Do you find OE wheels scratch chip easily.....Clear Coat Mumblings

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chefwong

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Just swapped snows to summer...

Summer wheels in general has always been some sort of 3rd party wheel with a Powdercoat finish. Base color and clear. Or brushed/finished raw alum and PC clear.

IME, OE painted wheels generally chips easily if not scratch easily. Combo of probably the water based stuff....and due to diamond cut finish, it doesn't bite into the metal as well .
Just found a longish scratch on 1 wheel.....got me scratching me head, going to try to see if it's just in the clear.

Interestingly enough, I have had aluminum wheels that were -hand brushed- and then powderdcoated Clear. Also have had diamond cut wheels powder coated clear.
While the clear powdercoat doesn't chip as easily on diamoncut, occasionally I will find a small cloudy spot on a diamond cut wheel that has been powerdercoated clear.

What's your take in OE paint/clear on wheels or just clear coat finishes on wheels.
 
They're more fragile than I thought. I ceased to worry about them years ago. Trying to find touch-up paint for them is tough.
 
My answer is...it depends.

I've found OE wheels which with paint/clear or powder coated to be extremely durable and I've never had any issues with scratching or chipping. After a decade or so of being a daily driver, they may become a bit faded and need a good polishing, but even then the paint itself is in good shape. Of course I only go with gray or silver wheels. I've seen some glossy black wheels on GM and Ford vehicles that look like they could be a nightmare when it comes to scratches.

Those with combination of paint and clean over some form of polished/etched bare metal have been a night-mare no matter what the brand. The painted surfaces are always in good shape, but the area with clear over the metal has horrible durability. Even the most gentle wheel cleaners and soaps can make them hazy, the clear seems to scratch easily, and the clear is very brittle. I've seen a tiny pit from a debris strike on the wheel turn into a bubble, which then flakes off and the entire metal wheel surface is compromised. From there it just corrodes and looks terrible. I've had this happen a Jeep, Subaru, Toyota, and I think I have it starting on our Acura. The only OEM wheels which I've not seen this problem is on my daughter's Honda.

If I choice I never buy a car with diamond etched or polished wheels with a clearcoat.
 
Desertnate said:
My answer is...it depends.

I've found OE wheels powder coated
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what OE manuf. has powder coated wheels coming stock ?

Too often, it's the little chip, then the slow galvanic corrosion + *durability of the clear on the machined finish* that shows it's flaws quickly IMO.

I just had one set redone in powder.....I did like the OE finish, It was diamond cut, tinted smoked clear ontop. Looked great. I knew it was not going to be durable even in the short run so powder it got.
 
chefwong said:
I just had one set redone in powder.....I did like the OE finish, It was diamond cut, tinted smoked clear ontop. Looked great. I knew it was not going to be durable even in the short run so powder it got.
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I had a set of GM high-polish clear wheels redone in clear powdercoat--that was not any more durable than the factory clear. Or are you saying you did the powdercoat on top of the factory finish?
 
No, I had it blasted, redone in color

While there is some cross linking in powder, the smooth surface does not have the durability of powder clear on a smooth surface.

My custom wheel recondition guy.....who's not my go to powder guy but does do powder, paint, repairs, rebuilds, he has the machines to recut a wheel. He he will spray clear if the finish is diamond cut and won't powder clear it. I'm sure there is a reason to this

If I have a set that's been hand polished brushed, I will get them powder clear as powder hopefully will still be better than spray clear
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I had a set of GM high-polish clear wheels redone in clear powdercoat--that was not any more durable than the factory clear. Or are you saying you did the powdercoat on top of the factory finish?
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Was the wheels dipped to remove the clear before the PC ? Or it needed refurbishing anyway, so it was stripped, polished and the cleared.
Every shop seems to have their own take on this when it comes to clear on bare metal (aka, no base color coat below). Just curious what your shops opinion was on PC clear on -smooth- metal
 
The clear was compromised as you described, plus a couple of them were bent (potholes), so they were stripped and polished (badly) and I believe the powdercoat was what was recommended by the shop vs. paint, I can't remember. One of my other goals was to get the barrels painted/coated, because they weren't from the factory and were a rough black mess.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I had a set of GM high-polish clear wheels redone in clear powdercoat--that was not any more durable than the factory clear. ?
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Re: the last post, are you sure it was powder coated ? Did the final finish of the barrels end up being paint of was it polished/raw.
There is less than a handful of PC guys in the area that will do 2-3 tone Powder Work. It's just too much hassle....
 
chefwong said:
what OE manuf. has powder coated wheels coming stock ?

Too often, it's the little chip, then the slow galvanic corrosion + *durability of the clear on the machined finish* that shows it's flaws quickly IMO.

I just had one set redone in powder.....I did like the OE finish, It was diamond cut, tinted smoked clear ontop. Looked great. I knew it was not going to be durable even in the short run so powder it got.
Click to expand...

I was told Mazda used to powder coat the wheels on some of their vehicles back in the 2000's. The ones on our 2010 Mazda3 had a finish which didn't seem to look like they were painted, so I had no reason to doubt my source as he had a long history in the detailing world.

I think you nailed it on your second comment here. It's those diamond cut wheels that always seem to be the problem. Normally painted wheels, at least for me, have had very durable finishes. The gray satin finish on my current BRZ's OE wheels seems extremely durable. Even when I had a little pitting from brake dust, the overall finish never failed like I've seen on my vehicles with diamond cut wheels wearing a clear coat.
 
I would surmise that the opaque paint has primer under it which gives some corrosion protection to the substrate, where the clear sections obviously don't have that.
 
I think there is something about the clear not bonding as well to the diamond cut areas as it does to the painted areas.

On our Toyota's wheels it had a combination of diamond cut facing surfaces and the areas on the sides of the spokes and the area between the spokes was painted. The painted areas remained pristine while the diamond cut areas were in pretty sad shape because the clear had chipped, bubbled, and pretty much failed across any diamond cut surface.
 
Sometimes I've observant , sometimes I'm not.....

Interesting observation on a freshly powder coated wheel
I was washing the wheel down to get rid of the tire goop used when mounting, etc - and the entire wheel (just fresh out of the oven)......hasn't seen any road use, etc - it was super hydrophobic. Water was beading and sheeting all over the entire wheel. I cannot recall ever seeing this but for the next set of wheels, I plan to observe and see if I duplicate this same effect.
 
It's been noted many times on the forums that fresh paint beads, I don't see any reason why fresh powdercoat wouldn't do the same.
 
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