I took my H3 to a local powder coater to get an estimate on painting my wheels and was told that if the original finish on the wheels is a powder coat they will have to be chemically stripped before they are sandblasted and then coated. Does anyone have any experience with this or knows for sure what the factory finish is on the stock wheels? If I have to have them stripped, it will add an additional $60 to the cost of painting each wheel, making the painting cost $120 per wheel. At that price, buying custom aftermarket wheels start looking pretty good.

 

i dont believe that they are powder coated.we are talking about something that comes from the factory.i believe they are just painted

 

If there is any chance of the wheels getting dinged up, you'd be much better off going with paint. Powdercoat tends to peel after it chips, paint is easy to fix.

 

your powder coating company sounds right. I do alot of business with a powder coating company and he told me the same thing. The stock wheels need to be blasted to be repainted in order for the paint to stick.

 

I stopped by my local powder coat shop. They looked at my wheels and quoted me $65 per wheel. It may not answer your question, but it was apparently routine for this shop.

 

They charge $60 per wheel to powdercoat, which includes sandblasting...they said if the original finish is a powder coat they would need to be chemically stripped before the sandblasting...they said they would try sandblasting one wheel and if it didn't remove the paint, chemical stripping would be in order. I don't want to bring a wheel down for them to f*#k up just to tell me they need to be stripped. I have used this shop to powdercoat several pieces...my new roof rack included(I'll post pics soon so you can all drool over it) so I know they do good work. I need to know if anyone knows FOR SURE what kind of finish is on these wheels...just paint or powdercoating?