I'm currently in the process of trying to remove the stock silver finish off my RPF1's (old owner bought them this color). I want to powdercoat them black. I talked to the powdercoating shop here and they said they bake at about 450 degrees. They can burn off the old finish but they say they bake at 900 degrees to remove it and im worried about the rims getting warped. I've tried using aircraft stripper to remove the finish off but its taking longer than expected, I've also tried bead blasting but thats taking even longer. Any suggestions? or should I just continue to use Aircraft stripper until all the finish is off?

Thanks

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Your wheels will be fine.

 

They'll be fine to bake off? Im worried about how fragile the spokes could get baking at 900 degrees

 

900* will surely mess up the wheels. stick to aircraft stripper.

 

The last powder coating shop I used just sand blasted my wheels before coating them

 

best way to go

aircraft aluminum stripper hurts... especially in your eyes... lol

 

Yeah I got some on me yesterday, def not smart haha. I'm just gonna get them blasted, that way I'm sure they'll be 100% clean for the new powdercoat.

 

yep, my powder coater media blasted my wheels then powder coated...

 

We tried glass bead blasting but it took forever, So I'm gonna have them professionaly blasted.

 

^That is what you need to do. Sandblasting will take the finish right off. I just blasted my Advans and they are getting coated as we speak.

 

Find a place that does soda blasting. If you sand blast it depending on what grade its is, can inbed into the wheels and make for a bad surface for the powder and will not bake on very good. DO NOT bake it at 900* whatever you do that will weaken the wheels for sure. GL

 

Thanks guys, I talked to a company that has sandblasted alot of aluminum wheels, they assured me that it wont pit out and they'll be ok. They're getting blasted as we speak. I'll post pics of before and after.

 

If you bake them they will get weaker... you are performing a version of heat treatment to the metal in the wheels and you will mess up the strength properties from the way they were originally fabricated....


Suggestion use either sand blasting or beed blasting

 

Yeah I sand blasted mine and they turned out just fine....

 

I've heard of this, mostly with glass beads though. Is it that the powder doesn't adhere well or is it merely a cosmetic thing where you see little bumps and what not? I used a medium grade sand that was slightly larger than 1.5 mils. I talked to a sandblasting place and they suggest that range for aluminum.