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powder coating or painting?

Joined
3 July 2005
Messages
43
Location
SoutheRn californIA
im getting my lip polished. so now the question is should i powder coat or paint the center? the color is going to be black. Which chips and peels easier? Any knowledge is appreciated. o yea, and i want it shiny as possible.
 
powdercating is what i do for a living. i can tell you without a doubt that powdercoating will look better, and last much longer than paint wil. powdercoat actually bonds to the metal, it takes alot of effort to tarnish that. my reccomendation is powdercoating.

joe
 
anyone know any place in southern cali. that does great work on this?
 
I just got a set of 7 spoke/OEM 16/17 on ebay and are getting them powder coated this week here in SD. I'll let you know how they come out.
-j-
 
jimmycinla said:
I just got a set of 7 spoke/OEM 16/17 on ebay and are getting them powder coated this week here in SD. I'll let you know how they come out.
-j-

I should get them back this week. I used RW Little in SD. I'll post some pics when i get 'em.

-jc-
 
jimmycinla said:
I should get them back this week. I used RW Little in SD. I'll post some pics when i get 'em.

-jc-

I just got them back today and they look awesome.
I did black, but they have many colors to choose from.
They have been in business for close to 60 years. It's the first time I used them.

$65 per wheel. http://www.rwlittle.com/
 
jimmycinla said:
I just got them back today and they look awesome.
I did black, but they have many colors to choose from.
They have been in business for close to 60 years. It's the first time I used them.

$65 per wheel. http://www.rwlittle.com/
Can you please post some pics of the wheels on your car when you have a chance. Black 7 spoke wheels will probably look really awesome/stealthy on black NSX.
 
Well I will dissagree........

Yes powdercoating is superior to "just paint" BUT a true wheel paint job (WORK wheels for example) is the same paint as a car body.

primer, base, several coats of clear and all baked on.

He said he wants it as glossy as possible, well podercoating is semi-gloss at best. For gloss, a clearcoat is needed over the top of the powdercoat. If you want great gloss, base clear is the way to go.

Plain "paint" is NOT reccomended.

Here is an example of a WORK wheel that I sold that was custom PAINTED in Japan by WORK with Honda Monte Carlo Blue with clearcoat.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49397
 
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Tom, I thought Volks (the TE37s were powdercoated, not painted). Can you comment on this?

I will say we carry powdercoated black wheels here for ATV's and they are very glossy, so I am not sure why you would say they would be dull.
 
I will re-word my statement. Powdercoating can be glossy if a clear coat is applied as does Volk ...... Powder coating and clear coating is done by a special proprietary process to ensure long lasting quality and durability.Yes most mfg do powdercoat for std colors. (less steps, less time, cheaper)

It is easier to match colors with base/clear than powdercoat. We have tried powdercoating aluminum bits over the years, and have ALWAYS seen "thin" areas (show-through), orange peel, globs, poor color match.

If you want plain black, like this thread starter, then powdercoating is probably ok.

We once had a 18" set of wheels (Konig) in all red (powdercoated) and took it to the track, and from the brake heat heating up the entire wheel (common) the powdercoat softened and the brake dust embedded into the finish. The wheel went from red to maroon! :eek:
 
a second issue is that the surface must be sandblasted and baked for a powdercoat. the rason you have thin areas with aluminuim is the fear of over heating the aluminuim and weakining the metal.
i powdercoat wheels as well as paint...just make sure you use a powder coater that is good and doesnt over bake your wheels....soft wheels are not good :)
 
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Shumdit said:
I will say we carry powdercoated black wheels here for ATV's and they are very glossy, so I am not sure why you would say they would be dull.
Mine are pretty glossy.
I'll post a few pics tonight of the OEM 7's I got back last week from powdercoat'n.
I was going to wait untill they were mounted....

-j-
 
Here are some pics. They look much better in person....

IMG_3609.jpg

IMG_3617.jpg

IMG_3615.jpg

IMG_3612.jpg


And of course Kali the fearless guard dog....

IMG_3621.jpg
 
Just so everyone has an has an example of the high quality finish of wheels using top quality automotive paints and clear coats. Here are some before and after pictures of Kinesis wheels done by KwickSilver in San Francisco.
 

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