Powder Coating rims

I"m thinking of taking the wheels from my Oliver 77 and having them powder coated. The place that does it will sandblast them first. Anyone have this done before? Good - Bad? I don"t know how close to the correct red they can get.

have been doing it on our ffa tractors looks great but do not know how long it last we do silver on our farmalls

If you get a scratch or scrape especially when mounting, moisture can get under the powder coat over time via rusting and cause problems. Powder is tough but not bulletproof and is hard to fix when it does get messed up. At least with paint you can touch up/sand/blend in.

I have been getting all my rims sandblasted and power coated, I love it so much I just had all my sheet metal off of my Farmall done (it was really straight). I don"t know about the scratching part, I would think it would be the same as paint. The guy that does mine applies a zinc coating before applying the color coat. The only problem I have ran into is getting them to blast the inside of the rim as good as the outside, they seem to forget about having a smooth surface for the tube.

You"re right on the mark about chips and moisture and rusting. If it"s for a show-only tractor, maybe. A working tractor, might want to reconsider. Really want "em to last - galvanize.

My dump trailer is proof of what you are saying. Something causes rust to form under power coat. The rust spreads and the power coat flakes off. Not much you can do to fix it.

I don't know what it will cost. Bet you would chip it when you try to get the tire back on rim.

I wouldn't do it.

When I paint rims, I put a heavy coat of oil on rubber. Spray paint rim. Take a rag wipe off oil and over spray. It's fast, easy. Works for me.

George

My JD collector friend has it done. He has been real happy with the results. He only uses his tractors for show though.

I have had mixed results with powder coating, would not use where there is a chance for scratch.

I have done it on my old cars. As others have said, they don't get scratched or dinged like a tractor tire might.

I had it done at Scott Tire in Flint, which now Jerrys Tire owns. Not sure if they still do it, its been a few years.

Rick

I bought a red trailer that had a powder coat paint. I really thought I had something until soon after the powder coat started coming off in sheets. I think the key is the base metal preparation and then keep it out of the salt. I suspect the base metal was not properly prepared. Paul

I did it on my 560. I was real happy with it. The rims look good and the powercoat is real durable. Cost 150 bucks for 2 rims done with silver. Slightly worried about rust long term but time will tell.

I was a leadhand for a powdercoater for a few years.We had contracts for new auto parts but occasionally we would sneak a piece or two on the line at night.Sandblasting is the way to go.We tried using the burnoff oven for paint removal but it never worked well.Once the rims are blasted clean make sure the coater uses a good zinc phosphate wash treatment.The zinc phosphate etching of the metal is basically your primer.Lastly with powdercoating less is ussually better.The powdercoating is a bit brittle after it has been baked and a thin layer flexes with the metal while a thick coat cracks and lets air and moisture in.Most people also don't relize that the curing process is not complete after the powder is baked on.A couple of days sitting on a pallet will toughen the coating and make it more scratch resistant.We did cure tests with acetone rubs on the line every hour and always got some colour tranfer even on cool parts.QA advised me to let iffy parts pass if we new the pieces would sit a few days in our warehouse as they would show no transfer after 2 days undisturbed.

Great advise from all but also you need to know that neither powder coat or paint will cover surface pits and will actually magnify them so if yours are pitted or rusted much at all , you need to get them taken care of first. My personal opinion is paint over powder.

I have to agree with B-maniac. I would go with wet paint rather than powder if I had any doubts about the ability of the shop doing the work.
My day job is managing a powder line. Done by the numbers powder is hard to beat, but not done right it is worse then latex put on with a brush over steel.
Pretreatment is everything. If pretreatment is not done right it will fail rather quickly and is a huge pain to rework later.
Iron or zinc phosphate conversion is pretty good pretreatment as long as it is done right and the system and operator putting it on are both up to par. If I were going to do a job like this I would have the rims blasted absolutely clean and grind out any pits on the inside before the iron or zinc pretreatment. I would then apply a zinc based powder primer and only cure it to a gelled state and then pull them out of the oven and let them cool. After they cool I would apply a good TGIC or polyurethane powder. No epoxy powders. Epoxy powders have very poor UV stability and will chalk up within a year or less when left outside.
Then there is the cure. Most powders claim 10 to 15 minutes at 400f. That is where many powder shops make the fatal mistake. Fact is the cure time starts when the base metal reaches the recommended cure temp not when the oven hits the cure temp. The heavier the material the longer it has to stay in the oven to bring up the temp of the base material. Something like a heavy wheel may need to stay in the oven 35 minutes at least for a powder that only needs 10 minutes at 400. If you want to get a powder shop to stumble over words ask them what their cure schedule is for your job. They may say our oven is fast and 10 to 15 minutes is it. I don't care how fast an oven recovers or heats back up after a batch is started you can't change how fast metal heats up. Under cured powder will fail. It is just a matter of time. Done right it is a great finish. Done wrong it is worse than the cheapest rattle can you can find.

Greg