. Top guys the ones in Nottingham. I recommended them to many of my friends.

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

Painted is best IMO,

The Pink Ninja

iTrader: (23)

Paint or powercoat is fine just dont put any on the pitch of the bolt holes, It really is as simple as that.

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't get wheels powdercoated again, mine were peeling after about 12 months.

53

iTrader: (41)

Exactly what div would coat the facings ! I have had powdercoated wheels where the bolt holes were coated but you just rub them back with some 80 paper.

As far as durability it depends on the company, but I have spanked the **** off my powdercoated STi 7 rims and they're spot on

thenewgalaxy

Any potential problems with carbon wrapping them etc?

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

But gaz what's to stop the wheel nuts staying on and the actual wheel shearing away under high temps on track? I've seen a photo somewhere of that actually happen. Powder coating =making the wheel brittle IMO.
on a trackday all the brake dust damaged the wheels from powder coating, it's got hot and melted the brake dust into the wheels on one trackday (orange stuff) but would of happened with any pad. And not removable after, was my bro in laws car.

Truss

iTrader: (2)

Interesting thread.
I had mine powder coated by a company who are just powder coaters, not wheel specific, and they didnt coat the wheel facings. I've never thought anything of it.

thenewgalaxy

Could this be a widespread and potentially serious problem or is it more likely to be specific to certain types of wheel? I wouldn't imagine forged racing wheels would suffer as much of a problem as say cast budget ones?

The Pink Ninja

iTrader: (23)

Yeh I know what you're sayin Busta but ive heard it depends on if they have used heat in the powder coating process as it doesn't need it afaik...Just the electronic charge, what difference this makes I have no idea as wheels are always getting hot and cooling down during driving from heat transfer from the hubs/discs?

Like Richard says I'd be more inclined to think its got more to do with the wheels aswell...some aftermarket ones are gash, Luckly enough both sets of mine are forged, One set painted and one set powdercoated so fingers crossed


Nice quote Richard

alloywheelrepairsuk

To powdercoat wheels you have to heat them in an oven to set melt the primer and set base coat.
The back face of the inside of the wheel and bolt holes must not be powdercoated or must be cleand of if you need advice we can help at any time www.alloywheelrepairsuk.co.uk

daveyj

iTrader: (1)

Heat is unavoidable in the process sadly as wheels are baked in an oven to de-gas them prior to base coat and then again after to cure them.