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Has anyone powder coated their alum wheels? I would like to make my alum TSW wheels yellow to match the stripe in the middle of my car and to jazz it up a bit. Has anyone done this ? Are there any problems doing this? Tks, Russ

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You meet the nicest people in a Locost Se7en.

The short answer is that many do it, seemingly without issue.

The longer answer is there "may" be an issue of having the aluminum anneal during the power coat baking process. I never did it and haven't checked, but it wouldn't be hard to look up both aluminum's annealing temperature and how hot powder coat ovens get.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
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Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

I had my MGB Limited alloy wheel powder coated. No problem.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

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Powder coating wheel is fine. Colou match might be your bigger issue. Powder coating come in a very limited color selection. I think your idea is good, but if the yellow does not match it will look cheap and cheezy.

Graham

Friend of mine did it to spiff up a tired set of aluminum winter rims for his Bimmer. They look good and have four or five winters on them since powder coating.

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Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601

powered coating is def below annealing temp.

I am going to Cerakote my wheels. A little more durable and is really thin.

Good point Graham. Never thought about cerakoting. Is that a process that you HAVE done by an outside vendor?? Russ

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You meet the nicest people in a Locost Se7en.

The Cerakote application process is similar to powder coating. I have a bunch of powder coating stuff that I bought years ago, in a 36x24x24 oven. It is a nice process which I do use too

Cerakote requires sandblasting with 100 grit sand, coating then baking for 3 hours @ 300'. The finish is very thin, so it doesn't affect chassis tolerances, etc.

I used the air cure ("C" series") on my door frames. It is very good, but the oven cure is supposed to be better.

I powder coated my wheels for another project. My oven was not really large enough but I got them done. I was quoted $400 from a powder coating place. I would say I did them for $30 on my own.