Powder coating question!

[Sooner1970_K10]

I need a little advice on if I should powder coat my original 1970 rims or just get new ones? I was wanting to do the powder coating to last me a few years untill I have the time and resources to totaly rebuild the truck and get new rims and tires.

My only real question is will the powder coating hold up from wear and tear? The tire installation guys seem to be pretty hard on the rim edges, I was wondering if I go out and pay for my rims to be stripped and coated, will I be sorry? Will the first time the rubber is installed the edges get all dinged and scratched up?

What about the lug nuts? Is it worth having the lugs nuts done to match the rim or will the first time I use a ratchet, the powder coating chip off?

I have no clue how durable this stuff is and would like some opinions from others that might have done something similar.

And finaly I am considering the original white or some type of silver/chrome powder coating. Any suggestions or opinions on the color I go with? I do not plan to take the truck off-roading so I wont be scrubbing that much mud out of the rims. Just the daily buildup of grime.

Oh and pricing, in case that matters. Here in OKC I found someone who will strip the rims for $ 18.00 a piece and a powder coating shop who will coat them for $ 25.00 a piece. New rims would run $ 120-140 a piece.

Thanks in advance!!

[stickshift_or_walk]

Hey, Sooner -

Those sound like good prices to me. I think it's a good plan, but I'd expect some wear on the hubcap mounting points, lugnuts, etc. Will be watching to see what folks say.

If you don't mind sharing, I'd like the names of those shops for future reference - I get up to the City quite a bit.

Either PM or post would be appreciated.

Thanks...SSOW

[1STtimePRo'71]

I had a brushguard and the 90's on my dual exhaust powdercoated black two summers ago on my J*EP. You can barely even tell the exhaust was coated and the brushgaurd is all rocked up. But for those prices who cares. Thats way cheap I think. Do the coating and save your money for later.
Thats my 2cents

-Cory

[incoma]

goto a trailer shop to get the rims blasted..should be cheaper than $18. There are different types of powdercoatings. You can get nylon base which is extremely hard but will crack with rocks, or others. I think I got my frame done in polyester coating. Its pretty flexible, still hard like you would expect, but has some give. I took a sledge hammer to a bracket, and it just pushed the coating around...I wish I had a picture of that... But at the same time that coating flaked off of my spindles when I put my calipers on. I probably confused the issue, but more input is better than no input.

[busterwivell]

I have the Eastwood powder coat system. I had a set of wheels professionally blasted (because wheels are REAL hard to blast in the in home cabinet) so they would be 100% clean. I powdercoated them with my own system. They still look great as far as no chipping, but I did them in the "almost chrome". It's a 2 stage powdercoating. Step 1 looked great, step 2 is a clear coat. Now it looks more like I clearcoated an old manifold, colorwise. I've done lots of stuff in black and it's fine. White looks good, too. I'd try it if I was you. Of course, that's easy for me to say, I've already bought the system, put an electric oven in the garage (DON'T TRY THIS WITH A GAS OVEN, OR THE ONE IN THE HOUSE!), and I like to use it a lot.

[mr402]

I had the wheels on my 71 GMC 3/4 powder coated years ago. Claimed they gave it two coats (how does that work?) After 50 - 60k miles they are still holding up very well. One wheel has a very small chip but other than that no issues. One thing the powerdercoater advised me to do was to use some clear silicon sealer at the edges where the mounting plate joins the rim. It's very hard to get everything 100% cleaned out in that area. I did as suggested and have not had anything pop out at me. I also asked the tire guys to balance it like an aluminum wheel with inside weights only. They warned me of possible problems but the wheels balanced out OK. No vibration issues at all. Overall I am very happy with it.