Powdercoating Issue. Grrrr!

[tcb-1]

so went to pick up some pieces I dropped off at the powdercoater today. everything was looking good (bumpers, sway bar) until I saw my 15 x 8 steelies. the narrow bridge between the rim and center section (where these pieces come together) had bubbled badly. obviously I said that they were to do them over. the kid that was there said that they have problems with these type of rims bubbling before during curing in the areas where mine had bubbled. I told them that I wanted them blasted and done again. pronto.

question. anyone else had this problem? ever? sound like bs? I wonder if it would be better to just have them blasted (again by the powdercoater) and take them to have paint put on them? Since there seems to be powdercoating issues with these type of rims, wonder if I should scrap the idea of powdercoat?

and thoughts???? it doesn't help that I am obsessive about quality!

[BobbyK]

When I got my steelies done they came back smooth a silk...everywhere.

[c10crazy]

Sounds like total BS. The coating is electrostatically charged to the metal. Make them do it again or go elsewhere. Good luck!

[Brad]

I'll be doing this soon so I'm watching this closely.

[tcb-1]

the powdercoating was very thick. I think too thick.

and it's too bad. this guy has been doing my powdercoating for a few years now. I have had motorycle frames come out as smooth as glass, but I think he has some "new' people in the shop now.

yes, unfortunately, it my be time to start looking for a new powdercoater.

oh, and I understand "gas" bubbles forming on certain metals like aluminum, but this was ridiculous.

thanks for the input gang!

[tcb-1]

any other input?

[69 camper custom]

We used to heat certain parts before coating them (like rims) to avoid issues. We would heat the part in the oven at 400 degrees for 5- 10 min. That always worked for us. And we never had any complants. Some may argue that this isn't the correct way but it always worked for us and there wasn't any complants.

[jeremiah king]

The problem my friend is having right now is where the two meet they didnt get paint and it now is rusting. Its so hard to get good power coating around here.

[tcb-1]

another question.

can I wet sand a clear coat powdercoated surface to remove any final imperfections???

[69 camper custom]

I would say no it would take you forever, you would be trying to wet sand a plastic like material.

[Joesjunk]

A friend of mine had some wheels powder coated a few month ago and they came out perfect!

[tcb-1]

Joe,
May need his number if these yahoos can't figure them out soon!!!

[scottrod71]

Doug,
I'm taking my grille in next week for powdercoating and hope it isn't the same outfit. If you don't want to put it on here could you PM the name so I can avoid similar results? Also, are you planning to head up to the Midwest meet tomorrow? Hope to meet you there...........

Scott

[tcb-1]

Originally Posted by scottrod71

Doug,
I'm taking my grille in next week for powdercoating and hope it isn't the same outfit. If you don't want to put it on here could you PM the name so I can avoid similar results? Also, are you planning to head up to the Midwest meet tomorrow? Hope to meet you there...........

Scott

Scott,
We are going to try and make it for a bit. Our 13 month old son kind of dictates how long we stay.......

Sending you a pm about the powdercoater.......

Hope to see you tomorrow, look for the silver Toyota RAV4 (boooooo!)

[Ackattack]

I would talk to the owner, I would think that you being a repeat customer, that he'd make things right and redo the wheels.

I do my own powder coating at home, and I did a set of aluminum brake calipers for a buddy the other day and they bubbled pretty bad. I was thinking I would pre-heat them in the future to hopefully avoid this.

[tcb-1]

Originally Posted by Ackattack

I would talk to the owner, I would think that you being a repeat customer, that he'd make things right and redo the wheels.

I do my own powder coating at home, and I did a set of aluminum brake calipers for a buddy the other day and they bubbled pretty bad. I was thinking I would pre-heat them in the future to hopefully avoid this.

yep, he's redoing them now, but I'm still worried about the outcome. funny, how a company that I have spent well over 2 grand in powdercoating over the past year and referred 6 of my friends to doesn't really didn't seem to want my business....?

I guess that's the new way of doing business. if you don't like it, go somewhere else. too bad. thought I had an ace in the hole.

[72BlckButy]

Doug, just wanted to check the status on your wheels, any word?

[HoupPhotography]

That's a bummer, the only thing I can think of is the metal may of been contaminated (in that area). That happened to some wheels for our road race bike, but if you had them blasted they shouldn't of been contaminated unless the prep guy spilled something and didn't realize it. That's what the problem was with our wheels, we didn't have them blasted.

Good luck man!! Definatly keep us posted!!!

[tcb-1]

going to stop by tonight to get the updates. to be continued.

[tcb-1]

we'll see tonight. I tend to think that they coated them too thick, but I don't know. I am having them do one wheel now and only having the rest done if the first looks perfect.

never know, I may have to go with painted wheels??

[*Dylan]

Yeah, like Houp said, the prep comes into play if something might have gotten on them after blasting. But with aluminum I've heard that it's best to pre-heat it because pre-heating it gets out all of the air or something to that affect. So if the guy was to powdercoat without pre-heating it then the bubbles might of come out when he stuck it in the oven. Just ask him how he did it if it happens again and recommend doing it a different way.

[tcb-1]

he said that he preheats the wheels, but I'm wondering how much and for how long.

I may be looking for a new powdercoater soon. too bad, I really the liked the guy as a person.....

[70rs/ss]

Just sounds like the metal wasn't clean enough, if he reblasts them and is sure they are clean it'll come out better. I doubt too much powder would do anything except run, this is a bonding issue, the seam is a bear to get clean, so the preheat/bake job he did may have actually brought out something that couldn't be cleaned by the blaster?? I doubt I'd toss your coater over this deal, talk to him, if he isn't working with you (I mean spell it out, you have spent over $2k with him and you are concerned, see how he responds then make your decision), but so far sounds like he is fixing it, right? The wheel is the problem I am pretty sure, see what they look like and then go from there?? Maybe a discount for having to wait longer??

[kingsolver72]

I think it is general practice to pre heat any metal before powdercoating.

[calvinator]

Last summer I took on a powder coating job at a local manufacturing business. I was one of the two applicators for 6 months. Any 90 degree (or less) angle is a little sketchy to paint properly. At least with the system I used the main automatic guns would rarely get into the right angles in small parts and had to be manually touched up before being baked. We'd have to hold our gun about 6 inches away and do our best to paint into the crack. Often getting it on too thick or unevenly. Too much powder means it will "orange peel" and too little always meant it burnt. But it was a fairly new system so they were stll working out a few flaws. They had all the parts blasted, and washed in a hot acidic wash, but most of the time you could hold your hand on the parts without being burnt (before painting/oven). Get them to blast your wheels COMPLETELY clean. We often had redo's that came with some baked powder still on, and they often turned out bad. (But still good enough for farm equpiment, but NOT wheels)