TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Jun 05, 2025 8:33 am

HI Guys, I recently have bought new wide 5 wheels and planned on having them powder coated . Turns out matching powder coat to paint colors (iceland green L213) is pretty difficult. I am debating just having them painted but obviously this isn't as durable.

I wanted to see if anyone has painted wheels and if so how have they held up over time?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Thu Jun 05, 2025 8:58 am

Your car is painted, why not paint the wheels too? Paint can hold up fine. if it gets dinged, then repaint. My painted wheels are just fine. Powder coating is not the end all, miracle coating that some believe it is.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 9:00 am

Just let the paint fully cure for a few days before mounting tires or adding hubcaps. The longer you go, the more time the paint has to harden.

I paid good money to have mine powdercoated and was bummed with how bad it held up. It started with a rock chip and went downhill with rust, etc

Thu Jun 05, 2025 9:21 am

Paint.

If anything in future requires touch-up, paint is easy.
Powder coat-not so much.
The factory paint seems in many cases to have held up remarkably well for decades.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 9:31 am

Thank you All, that is helpful. I to felt that powder coating was the end all be all. Guess I was wrong!

Thu Jun 05, 2025 9:42 am

i have had 2 sets powder coated and im happy with mine . there gona sand blast em before powder so any dings dents rust pits ect will show , you need to clean up the rim dings n stuff first , make sure all the hub cap clips are installed first . one of mine had like a drip , i was able to sand it off n buff it there like nothing happened ......if you want 2 tone my shop wouldnt do it saying its too hard to mask off for the second color ....it was 75 bucks a wheel where i went . the shop said you can paint right over the powder if you want em two tone .

Thu Jun 05, 2025 11:08 am

Powder cost vs. paint.

I have powder coated wheels on my double cab (20 years ago) and painted on my beetle. (painted 8 yrs ago). A thought on powder. There is a fear that the powder is soft and can allow lug bolts to back out.

On my beetle a daily driver, Paint has held up well and any knicks have been minor.

On double cab, Powder coat has been for 20+ years and still looks good today (holds up to tranny and brake fluid). the only powder coat damage has occurred when I had new tires mounted, and after I let a shop fix brakes after a brake failure in the middle of nowhere while I was headed to airport.

Why is this relevant When I put wheels on double cab in 2004, I torqued by hand the lug bolts (stock wheels 5 x 205). I had no problems for at 4 yrs years. When I had a shop fix brakes and they put wheels back on- in 2008, while driving home, the lug bolts loosened, and wheel came off. No damage to body but shredded a '63 1-Ton rear drum.

Speaking to shop they thinkit was powder coat - I think they didnt set torque. Dont know if I am right or shop is right. FWIW, I decided to rough up powder coat at lug seat and they have stayed torqued for the past 15 years.

From a thread back in 2008 where I vented about wheel coming off and having to walk home,
"
If your wheels are powder coated around the lug bolts, they might not be liable! My garage keepers insurance would cover any damage in an incident like that, though we will not take responsability if the wheels are powder coated or if there are spacers and/or adapters, which is clearly stated on our invoices"

with this said here is a link to threads discussing powder coat and lugs.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=356671&highlight=

Thu Jun 05, 2025 12:07 pm

Good info, thanks for the replies

Thu Jun 05, 2025 12:42 pm

From experience:

Lug nuts. Wide-5 VW rims will not hold torque on the factory lug nut unless you remove the powder coating.

Wheel weights. Today's stick on wheel weights to balance the wheel will not stay put. They fall off unless the powder coating is scuffed.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 1:56 pm

For removing the powdercoat, what is the radius of the VW ball seat? It seems to be the same on the 12mm and 14mm lug bolts.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 4:28 pm

I have always used spray paint- I always found krylon flowed well and held up well. The finish is dependant upon the prep work. Lots of sanding, several coats of sandable primer(400 grit) and several finish coats with the last coat sprayed wet. For touch up down the road you can spray some into a container and touch up with an artists brush.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 4:40 pm

Just to toss a thought out, as I was looking for info on bead seating and steel wheel runout I came across many statements about modern cars having powdercoated steelies from the factory. Although there is much to be said about application methods and materials used, overall if OEMs are willing to send steel wheels out powdercoated, it must be a fairly low risk.

I would personally not mind either one; powder is my preference, but as the OP says color matching is usually not easy or cost effective; and as also mentioned there will more than likely be metal damage under the existing paint. Powdercoat won’t hide pockmarks, so a smooth finish may not be achievable with powder.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 5:57 pm

So far, knock on wood, have not had a wheel weight come loose with powder coating. Do recommend having a marine primer applied to keep rust down to a slow crawl when the coating/s are chipped/scratched thru. VW originally only painted the outer side of the wheel the color desired, so it would be easy to have a set of rims marine primed and color coated semi-gloss black just like the wheel manufactures did for the VW factory. As for removing any coating a pen knife does fine to take it down to steel around the chamfer of the lug bolt holes.

Biggest problem with powder coating is that where the inner and outer halves of the rims meet the coating does not get down very well into the shape inner corner, due to conflicting electrostatic forces of the two opposing surfaces. So adding a wet color coating of paint over the outer rim is a good way to seal that flaw up.

If one prefers all wet coating primer and paint, a cold galvanizing (zinc rich) primer could be used, but must be applied directly to the bare steel for a proper electrical connection to act as a protective anode. Use only zinc rich primer that has more than 85% zinc content or you are wasting you time and $$. Rustoleum has a 93% in spray can, and Airgas welding supply stores has 95%.

Thu Jun 05, 2025 7:30 pm

scrivyscriv wrote: Just to toss a thought out, as I was looking for info on bead seating and steel wheel runout I came across many statements about modern cars having powdercoated steelies from the factory. Although there is much to be said about application methods and materials used, overall if OEMs are willing to send steel wheels out powdercoated, it must be a fairly low risk.

I would personally not mind either one; powder is my preference, but as the OP says color matching is usually not easy or cost effective; and as also mentioned there will more than likely be metal damage under the existing paint. Powdercoat won’t hide pockmarks, so a smooth finish may not be achievable with powder.

A mass production OEM wheel powder coater that deals with new virgin steal rims, and must meet OEM vehicle specifications likely uses a much different process than that of a place that does low volume restoration wheel services that has a quality control program that ends when the check clears.

It is a myth that all powder coating is fantastic and superior to paint. Verses the hood of the car, the rims have little chance of high speed impacts (stone chips) there is really no reason to specify powder coating even IF powered coat is a tougher finish than paint.

I be more concerned about matching the correct rim color than specifying powder coat, specially considering powder coat us not necessarily "better" chip wise than a good quality paint.