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Painting of Wheels


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Hi Guys.

 

I have a set of '07 Mavic Crossmax wheels (plain aluminum color) and I want them gloss black to match my bike.

 

Hubs, spokes and rims, all gloss black.

I've had a mate of mine make me new decals that I can put back on the wheels and I'll have the serial numbers masked up so that they will be visible after the job is done.

 

Now my question, what will be best ... Spray painting or powder coating ?

 

First the black then decals and the clear coat.

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Doesn't anodizing involving dipping the wheels? If so goodbye serial numbers. In any case they will probably identity the wheels as silver. As you are modifying them, probably destroying the warranty, just anodise then anyway. IMVHO.

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anodizing could be a prob if the have steel nipple reinforcements and possibly the rivets holding the rims together if they are steel.  as the process eats steel like a  5year old with free reign on a box of smarties. if you looking to change colours etc. get hold of control surface treatment in benoni area. ask for Darren They do a process called gunkote. Same stuff the military weapons are coated with to make them super hard and long lasting and they have a huge range of colours. they also can annodize for you and can give you advice on if the rims can be done cause of the steel if there is.

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I know there is a product called Cerakote which is a ceramic based paint that you bake on that is even better than gunkote. Wasn't sure it it would work on wheels

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Remove the nipples and no won't affect serial no's as they are etched or stamped into the material. Anodizing also hardens the ally so will be more durable in the long run as opposed to powder coating wich the heat from the ovens anneals the ally rendering it softer.

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Ally in its hard state is referred to condition t6, hardest state. When exposing ally to heat it anneals it making it softer and more malleable. Free forming and mandrels bending I do at condition t3 wich takes 1 hour in the oven at 300 deg c. Ally don't like heat and harmonics / vibration at the best of times, even less when in annealed state.

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Thx Ampandy for the info ... What do I do to protect the decals once I've anodized the wheel ? Clear coat of just replace them when they start peeling or become damaged ? And what prep work needs to be done to the wheels before anodizing? ( complete strip ?)

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You can clear coat them after the anodizing but I would leave as is. As for prep if you want a deep lustre Polish first. Polishing and anodizing should work out to about 400 bucks. Go for a hard anodise or deepest penetration offered. Make sure there is no mild steel or anything other than ally on the rims. I can refer you to a good anodizer that I use.

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yeah cerakote is done at 180 degrees for metal parts or they do a cold dip process which takes about 24hrs between cotes( used on wood and plastic parts for firearms etc).

 

if the nipple reinforcements can be removed from the rims before anno then great. just check that the rivets holding the rims joint together are not steel then you are good.

 

there are various options to work with but the gunkote idea was exactly that...just my 2c in the plentiful options you have available.

 

you would need to fully strip the wheels and possibly beadblast previous finishes off it or do a high mirror polish to depending on if you want a matt or gloss finish for anno. and then new stickers on. a clear cote would help protect the anno and stickers from light scratches and bumps and keep the finish looking pucker. but at a little extra weight, it would be worth it for the purdiness in the long run IMO.

 

but as i say....control surface treatments and speak to Darren. he is very knowledgeable on the different processes you could look at as they do all types of coatings and platings

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The process is rather quick and the guys run a 24hr operation so turn around time is quick. I would estimate no more than 2 days from start to finish. Just bear in mind the public holidays the last week so might have a backlog.

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