I did a search on painting my GSXR-750 wheels, and found nothing current. What is the process, gear and paint I need in order to make my wheel the heat. Any good information would be helpful. Also if you have painted your wheels and have pics, would you mind posting them so I can peep them. Thanks Ty
I painted a few sets of wheels for my race bikes. I generally polish, as in , get the paint off, clean up and polish to a dull finish, the "outside" section of my rims. To me, paint and glue from the weights, removal and installation, tire changes scratch everything up too much. I chose to paint the inside section of the rim and spokes (for lack of a better term) using the natural dividing line to stop the paint. I use the automotive stuff I paint the bike with, I don't like to use Base Clear on the rims. Too much trouble for me. Doing it this way, the rim stays looking good you can scrape off the glue and if it gets scratched up, you can polish it up a bit and you are good ta go, and it still looks good. My personal preference would be powder coating if I wanted to do the whole rim. I don't see any other way the paint can be made durable. YMMV - I like doing things just ONE time. Good Luck !!
i sprayed mine a couple of months ago. i agree that changing tires will scratch it up but changing tires will scratch up a factory powdercoat too. if you take a metal tire iron to a metal rim and apply force your going to remove whatever is in between it regardless. i feel spraying works fine as long as you apply a few layers of clear. i clean my wheels with kerosene and used to spray it off as i was worried about messing up the rattle can, but now i just leave it as it doesn't affect it at all. steps i took: rough up, spray the color til it's uniform (if your spraying a light color on top of a dark color a primer is prob a good idea), clear it alot and give it a chance to cure. 70 degrees is ideal while curing and the last layer, the longer you leave it the better. my wheels look s#i# hot whenever i take the time to clean them. ps-light colored wheels are a pain to keep clean
haha, i change my own tires. thus my tire guy is definitely a lazy penny pincher! cutting corners any way he can get away with. geeeeez!
I change my own too. never scratched one yet in 3 years.. I have a nomar now, but I did it with 3 tire irons and a lot of sweat before. Rim savers will do the trick if doing it by hand.. If you are using a machine, use a nomar demount bar. And to the original poster, Powder coat is the best wheel coating.. (or anodized)
P/C actually adds a little weight. Maybe a marginal amount... but more weight than paint. On a frame I had done...I remember the weight being around 4lbs. Paint can be touched up. Powder cannot. Powder requires the wheels be completely disassembled. Make sure the p/c guy is mindful of the bearing races and rotor threads when blasting. I had a dipshit blast sand into the center spoke/hub and failed to remove it prior to coating.
I painted 2 sets of wheels. One set for my old street bike, and the other for my track bike. Both have held up really well. No complaints, and looks very nice. I clean them with wd-40, takes the chain grime right off. I used pretty much standard automotive paint. Sherwin williams, probably 3 coats of base ( until I acheived hiding ) and 2 coats of clear. Once paint is cure it is very durable.
Powder Coating requires a bit of heat - I've heard some 'thoughts' about an issue with the aluminum loosing some strength through the curing prosess - any ideas and thoughts on that?
I`ve owned a custom coating job shop for 10 yrs. & have checked into the " heat weakens aluminum " debate. Heat will weaken all aluminum. Billet aluminum 6061,7071,etc. is heat treated to achieve the properties that each of those are engineered for and heating them can change those properties. They are all different so the amount of heat that can affect them is different for each one. Most powder coatings can cure @ 375 degrees or less for 10 to 15 min. the max recommended temp to cure billet alum. is 450 and thats a general recommendation to cover all billet because alot of time you don`t know what the aluminum actually is if you`re coating used parts. That said, not many factory wheels are made from billet they`re most all castings & then machined to final shape. Cast alum. can be heated to over 600 degrees. No where near curing temps for powder coating. I`ve done hundreds of sets of wheels over the years, including friends and my own with no issues. If you have your wheels coated the biggest issue you can run into is if the coater blasts the bearing races, this WILL cause your bearings to fit loose.
