Gonna rant here a bit. Picked my rims up today from the powder coater and made the mistake of only inspecting one rim and then heading back home (which is about 40 miles away from the powdercoater I used). Got home and the others have issues, and my lift is supposed to go on next Monday

My advice is if you are going to get your bare polished aluminum rims clear powdercoated, send in a polished piece of aluminum stock to the powdercoater first as a test to see if they do quality work.

First off there are some problems I can live with. They must have whiped them down with a dirty rag before powdercoating as there are light surface scratches in the aluminum underneath the clear. The rims were brand new in the box when I dropped them off. The scratching isn't horrible though. Next there are a few spots where there appear to be bubbles in the powdercoat just a few spots though and its not too bad at all. There is also a chunk of sand/dirt caught in the powdercoat, also liveable.

...but two rims have white dots on parts of the rim, not sure if its powdercoat that didn't melt/cure or what but in the sun it looks like ***, here is a pic of what I'm talking about:



Now everything said the other flaws would have been just fine had it not been for these white spots on two of the rims. Here is a shot from a few feet back from one of the good rims:



The clearcoat has a orange peeled kind of texture which to me is no big deal, its only noticeable up close. Here is a link to a big picture you can zoom in on to see the texture, didn't want to put it in the thread to save anybody with a slow connection:

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/3...ated003xk7.jpg

 

thats not that bad but if its not done from the factory then its hard to justify it as being closer to perfect..MY 2 CENTS

 

The pic of the spots doesn't do them justice, they are very noticeable in the sun, even from a few feet back. With that only on two wheels its apparant that its possible to coat them and not have that problem.

All of the other issues I could deal with and be happy with the end product, but I purposely took these to the more expensive powder coater thinking "you get what you pay for." Maybe that is not true. Shoulda sent a test before I sent the rims.

 

You know what though, if you wold have sent in a piece for them to test, it would have came back looking like the good wheels anyway and you still would have sent them out to be done. Hey just stick the two bad ones on the passenger side. You don't see that side as often anyway. I'm just kidding. In all honesty, I would be pissed and would call them asap. I would even ask for them to be done at the other shop you were considering out of their pocket. The only thing acceptable is the orange peel look. I imagine that's hard to avoid with powdercoat.

 

Left a message for them, by the time I got home they were closed. Will call them tomorrow to see what they have to say. I just pulled them all out of the box again under the flourescent lights in the garage, and some have some pretty good scratches.

Hopefully the place recognizes their screwups and offers to do something about it, if not I will just yell at them to make myself feel better and run the rims how they are and just never look at them up close.

 

Took the wheels back to the powdercoater and he was pretty cool about the situation. He said they should not have the spotting and he would contact his supply rep to see what they suggest for a simple fix, but said he would strip them and redo if necessary, and have them back to me by EOB Friday.

I was suprised how cool and helpful the guy was, not used to that kind of service, hopefully he follows through.

 

That's awesome man. Good luck! Show some more pictures when they're fiished.

 

Well, got the rims back today they couldn't do anything else with them so I brought them home as they are.

Got a call from my susp. shop today as well and they are backed up and can't install my lift Monday...so I got a wild hair and ordered an 8" rize and having them send back the 6" fabtech

That being said these rims won't work with the rize so I just threw them up for super cheap in the classifieds. They don't look bad but aren't perfect, maybe somebody on a budget can get a good deal...and never have to polish them

Well tried to create a classified, for some reason its not submitting

 

Haha. I guess thats good. You have to be losing quite a bit of money on all of this though. That sucks.

 

I definately am, but thats what I get for being dumb and upgrading

With rims and powdercoat I'm into these for $825 now. Going to sell them off for $400 shipped to try and move them quick, but also since its not a perfect powdercoat job I want people to still think they are getting a great deal. Dont' want an unhappy buyer.

Oh well, thats what I get for changing my mind at the last moment, not the first time its happened.

 

I didnt know you could have something clear powder coated. Aside from your problems it seams pretty neat. cool

 

Actually, they make a chrome-like powder coat as well.

 

Sorry but found your Ad wrong size wheel need 18's

 

They make black-chrome powdercoat too

 

Chrome and black-chrome, thats something Id like to see.