I wish to refurbish a set of road wheels (admittedly, on my Riley, but I reckon I'll get more sensible replies here) I'm a big fan of acid dipping to strip them and then true up/repair where necessary. The big question is what should be the top coat. It seems to me there are a number of options - cellulose, 2-pack, stove enamel, powder coat. I think I have also seen a process called 'plasticoat'.

Just wondered what the consensus of opinion was as to the 'best' finish. I find myself not convinced with powder coat with longevity etc but I'd like to hear real life experiences if poss..

tia..

Hugh

Location: Cambridge

Hi Hugh ,
I had the wheels on my 32box blasted and then two packed paint in black,was advised against powder coat as two pack is easier to touch up should you clip a kerb .well happy with the result .
Regards Cliff

Location: Greek island of telendos,you did ask !

I've tried them all but for the last two sets of wheels (Saloon and Ulster) I've ended up with powder coating. Yes, it is more difficult to touch up if you mark them but that's an incentive to take good care of them!!

Steve

PS: We were on Telendos last year Cliff. A complete contrast to Kalymnos and better for it!

Location: North Yorkshire

Hugh

I'vee got a mixture of wheels on 3 cars.

Simple paint. Stoved and powder coat.

The powder coat is the youngest and those wheels are now the poorest to look at.

Simply put the powder coat does not seem to get in the nooks and crannies so the spoke ends in the hubs go rusty. I like my cars to look used so dont do a right lot of cleaning and polishing.

Both the stoved wheels and painted wheels do not suffer in the same way. However the stoved wheels seem to have been very durable. They were done nearly 30years ago and are still very presentable.

The finish in the stoved wheels and the powder coat are both brittle and chip easily. The paint is better in this respect.

I have to sort 5 wheels for a chummy in the not to distant future. I shall have them sprayed using a good quality enamel paint. Mainly as its far cheaper than stovimg them

Location: not north wales any more

Acid treatment of spring steels as wire spokes is reckoned to promote failure, although spoke wheels are admittedly often chrome plated. Does acid treatment free or lock up corroded nipple adjustment?

Location: Auckland, NZ

I have blasted the wheels on my ulster and got them powder coated. Super hard glossy black finish. Doing the same to the wheels on my riley this winter

Location: Ireland

I have blasted the wheels on my ulster and got them powder coated. Super hard glossy black finish. Doing the same to the wheels on my riley this winter

Location: Ireland

I have also tried them all except genuine stove enamelling which nobody seems to do it any more. If you have good wheels with no corrosion pitting then 2 pack with no high build primer, just self etch would be my first choice. If they are rough and pitted powder coat will make them look much better on the cheap, but if you mark them it is very difficult to repair or touch up.

Location: NZ

Here is what the impecunious owner does:-
I had enamel painted my A7's wheels 25 years ago and decided they were looking tatty. I rubbed them down with 240 grade wet and dry, Kurusted and primed the damaged areas and then applied 2 or 3 coats of Plasti Kote from B and M. 5 tins of black gloss £25 odd for 4 wheels. They look great and I didn't need to chase around taking wheels here and there.
Dave.

Location: Sheffield

Responding to Bob's earlier comment. I had the wheels on my Box Saloon acid dipped many years ago, then trued. The chap who trued the wheels commented that they were a delight to work on as the acid had broken the 'seal' between nipple and spoke. The real advantage I see with this process is that you get no blasting material left behind under spoke heads etc, that then grinds away and leaves an inevitable rust mark round each fitting. Trouble is, Acid dipping is hard to find now (it seems) as Health and Safety laws have tightened (You should have seen the place I took my Box wheel to 25 years ago...)

Location: Cambridge

I had the newly built wheels for the Ulster powder coated black and they look very smart. On older wheels I have done the same as Dave Wortley and used cans of Plasticote spray. When the initial gloss wears off they look good.
As the powder coating costs around £20 a wheel I would not spend a morning rubbing down and preparing a wheel ready for spray painting.

Both the cup model and my fabric saloon have powder coated wheels.

My comments are that:

The (black) satin finish on the saloon seems to attract the dirt and they never stay clean for more that 5 mins. Those wheels have been primed with something like a metal spray first which has lead to poor adhesion between primer and top coat. When I changed the tyres, i chipped the paint off everywhere - but it won't rust!

The (white) gloss finish on the cup model clean nicely, but the rust shows through slightly on the spoke heads at the hub. The company I used did a significantly better job than those used by the wheel builder in as far as they bothered to degrease the wheels first and didn't leave shot in the rims.

in the end, I think I paid about £40 a wheel to have the substandard powder stripped of chemically and the better coat applied. They would not use a zinc primer stating that this would lead to poor adhesion between layers.

Hugh,
on the RN saloon which has been on the road for 27 years the wheels were sprayed with two pack. They have lasted extremely well and one advantage is that the primer is cream allowing for instant recognition of where to retouch.
On the Ulster rep I have stove enamelled wheels and these are again excellent. Cost per wheel when starting from the raw state was around £35 each.
I'm not a great fan of powder coating because if a chip goes undetected then it will 'run' and only get worse.
Hope this is of help,
Robert.

Location: Deepest darkest Kent

I was advised against powder coating as it locks the spoke nipple to the wheel. I was told it can cause spoke failure as a result, by preventing a tiny bit of movement in that area.
A further disadvantage is if the coating gets damaged, water can become trapped under the coating creating a perfect condition for corrosion. I've seen this on motorcycle frames.

Before anyone considers acid dipping wheels, it may be advisable for them to read up on Hydrogen Embrittlement, which is a possible and very undesirable consequence of such treatment, leading to increased ductility of the metal resulting in catastrophic stress failures at considerably reduced levels than the materials original spec. It is possible to partly or wholly mitigate the risk with additional processes, but that adds cost and complexity and the results may not be effective, ultimately its integrity will only be demonstrated by destructive test and analysis of the metal.
If you really want to use acid on critical stressed metal items, then make sure the people doing the work understand the issue and can prove they have a processes which mitigates the risks with Hydrogen Embrittlement Prevention Controls. The manufactures of plated wire wheels should be working within just such a controlled processes which will also test a representative sample from each batch to ensure all is well.

Regards, Mark

Location: Lytham

Thanks all for your comments. Much here to think about before I make a final decision (and save up to have the job done, anyway!)

Location: Cambridge

My preference for refinishing wire wheels on all the cars I've owned over the years, has been bead or fine grit blasting followed by stove enamelled primer, followed by stove enamelled top coat. Worked fine for several
Concours winning cars, Morris 8 2-seater, MG VA DHC, TR3A and now an Austin GE Cup Replica.

A high gloss finish is not the only option though , I quite like a black satin finish too ......

I'm not a fan of powder coating unless it's perfect. Sometimes it can bee porous and lets moisture in.

Regards

Bill G

Location: Scottish Border

Powder coating is a very good process for certain things. But having powder coated motorcycle frames, there are issues. It is very hard, but also brittle. If there is flex in the underlying material, it can crack the powder coat.

Wanting to dismantle a wrecked wheel, wrecked by the errant BMW, so I could send the centre away for rebuilding with new spokes and rim, I tried undoing the spokes. To my surprise they all unscrewed easily and this wheel had been powder coated years ago.

In the past I have got very good results with a careful rub down with sandpaper and two coats of Valspar, cheap too.