spoke to my powdercoater today and he is doing my wheels for me as soon as i get the wheels stripped.
not looking to do sandblasting, im looking for a chemical stripping method
who around here does this?
Why not blasting? That’s pretty standard
thats what i thought
but according to the guy because of wheel itself that it would be better to chemically strip them because he said the sandblasting could mess up the rim because of the spokes and crevices
idk though?
acid dipping you’re asking about?
And “technically” speaking a wheel that is powdercoated outside of the initial casting process can weaken and stress the original alloy of the wheel.
Your guy is full of shit basically.
yes
so what should i do then mike?
sandblast them and say eff it?
no clue. just about everyone gets their wheels sandblasted, i couldnt find anywhere to get mine acid dipped so i just said f it and got them blasted, they werent as close spoke as yours, but they still had a lot of spokes
i saw no “damage” to any part of the wheel
btw what color are u getting them done?
hmmm maybe i will say eff it and just blast them
i was going to do black chrome but after seeing the actual powdercoat i wasn’t as fond of it as i thought i would be
so i think im going to do matte black
I blast rims all the time for powdercoaters, they never have any problems. What is currently on them? What are the rims made of? If the powdercoater says dipping is the only way why didn’t he recommend someone?
currently it is the stock coating, i would assume its powdercoat? but i am not sure
rims are made of aluminum and are forged
he suggested me a guy on elmwood but hes not able to do them until the end of next week or so and i was trying to see if anyone else did it and i could get it done sooner
the powdercoater basically said he wasnt comfortable with blasting them himself either so maybe i should get them blasted and give it to him for powdercoating
would you be able to blast them for me?
Yeah man, just get em blasted, then coated and rock out. I wouldn’t worry about it.
sounds good
will do
thanks :tup:
depending on the existing surface coating… blasting can mess them up. For instance, the coating on my current wheels was very tough and thick (it was a 2-part epoxy coating) and when i was able to blast through an area, it left the aluminum exposed. While trying to blast away the remaining paint…blasting continued to eat away at the exposed area…creating a very uneven surface finish. I ended up sanding the wheels by hand to get them smooth again. To get an idea how tough the finish was…it took about 6-8hrs of sand blasting for EACH wheel. It was ridiculous.
PLUS sand blasting can embed impurities into the surface which will cause the powdercoat to bubble… again, depending on the existing surface coating. If it’s “just plain ol’ paint” then sure…blast them and you’ll be fine.
To answer your original question. There is a place in buffalo on Niagara St… will remember it soon. Thought it was called “Buffalo Coatings”…but can’t find it in google.
yeah that is pretty much what the powdercoater told me
thats why i was unsure if blasting was the best way to do it
josh if you can think of it let me know
Jesse at Blastoff (Suzukiriderman) uses all sorts of media that is clean and wont damage your rims.
i am speaking to him right now regarding it 
Wow i agree with newman on something, looks like i am jumping in the falls after this post. lol.
I would get a hold of jesse as well. He can soda blast them. Which will remove the coating without damaging them.He did a lot of rims with the soda. and never had a problem with them.
Oops i made my post at the same time you did.
see edit.
Yeah, Jesse blasted the wheels for my Elise and he said it was a nightmare.
Give him one to try, If it’s brutal, then dip them…