Question about powder coating

I had some wheels powder coated and they look like crap. I had the guy re-do them and they still look bad. I'm through with him. My question is, can I sand them down and spray them with acrylic enamel (should have done this in the first place) or do I need to have the powder coating blasted off? Thanks for any help. Tim

 

Yep...piece of cake...simply seal them and paint...done it many times...(don't get any cake crumbs in the paint tho.)

R-

 

Thanks for the reply. Cakes crumbs would be a huge improvement over what I have now! My 7 year old is better with a krylon can than this guy!

 

I was wondering why you think they look like crap.
The person must have done something wrong. I worked at a powder coating place in Cocoa Beach years ago.
And just like painting, preperation is the make or break of a good job.

 

I don't know if his oven didn't get hot enough or if the powder was applied wrong... but they are very dry and very rough. Imagine spraying paint from about 24 inches away and not using any reducer. I wish that it would show up in a picture, I'd like to show you what I was unhappy with because I can't beleive that anyone would begin to think a customer would like the finish. I wasn't looking for anything for a show car, but I'm not kidding the rhino liner in the bed of my truck looks better than my wheels!

 

Were they sand blasted first? Sometimes old paint can burn underneath the new powder, and buble up. You can paint over the powder. I would use urethane. If the powder never really stuck well, your new paint wiil flake off with it.

 

I had the same problem here in town with a set of 57 ford convertible wheels. I ended up sanding and had a pint of paint mixed to match the powder coat.Came out good.Turns out the powder coat guys hired a bunch of illegals that dont understand english and the owners dont speak spanish.Lot of unhappy people here.

 

I heard it's a pain in the ass to try and get the powder coating off. What would be the best way to strip it?

 

All four wheels were blasted. I sanded one spot on the worst one with 400 paper and it seemed to cut pretty well, its just going to take a while... the whole reason for powder coating was my lack of time to paint them. Now with the weather being what it is, I don't know how well my side draft paint booth (outside behind garage) will work. Its cool enough that they should flow real well! Tim

 

I've had good luck with the Mar-hyde(sp) paint remover aerosol can from Advance Auto. Spray it on wait 5-10 minutes and the stuff was coming off almost whole. It's the regular not the aircraft. Tried other brands and they wouldn't even touch it.

 

Dadds paint remover is what we used at the shop I worked at.
I mean it eat it off like nothing. Be careful with that stuff.

 

Yeah,that marhyde stuff burns like hell if you get some on exposed skin!

 

My buddy was stripping some shit in my garage and the gentlemen that was doing some shit to my motor called and said it was ready so he throws his rag and parts in the garage. We take off pick up the motor and come back start setting it in and I crawled under the car and felt something wet on my shoulder I thought it was a wet rag we were throwing around earlier. Nope it was the aircraft stripper rag. I come out from underneath the car after letting it soak in pretty good and it was burning the shit outta me. I yanked my shirt off and was trying to get them to wipe it off and they kept going there's nothing there. They thought i was trying to get them to wipe off a spider or something buggish off my back. I made sure afterward the he recieved a few unannounced punches to the kidneys ribs etc..

 

If your powder job came out that rough I'd just blast the crap off to clean, fresh metal. Otherwise you are painting over a questionable base that may deteriorate quickly or even react with the new material at the time of application. Not worth risking or investing more time in. "Do it right the first time" may not exactly apply but you know what I mean.

 

Start off by taking a deep breath and relaxing. You are likely not in as much trouble as you think you are. My guess to what happened is he did not preheat and then was unable to get his temperature up quick enough to let it flow. It happens, ...and I have been there too. Also, just be sure of what product he is using. Ask the coater where he is getting his product. Tiger-Drylac is where I get mine. He may be getting it from somewhere like Eastwood. Make sure his product is fresh, --and if it is a few months old, have it fluidized to aid in flow-out.

I own a resto shop and do powdercoating in-house on our projects. Generally speaking, wheels that we work on are pitted and so we find ourselves applying powder and sanding the wheel smooth. Therefore this will be no problem if you need to re-do yours. If the powder is under-cured, it will be cured when the 2nd application of powder is applied & baked.

The first thing I believe you are doing wrong is using too fine of sandpaper. Use either 80 or 120 grit paper instead of the 400 grit and you will find life much more fun. In the picture below you will see where we have applied the first coat of Black powder (because it is cheaper) and then followed up with Red powder. I was unhappy with the finish so I had them re-sand the Red and re-coat (again). Usually it takes between 30-45 minutes to completely sand a wire wheel like the one in the picture after we have powdercoated it.

I am going to suggest that you sand your wheels smooth enough where the texture is gone (but don't worry about sand-scratches) and then take them to a powdercoater. The key will be to get them up to a minimum of 350 degrees prior to applying the powder. They will usually drop about 50 degrees while being sprayed but we turn the temps up on our oven to compensate. We try to have our cure at 400 degrees. Hope this helps some.