The PO of my Hudson did not take care of the wire wheels and they look like crap. I have been looking to strip them down to the bare metal (they are chrome and rust now) and having them powder coated. Anyone have this done and if so how did they come out? Any all-in-one shops that do a good job? Thanks Dan
I am in the same boat. I have 4 nice painted '35 Ford wires, and one rusty one. I plan on getting a tote large enough to immerse one painted wheel at a time. At this point in time, I am planning on using lye and being VERY careful when doing it. (I had initially considered using paint stripper, but decided to try lye first because of cost considerations.) For the rusty one, I have a gallon of "Rust-911" that is is supposed to yield 16 gallons of solution when diluted. I have done some measuring, and have determined that I can build a plywood box that I will line with a heavy duty trash bag, pour in the solution, and the wheel will be completely submerged. This stuff has always worked pretty well for me, but I realize that I may have to do at least one more "dip". I'll have a pretty good idea on whether or not more applications will be necessary (or cost effective) after the first go round. If I get done first (and we don't get any "expert" advice), I'll let you know what happens.
I personally would look up sand blasters or media blasters and let them deal with it. One mistake, spill or splash will make all the money you saved seem not worth it. Pat
I had it done by taking the wire wheels to a chromer and had the plating removed. I then took them to a powder coated.
It's standard procedure here for the powder coater to sandblast wheels when they do them About the only things that don't get sand blasted are brand new items that are sent over from the shops in town including a batch of handles for compound bows every Monday on a standing order. That's the day you can get a deal on having things powder coated in the same shade of black that the handles are too. That shop does a lot of sandblasting for people in the area including a lot of car bodies on rotisseries from a couple of local shops. They used to have one guy who did all the sheet metal. The chrome I am not sure about. My buddy claimed that he had chrome wheels stripped by the local machine shop in their oven that they baked engine blocks and heads in. I haven't seen it myself though.
^^^ Agree. Ask your powder coater if they strip chrome and if not, ask if they know a plating shop they recommend to do the work. If they have a working relationship with a local plater (referring work to each other) you may get a price break if the powder coater sends you their way for the prep work.
I took my old chrome, rusty parts to chrome shop and let them strip them, then off to the powdercoater.
My powder coater does his own blasting.. Or sends out to be stripped for foreign materials on the parts All in the price.. These were rusty and turned out great
Please do not try working with toxic chemicals in a plastic tub. The fumes if not deadly, they can damage your lungs , skin and nervous system beyond repair. I don't mean to be an ass But I have worked in the automotive, auto body and construction industries all my life and have seen to many guys suffer long term effects of chemical exposure. even sand blasting without an air supplied respirator can be deadly. I know saving money is everybody's passion but living healthy should be too. Larry
Agreed, not worth the effort and time. Find a powdercoater that can prep and coat them in-house. That way it's their worry if they don't turn out, not yours. As mentioned, most powdercoating shops prefer to blast anything that's not brand spankin' new before they touch it, for good reason. Good luck!
My chrome plater outsourced my bars, grill etc and had them sandblasted to remove flaking chrome and scale before he electronically stripped the remainder of chrome in the baths. As they were replated he did the usual prep work however at this stage they could have then been powder coated. The powder coater I used for my frame outsourced the blasting and they did any excellent job priming and coating the frame, however it wasn't pitted. Until the chrome is removed you've no idea what the condition of the base metal is like.
After reading posts 6, 8 &. 9 and you have them de-chromed and sandblasted, then - if you are happy with them, ie, - there is enough wheel left, take them to the powder coater....... I can’t help wondering if pictures would help to show how bad the chrome is. If it is flaking off, you may get away with sandblasting only......... .
I have over 15 life long friends who are dead today because of lax safety standards back in the sixties and seventies. They all died in there forties. Five of them worked at the Three Mile Island. People have no idea how close they came that day..
Check and see if you have a dustless blasting guy in your area. See if he has a job and just take your wheels to him and try and add on to a job might save you some cash. I had a truck done and a friend brought a set of wheels over when I was having the truck done. He charged him 5 bucks a wheel.
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