Greg Rogers

For a driver, my 71 Cutlass Supreme 'vert is in pretty good shape. One sore spot is the wheels. I got the car with the 14" SSII wheels that I assume are original. Back in the 90's I started collecting 15" snap on SSII's. Got 4 straight wheels and had them primed and painted with Acrylic Enamel paint of same paint code as car. Looked great- but since then 2 of them got bent- don't ask-I'll just say 2 different incidents- I wasn't driving- nuff said, anyway... So I painted a couple more of my stash as best I could with the left over paint and a brush- looked OK for a while but now have chipped off. etc. I am thinking of getting 4 others wheels powder coated. I know you can get a lot more colors than you used to be able to. My car is a driver and occasional gets cautious gravel road use. My car is blue, I think code 25 the lighter of the 2- can't remember off hand. What you think???

Olds64

I had the valve covers of the 394 in my 64 98 powder coated. I actually got shabby service from the shop I took them to. I returned them twice because there were flaws in the finish. To avoid that, make sure the wheels are super clean before powder coating. If it's a fly by night operation you won't be happy with the results.

VC455

Greg,

I had wheels sandblasted and then coated by a good shop that I'd used many times over a 10-year period to restore my home heating radiators.

Powder coating does not seal tightly enough to the surface to exclude water. If rust starts in any location, it will creep between the powder coat and the steel.

On welded steel wheels, the powder coating does not get into the crevice between the spider and the wheel barrel. That's where the rust starts. After four years, I noticed rust creeping under the powder coat--coming outward from the spider/barrel interface. It continued to get worse until I had them sandblasted again, filled the rust pits and used an epoxy primer. That lasted three times as long as the powder coat. This time I'm going to put POR15 in the crevice before painting.

Gary

redoldsman

Thanks for starting this thread Greg. The wheels on my 75 Hurst were never repainted when the car was restored. I bought the paint this summer but have not done the wheels yet. I bought single stage acrylic enamel and the hardner. They are a pain since the tires are mounted and I don't intend to remove the tires.

Hammerdrop

A good way to stop that rust between the barrel and the center is to lay the wheel flat and let some oil soak into the crevice for a day or two after refinishing. Oil and grease are nature's own rust preventer. And don't scrub the crevice to aggressively when cleaning.

Fun71

I painted two sets of wheels (ten total) with single stage acrylic enamel. I made sure to get paint into those seam areas by dribbling paint off a brush so it flowed into the crevices.

For prep, I stripped the old paint with oven cleaner, rinsed well with water, and primed with rattle cans from the local paint supply store. On one set I used regular primer by mistake and on the other used etching primer. After years no difference between them. After priming, I sprayed the backsides with black rattle can, then the fronts with Preval sprayer and the enamel paint.

Greg Rogers

Thanks guys. There is a place that powder coats stuff and has been doing it for about 10 years. I am going to go talk to them. I need to check out my stash of wheels and see if I have 4 extra straight ones. I don't need tires now though they are older than I think, I'll bet. I'll follow up on this if I do it, I guess the determining factors will be if the shop recommends it and if I can get a close matching color.

Fun71

Even if you don’t powdercoat the wheels, that shop could sand blast them for you. That would be a lot easier than chemically stripping them.

Oldsguy

I always had the impression that powder coat is a more durable finish (harder on the exterior?) than acrylic or even epoxy based paints but I have never had the occasion to have anything powder coated. I did use POR 15 epoxy paint on an engine and was very pleased with the durability on it. Gary your comment about it not being able to enter into small cracks and not sealing tightly is an important consideration especially on wheels.

Olds64

I've also heard that powder coating is extremely durable. However, it's hard to beat the durability of POR-15. The only question is, would they have the desired color?