if that is what it looks like i would most definatly be interested. i can prep em myself unless it is some ridiculous process. keep me posted man.

Prep for powder is strip/blast to bare metal and mask with high temp tape and plugs.

Mating surface including hub centric relief and lug holes at minimum. Matching the original finish voids would be best. This may include center cap mating area, valve seat, and ????

If forged wheels are failing from being powder coated then I would guess that the blasting is more likely to blame. Any abrasive blasting creates numerous little stress risers on the wheel's surface. This is very different than the nice smooth finish that forging leaves. I wouldn't used anything but mild bead blasting, and even that should be used with caution.

The stripping, blasting, and masking are where the cost is when pc'ing wheels. There would be no big advantage to having these done along with my parts that go straight to degrease and on to paint.

The Powder Man just told me that he will not do aluminum wheels, because people see something on the internet, hit a pothole, and come back saying that the powder coating is to blame. Steel wheels are $35 each including prep.

That's a great way for him to throw away thousands of dollars in business. :rolleyes:

I mean he didn't really say that... word for word, but implied it. I dont think he thinks the 400* temperature would do anything really, but noted that as soon as you powder coat an aluminum wheel it is no longer DOT approved. I dunno if that's true.

By that logic, the 1st time I brake hard in my car and heat up the wheels, they stop being DOT legal?

It would be interesting to take some infrared temp. readings of the wheels sometime. I have one of those thermometers, but I don't think it goes high enough.

I don't think mine reads that high either.

What we need is some of that temp paint, or some max-temp stickers people put on their brakes.

My IR thermometer reads up to 932*F... :D

Oh yeah, but what happens when you point it at the sun? :P

Oh, and you're assuming that the wheels thru-heat to something significant like 400*F. I do not know that's true, because a wheel is a big spinning heat sink, so that's why I think some temp. readings would be informative.

If the air temp in my tire > 200 and brake temp >1000, I bet that wheel is 400 easy... And that is loaded in every direction you can imagine.

400 hanging from a coat hanger can't hurt an aluminum rim IMHO.

my wheels are rattle can spray painted. after smoking brake pads and blue rotors, the cheap spray paint hasn't deformed. so i wouldn't call it super hot. but you might be able to cook part of an egg. btw it stockish setup with stock rotors and calipers.

It tells me to F* off...