VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum Paint or Powder Coat ?

Hi, I'm new to all of this and looking for alot of help. I have a 1935 Chevy Standard that my father in law gave my wife and I. I like to say it is mine but she says it is hers. As long as she is willing to fork out some dough I'll say it is ours. I am not planning on doing a frame off restoration but would like to do as much as possible in my garage. My first question of many would be with my rims. I can have them blasted at work, but how would you recommend finishing them. I have had some people tell me to powder coat them. What are your opinions?

Thanks, Matt

Matt,
In my opinion just a good coat of enamel is sufficent. If the car receives the limited type of use as most collector cars do a good coat of primer and enamel will be OK. Either way the most paint damage occurs when mounting the tires. I would suggest do this from the back side of the wheel.

Powder coating wire wheels is a good option. The powder coating process will produce a more even thickness. The availability of colors is a drawback. If artillary wheels then the advantage over spray painting is much less.

If you are considering powder coating there is a place not to far from you. Aesthetic Finishers - 1502 S Main Street - Piqua,Ohio 45356. They have hundreds of colors to choose from. A wire wheel such as a 35 Standard would cost $100.00 per wheel.

Hi MattC, Welcome aboard to the chat site. You should be able to get all your questions answered here. That price sounds a little high to me. I sand blasted my six wire wheels on my 31 coupe and had them primed and coated for $175 here in Calif. That was a few years back so I could be all wet. Good luck with your project. (Or her project) :)

I had six 19" wheels in 2001. It was $390.00 at that time. Cost of restoration is on the rise.

I just had rubber mounted on four rims today. They are 19" spoked wheels for my 1931 chev. The cost for powder coating was $25 each... but only if I used the stock 100 colors that they had. In order to get the correct "cream medium" color that I was looking for they needed to mix it as a minimum batch and the price of the material for $500. This would have coated approximately 30 rims.

Ultimately I opted to have them painted instead. They are georgeous and the EXACT color that I wanted. Cost was approximately $50 each.

Mounting them today cost me $32 -- total. and they rubbed the paint only slightly along the edge. When I get my next six rims mounted in April, I'm going to try to mount them from the back side... but Les Schwab wasn't very eager to do that today. Ha!

CONCLUSION: If you can find the powder coating color that you want, then go that way. No decision to it at all.

But if you have a shade the isn't readily available, and your car will be kept fairly pristine, then painting it will probably last you 20 or 30 years... more than enough for most of us.

Good luck.

Powder coating is good and holds the finish better than painting but is much more difficult to touch up when it gets chipped.
Tony

I always lay the wheel face down on a blanket and mount the tire from the back.

My choice was enamel as it's easy to touch up when you get chips...and you will get chips. Your local hardware or paint store can match just about any color.

The best way to paint? Gritblast the wheels clean and prime them. Then mount the tires and tubes but do not inflate. Mask them off and then paint them, strip the masking and then inflate them. No chips, no rubs, no errors.

When I painted mine I had to spray from both front and back of the wheel to ensure all the spokes were covered. Some of the spokes still needed a little brush touch-up to cover it all.

I agree with Back Roads. Once you've got the rims "perfect", the best way to mount the tires is to put down a couple of blankets and do all the mounting by hand with no tools whatsoever. With just a little soapy water to lubricate them, it's easy as can be to get the tires onto the rims, tubes inside and unkinked, etc. Just use your knees, feet, hands, etc to push it along. The rims are deep enough that it's not that hard. And no chance of paint chips, scrapes, etc. I just finished doing the six 19" wire wheels for my '30 and they look super. This also avoids marring the whitewalls if you have them.

All the Best, Chip

Coachhill has the right idea.....mount the tires first and then paint the wheels. That's how I did the wheels on my 1930 coupe. I had the tires professionally mounted and they were left deflated. Masked the tires and painted the wheels...then inflated the tires to the proper air pressure. They came out fabulous! Before the tires were mounted and while the wheels were in primer, I painted the gutter area the wheel color and then installed the rubber gutter strip. Worked like a charm!

:) :grin:

As long as you have tires that are easy to install you can do it without tools. I installed a set on 19" wheels that were powder coated. They were a B!%(#. Required tire tools, blankets, cussing, water, soap, cussing, sweat, an assistant, cussing and jumping up and down (both to get the tire bead over the rims and out of frustration. Finally got them on without popping off any paint. But will never buy that brand again. Yes they were on '31 wheels with the wider center depression and not the '30 wheels with the narrow one.