desiflava04

i have a 06 TL w/navi black. I wanted to powder coat the rims black. I was wondering if anyone had gotten them done n if they have any pics n what you guys think about it. I would get rims but i feel as if i would need to lower the car to make the stance look right and im still under warrenty so i dun want to void it by lowerin it

crazymjb

Lowering it wouldn't void the warrenty. The one criticism I hear about chrom/powder coat is that it can chip around the lips and cause leakage.

Mike

Laxplaya11385

i forgot which website i read this off of, but powder coating requires heating the wheels up to a high temp, which, later on, reduces the strength of the wheels. I don't know if it weakens it that much, because i know a lot of people who have powder coated their wheels w/ no regrets.

ussi

iTrader: (1)

my rims are powder coated black w/o any problems or 'chipping'.. there's a place in downey,ca i think that did the powder coating..

JDM5lugHatch

Wrong!

First off powder coating is stronger than paint. It is more resistant to chemicals and chipping. If the company that does the powdercoating is good and have been in business for a long time they probably do it the right way. The problems mentioned above are caused by companies/people that do it the half ass way. The wheels are supposed to be stripped and dipped into an acid type bath that etches the surface to allow the powder coat to adhere properly. Then they are baked in a large oven (it doesn't get hot enough to weaken the product being powdercoated).

I had a set of wheels powdercoated back in the day. After 2 years they looked as good as the day I picked them up from the powder coaters.

Chrome is a completely different process. It's an actual plating over top of the wheel/product. I have personally never seen any chrome product chip. I know a lot of people that have chromed out bikes and a friend that drives a chromed out Semi-truck. As with powdercoating you get what you pay for. A cheap chrome job might lead to pitting and or peeling just like a cheap powder coating might lead to chipping.

desiflava04

do you have pictures by any chance?

JDM5lugHatch

HyperVTEC

Do you have any pics of the rims? I am thinking about coating my stocks as well. Black is my first choise but I may consider alternative, like bronze or something.

pettydw

Powder coating can most definitely damage aluminum alloys. The best powder coatings require a bake in the 400 degree range, which is also the stress relieve temperature for many aluminums. There are lower bake temperature powder coatings, but you need a good shop to guarantee not getting screwed. Stress relieving will remove the temper and lower the yield strength of the material. In aluminums, the loss of temper can easily halve the strength. I led an automotive engineering project where powder coating temperatures were an issue, so I know about this issue.

JDM5lugHatch

The company I used has been in business over 20 years. I never had an issue with my factory wheels on that car. Yet I bent 4 of the factory wheels that were on my TL and didnt even hit potholes. Just rough roads, the same ones I have been driving on for over 11 years. Like I said before if you go to a place that does half ass work you will get a half ass product. When it comes to powdercoating and chroming you usually do get what you pay for.