Has anyone had success restoring Pedrini wheels, and if so what did you do? The course textured finish makes them always appear dirty.

we bead blast then powder coat in Porsche silver

Thomas,

I just refinished these:

Click to view attachment

Glass bead blasted, then self etching primer, light sanding with 400 wet/dry, Duplicolor HPW wheel paint (silver), and finally Duplicolor HPW gloss clear. A little more metallic looking--and shinier--than the OEM finish, but it should be easier to clean. Rustoleum "matte nickel" is a good match for the Fuchs RSR frosted/anodized look, but I think would be tougher to keep clean.

I went with paint because I was a little concerned about the effect powder-coating (specifically the heat) would have on 46-year-old cast aluminum wheels.

FWIW, the center caps are from Mark at 914rubber Lug bolts are the longer OEM ones for alloy wheels alloy (39mm?) . . . with a "chrome" plastic cover.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need more information--or a better picture

Steve A-

Heat from powdercoating wont hurt the wheels. 400 degrees for 20 minutes. What’s really nice about powder is it smooths the surface texture a bit and is very resistant to chips and chemicals. Wheels will look great for years.

I read quite a few articles that said no problem, and others that talked to changes in hardness of the wheel material. There was also a lengthy discussion about powder coating hiding cracking in old wheels. I figured that I could re-blast then powder coat if I didn't like the way the paint turned out...easier than going the other way.

These look great. I'm going to try your method. Thanks for sharing.

Need to give credit where credit it due...I followed the directions I found in an old "Excellence" magazine article.

Just the light bead blasting, no protective finish.

Click to view attachment

Those look great John! Those wheels must be in great shape--a couple of mine had lived a hard life before I got them.

Here's another option:

Click to view attachment

can't remember where I got the picture.

My nephew has a large powder coating business. . For items that have previous powder coating and needing redoing, the standard practice is one of two processes .
Chemical dip or to bake off the original coating in a 600 degree oven for an extended period of time [until it comes off in flakes].
His company's experience with reblasting old powder parts and wheels, especially aluminum wheels, is the amount of blasting needed to remove powder erodes the metal surface and the contours excessively. . and powder coating doesn't mean it is indelible, it will deteriorate over time.

I looked into this very carefully when it came to restoring my magnesium Mahle gasburners. . You can't chemically dip mag. .{The shop tried a powdered Lamborghini rim once and ended up buying the customer a very expensive replacement] End story is once a mag rim is coated it is a hard to reverse process and retain metal integrity. .

4 lug Mahles are (soft) aluminum. 5 lug mahle gasburners are mag, or as Ben has told me, a mag, aluminum alloy.

Does you nephew do wheels and where is his shop?

Thank you, Greg W.

I got a quote from a powder coating company near my shop. He said $350 for 5 wheels. A clean blast, silver or aluminum color and then a clear coat powder coat.

$70 a wheel. Not sure but I think it is not too bad for LA area. What do you guys think?

My wheels are part number 00

Bob B
Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

here is a nicely restored pedrini:Click to view attachment


lol

That's a decent price.
I paid $65/ea for 5 18" Land Rover wheels to become satin black. Included chem dip/strip and 1 color PC.

Their price model increased as wheel diameter increased, and of course for additional finishes (like clear added)

candspowdercoating dot com

OK looks like their prices went up from a year ago. But a 15" wheel is $50/ea for 1 color.
They did great work - I am very happy with mine. About 1hr east of LA.

It would be a good price around here. Just make sure you both agree what gets done on the back side.

Only a little off topic, my steel wheels from my 74 were powder coated and it got in the crevice around the rim compared to the flat side face. It was virtually possible to remove when I subsequently had them painted. It looked good in the end but it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been if I had just gone with paint in the beginning. BTW Arctic Silver Porsche color is good.

Paul

I had mine blasted and clear coated for $65 each.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...202&hl=Ped*