Powdercoating around Indy?

Juday · 02-08-2008, 07:32 AM

I know there are few members here around the Indianapolis area, but I'm curious as to shops you recommend to powdercoat wheels. I'm looking to powdercoat my stock 17" OR wheels, rather than purchasing new wheels. Also, any ideas as to how much I could expect to pay for this job?

grnTitan04 · 02-08-2008, 07:45 AM

Not near Indy, but they do ship-ins:
SQI Performace Coatings

Ran me $70/wheel.

Megw3788 · 02-08-2008, 08:19 AM

Most places around here charge $35 a wheel to blast and PC them.

Juday · 02-08-2008, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grnTitan04

Not near Indy, but they do ship-ins:
SQI Performace Coatings

Ran me $70/wheel.

That SQI place sounds interesting. However, the problem with shipping them out would be hard for me. That would put me without wheels on my truck for a few days, which I can't have happen. How long does it usually take to powdercoat a set of wheels? I'd like to just drop off my truck to a shop for a weekend to get this done. Is this something that's possible? If not, I guess I'm just going to have to live with the stock wheels.

Megw3788 · 02-08-2008, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juday

That SQI place sounds interesting. However, the problem with shipping them out would be hard for me. That would put me without wheels on my truck for a few days, which I can't have happen. How long does it usually take to powdercoat a set of wheels? I'd like to just drop off my truck to a shop for a weekend to get this done. Is this something that's possible? If not, I guess I'm just going to have to live with the stock wheels.

Yeah I don't see why they wouldn't be able to do it all in 1 day. I would find someone local though and they should be able to work something out for you to drop them off in the morning and pick them up that afternoon.

grnTitan04 · 02-08-2008, 09:13 AM

Took them about 5 days to get mine done. I don't know if that is normal or not, but there are a number of steps involved to remove the current coating.

Also, expect to pay more for alloy rims, this place is about $50 for steel, but alloy is more.
I was able to pick up a set of OR Rims on here for $200, then you can get those coated, keep your originals on, and when you change out to the new rims, sell your old ones to get the $200 back.

Shipping is a PITA though, probably run you at least $60.

Megw3788 · 02-08-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grnTitan04

Took them about 5 days to get mine done. I don't know if that is normal or not, but there are a number of steps involved to remove the current coating.

Also, expect to pay more for alloy rims, this place is about $50 for steel, but alloy is more.
I was able to pick up a set of OR Rims on here for $200, then you can get those coated, keep your originals on, and when you change out to the new rims, sell your old ones to get the $200 back.

Shipping is a PITA though, probably run you at least $60.

All they usually do is sand blast them, then spray them with the powder, then bake em in the oven. Only took me a day to get mine done. But the catch is, most places will wait until they have a bunch of other stuff the same color as yours to do it because they have to clean the machine everytime they want to spray another color.

Juday · 02-08-2008, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Megw3788

All they usually do is sand blast them, then spray them with the powder, then bake em in the oven. Only took me a day to get mine done. But the catch is, most places will wait until they have a bunch of other stuff the same color as yours to do it because they have to clean the machine everytime they want to spray another color.

I'd imagine that black is a popular color amongst people powdercoating items. How much does it cost to put the tires back on the wheels once they're powdercoated? I'm hoping not to spend over $350 for this whole ordeal. If it ends up being over that, then I'm just going to stick with the stock color.

BTW, I love the way your wheels look grnTitan04. Didn't you mention that they have to hand paint the center caps also?

grnTitan04 · 02-08-2008, 01:21 PM

Thanks, and No, because i painted the caps myself. They wanted like $20 for that or something, and a can of rust-o-leum is only about $3 (just make sure to know the color and finish before you get the coating). Cool thing about the caps is that the plastic is actually black, so if they get scratched, you don't notice.

'Black' is a bit generic, there are about 17 choices of 'black' so it isn't going to be quite that simple.

Sandblasting is not all that has to be done to get the old junk off. My rims were first acid dipped, then blasted, then dipped again, then baked, before they were coated. Megw is right about timing though, if you happen to get there the day before an oven cycle of the same color, you're golden.

Shop around on price, I don't think $70 is a great deal, but I don't think you are going to find $35 either. The key is to have a look at the items on the shop floor to be coated. If you see a bunch of other rims, they probably know what they are doing, if you see a bunch of wire rack shelves for Wally Marts, I would be concerned with quality.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't answer your question. It cost me $8 per tire to have them re-mounted and balanced and the TPMS sensor moved to the new rim. But this is unusually low, and I only got the deal because I bought 4 new tires for the wife's ride and had them mounted and balanced the day before. I would expect to pay in the neighborhood of $15/tire for this.