I have an old pair of 4 hole Halibrand magnesium wheels that have clear powder coating on them. I want to remove the powder coat and let nature have its way with them. whats the best and safest way to remove it without killing these rare wheels.
Heat from small propane torch till it turns to ash, then clean with brush. You will be at it all day with any media blaster. There are some paint strippers that take off powder, not sure what it will do to magnesium.
I stripped a set of '70s Trans Am honeycomb gold powder coated wheels with 'aircraft' grade paint stripper. Worked on the PC just like it works in regular paint; bubbled in a couple minutes and wiped right off. Had zero effect on the aluminum. don't know how the caustic would react with more reactive magnesium metal though. Try a daub of stripper on bare metal inside the wheel flanges to see if it is reactive or not.
Thanks all, I was wanting to stay away from heating the wheels I've seen a mag fire it was impressive. I'm going to bead blast them to take the gloss down a notch or two. I hope that will give them a more natural aged look.
i would take a few samples of magnesium that have the coating that you have and practice or experiment on them first. it would be a shame to start trial and error your mag wheels...
You don't need to get it that hot. I'll heat the coating with propane until it softens (usually as it just starts to blister), then start in with the wire brush. Magnesium isn't that flammable....
I've never used one on paint or powder-coat, but it works really well on varnish.....which I know is not as tough as powder-coat, but ....
Powder coat is not as good as cracked up to be. Rust will still develop under it and difficult to remove.
I used powder coat after glass beading an aluminum intake . Turns out I didn't like the look so I used lacquer thinner to take it off
I'm not sure the wire brush is the tool to use. If you get it hot will is come off in a sheet like paint does? Bob
Do NOT use a chemical powder stripper (such as Benco's B-17) on magnesium ever. It will actually boil and, if left too long, will ruin the Hallibrands. You'll have the best results with aircraft stripper or a propane torch and wire brush, but it will probably gunk up the brush so much you'll throw it away. Rex, if your powder coating came off with mere lacquer thinner, please shop around next time and find a more qualified place. I suspect that insufficient prep, inadequate cleaning and/or undercuring all probably contributed to the ease of removal on your intake. A colleague posted a video of magnesium in chemical stripper a few months ago. If I can find it I will add it later. Edit: it's on a private Powder Coating group page on FaceBook so I can't share it here but I did get a screen shot.
My OT dump trailer was advertised to be "powder coated to withstand years of the abuse of a dump body". It was but the metal was not properly prepared. Not cleaned or blasted to remove the oils and scale of the raw steel. Within four years it began peeling off in big sheets. I completely removed the remaining coat with a putty knife and repainted it with tractor paint after premiering it. No rust back after a year. Looks good as a new one.
@warhorseracing your story is sadly all too common with commercial in-house powder coating. Expecting others will add their own horror stories, here's a somewhat on topic recent Garage Journal thread ya'll can check out. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=398413 Simply put, if the powder comes off easily the job was not done well.
True story... And most problems that end users have are with 'manufacturer' coating on new items, although some coaters also cut corners. The manufacturer assumes (incorrectly) that because whatever they're coating is new and corrosion-free, that full prep isn't needed. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you want a truly bulletproof finish, prep is critical. Sandblasting is the best prep as that gives the powder 'surface tooth' to attach to, and done right will never ever peel off in 'sheets'. It's also critical to get enough mil thickness on the coating to insure there's no 'thin spots' that will allow corrosion to start. I've got a set of access gate keypads housings that were coated over 25 years ago, and other than some marring from being hit by car/truck mirrors still look like new.
I wouldn't recommend it with Magnesium wheels but I have an old gas BBQ grill that I use to cook off powder coated parts. Don't heat up lunch in there once you do.
That is why I don't fault powder coat but the appliers that don't know or care. They just want the job out the door.