powdercoating wheels, risky?

[The Shadow]

On another board, I was reading a discussion about potential risks in having aluminum wheels powdercoated, and I thought I would get some opinions from the peanut gallery.

The argument seems to be this: If the first attempt at powdercoating goes badly, it is difficult to remove the powdercoat without damaging the wheel...if you bake it off at high temp, it is very close to the annealing point of the aluminum and may remove the temper of the metal...and if you try to media blast it off, it may surface-harden the metal, causing it to be brittle.

What do you guys think?




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[Pvster]

just ask them to use a lower cure temperature (250°F) compound and to maintain the temperature below 300°F at all times while they are processing your wheels. you should be fine if you insist they follow that criteria.

more reading: http://my.execpc.com/~davewrit/Powder.html

[drewvir]

it will come off with aircraft stripper, it just takes some time