Ok so I'm buying a yellow 2003 S2000 this summer and I though it would look badass to have all the black parts of my car be matte black instead of glossy. I was going to powder coat the stock wheels matte black when I got them but I've been hearing some disturbing things about the powdercoating process. I heard that the heat can weaken the stucture of the wheel. I like the way powdercoating looks but if it damages my wheels that not worth it. Any information on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

 

Search is your friend...
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...&#entry17775472

There's actually a 3rd process which makes the wheels stronger...Anodizing.
Look into it. I know if I had to do it over again I would get them anodized.

 

powder coating the wheel will compromise the structural integrity of the alloy...........use any other method

 

Who actually has proof that powdercoating will mess with the sructural integrity of the wheel? Alot of friends of mine have powdercoated wheels years ago and never had a problem. I powdercoat parts myself also, never done a wheel b/c my oven isnt big enough. Powdercoat will last longer than paint will, and will not chip or have runs in it. I think people overreact on powdercoating wheels based on what they heard, not what they know. Most powders bake between 375-400 degrees for around 10 minutes at a time. I really doubt 400 degrees for 10 minutes will do anything. I say get them powdercoated.

 

+1 on the powdercoat

 

go to the racing forum and search. there has been a number of cases...

 

I've done A LOT of reading on this, I did have a set of powdercoated wheels for about 2 years, did track days and as much as 156mph on them with no issues.

I actually read on a metallurgy forum (If you don't know metallurgy is the science of extracting metals and dealing with them) and they said that any exposure to temps above 300 degrees for any length of time can greatly decrease the strength of the wheel (i believe they said by as much as 30%)

Tons of people do this with no issues, but it is a risk that you're taking. Search and read for yourself, it took me a few hours of reading to find a source that I believe wasn't just speculation.

 

The whole thing saying where powdercoating weakens the wheels is getting old. Sure it can if you bake them at 500 degrees or something. Most powder coating is baked at like 350 which will not weaken the wheels.
It's mostly people jumping on the bandwagon with no facts just stating what they heard from someone else who heard from their cousin...
I am sure there are tens of thousands of people with powder coated wheels with zero issues. One here and there that happen to be coated and that is blamed. Plenty of times completely untouched wheels will crack the same way. If those were coated, the powder coating would be blamed for it..

 

That was my understanding from researching this a bit. The problem comes from many PC services not having good temp tolerances or monitoring, or the oven not heating uniformly (creating "hot spots").

Here's a fairly technical thread:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.c...151053&page=10

A few folks seemed to think sub-400 degree wasn't a cause for much concern, though there were some posts that still felt it could.

I saw another post like this where a few of the people indicated wheels intended for a PC treatment were manufacturers and prepped differently [?]

I also understand, there are some lower temp powder coatings that are designed for use in 250-275 degree oven, though i don't think the finish is as good as the higher temp products.

 

It's been discussed numerous times before, I painted my track wheels, only because I track. If you just DD on these, any method will be fine. Sure there are people who powder coated their wheels and never had a problem, and there are others who did and had the wheels fail on the track, and when it DOES fail on you, the damage will be much more than I can afford; it's a risk I won't take. And this following thread has plenty of info, believe them or not is up to you.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=747360&st=0