Suzuki GSX650F Forum - www.GSX650F.biz

Well, I took the wheel to the welder recommended by Bluethunder (thanks again) to look at the bend in it sustained by my minor tumble and they felt it would be no problem to straighten it out. They advised, however, that they'll need to heat the affected area which will take the black paint off. Wonder what it would take to just go ahead and take all the paint off and repaint them white. I saw the pics of Bikerboy' which looked dandy but I didn't see what all it would involve. Anybody else painted their wheels? Alternately, I guess I could just spray paint the affected area with black paint?

Powder coating is the way to go - I doubt paint would be tough enough.

Powder coat it.

So is powder coating done over the existing paint or does the paint need to be taken off first?

it needs to be sand blasted down to smooth metal. Alternatively you will be spending a very long time with sandpaper and wire wool! I think most powder coat shops also provide a sandblasting process or similar. Make sure seals and bearings are taken out and the surfaces they fit to are well protected.

OK, thanks for the info. Now I just need to find someone that does this kind of thing.

On yahoo .. type "powder coating in NC" .... here is what you get, pick one that is closest to you or try it by using your city/town in the search


http://ca.search.yahoo.com/search?ei=ut ... %20in%20nc

Yes I did have my wheels painted. Do not Powdercoat them.!!!!!!

Powder coating is too hard a finish to have so low to the ground and also under constant abuse.
In 6 months your wheels wil look old and worn with very limited options to renew the appearance.
Stone impacts can crack the finish as it so hard, constant road grime, dust and dirt will create that lightly sanded dull scratched look.
If you do scratch them up, it is very difficult to clean up and fix. You are stuck with what you've got.

Paint is a softer compound. You need a finish that has a little bit of flex in it.
Stone impacts may pitt the finish but if painted right will not cause a chip. It is able to be polished
and can continue to be kept in good condition. If you do get a chip, you can touch up with paint leaving no visible defect.
You can also re-paint straight over the top of the existing finish. Powdercoat you can not.

Plenty of pic's and posts in my early threads when I had it done. I did 30,000km with my wheels painted and they looked as good as
the day I had them done.

Just make sure that they tape off or clean out the rim, so the bearings sit back in flush and seat correctly.

Bikerboy = hmmm sounds like you had a bad experience with powder coating. I guess it
does depend on the quality of preparation and the coating. Some OEM powder coating is a bit thin and shoddy. Surprised at what you say.

I did not have a personal bad experience with powdercoating, but when I looked into getting my wheels done
I asked a lot of questions as I myself was unsure which would be best. I contacted a few places that do custom bikes
as well as powdercoaters and a specialist metal coating company and they all seemed to say the same thing.

Infact a few powdercoaters I called as a query flat out said they would not touch motorcycle or car rims.
In the end paint was deemed the best, and I organised it all through Suzuki before I picked up the bike.

how much is it 2 powdercoat rims??

Any where between 300 and 30,000,000

All depends on your location?? and money... pounds ,dollars etc.

OK, got the wheel back from the welder and he did a great job; can't even tell it happened. $6 can of black spray paint from Autozone and it matched perfectly. Welder only charged $20 and assures me that the metal was not weakened and that the wheel is 100% sound.

I first started out on my rims by stripping the black paint off up to the center section of the rims and polishing the areas I stripped.

then a couple of months ago I finished stripping off the rest of the black paint in preparation for powder coating them the center sections in a nice silver metallic. I do my own powder coating so it's only going to cost me about $30 for the powder and a roll of high temp masking tape for masking off the polished areas.

I already have a wheel bearing puller and I have already made up an aluminum seal driver as well as a wheel bearing installation tool. When I pull the rims off and remove the tires I plane to smooth out all of the casting lines on the spokes as well as sanding off all of the lettering on the left side of the spokes before powder coating them.

Here's what they look like now.

I would love to strip and polish the wheels. have you sprayed a clear coat over the polished metal or are you polishing all the time to keep the surface rust away?