Is powdercoating permanent? Can it be removed and the wheels returned to stock form? I want to powercoat my 19" '05 wheels but since it's leased, I think there may be a problem with that.

Thanks.

 

Somebody's gotta know.

 

The car isn't yours so I wouldn't coat them.

If you have your own rims, I don't see problem.

Not sure if it can come off, sounds like a lot of work.

 

Powdercoating is cosidered permanent. They will have to strip the old finish off the wheels and powdercoat and bake to give that chrome look finish.

YES.

 

I think by the time you're done with the lease, used factory 19's will be readily available (pretty cheap from members) if your dealer gives you problems.

It's your car and your money so enjoy it to the max while you have the car.

 

Yes powdercoating is basically permament. I work for an aerospace company which builds aircraft interiors and we often send out metal extrusions and trim pieces for powdercoat. It is definately permanent and it would be a lot of work to return it to its original finish if possible at all.

 

Not possible to return to factor condition. I use to own a Powder Coating & Metal Polishing Business. The surface of the rim would need to be sand blasted and cleaned before the paint could ever be sprayed on the rim ... you will never bring the rim back to original.

 

plus, dont take forged rims to just any powercoat shop. If they try to bake off the existing paint to save time, it will anneal the wheels. Bake off ovens are HOT, upwards of 500F or more. Heat can make cast rims more brittle, but for forged it can weaken them. The spoke design of the OEM 19s would not be a good rim to heat cycle too many times. Sure, powdercoating can be done safely, even on forged rims. But you'll also see alot of cracked split spoke rims on the web that were powdercoated. I'm not sure I'd go as far to say the PC created the problem, but perhaps made an existing flaw worse. I havent heard of any problems on wide spoke rims like our OEM 18s or the Nismos. Most of the rumors/stories you hear of are Enkei RPF1 style rims being auto-x'd or raced on R compound tires. Thats pretty extreme conditions, but something to consider.

The shop will tell you that 375-425F will not hurt the rim. True, it wont. But think of this, it must be heated to be outgassed. It will cool as they spray it.. then brought back up to 425F for 12-ish mins.. Then cooled again, then sprayed with clear (as PC is susceptable to UV fading, they will want to clear them), again back up to 425F for 12 mins. Some shops are careful not to heat and cool them too quickly and will try to reduce the heat cycles as much as possible. Your rim could spend at total of 20-40 mins at that temp. Again, use a shop that listens to your concerns. A good shop with a good rep will listen and educate you on their process and methods.

If I owned OEM 19s, I would insist on a low temp PC. I just had a bad PC job done. I should have turned around and left when the guy started telling me he knew better. On top of that, he did a crappy job. When I contacted other shops to redo them, they totally listened to my concerns. :/ doh!