Ben Gay

Have set of 441Rs, brushed centers, polished outers, clear coat on all (big mistake). Looking for best place, hopefully in Tacoma/Seattle are, to strip what's left of the clear coat, fix rim checking, and polish all outers. Can anyone point me to the right shop for this (even if there isn't one in Tacoma/Seattle)? Did have HRE refinish these once and it was too $pendy for what was done. Hopefully there's an alternative?

Thanks!

HIS4

I've been thinking about getting my Iforged wheels stripped of the clear coat and doing a clear powder coat for more durability because I'm having the same problem with the clear coat chipping off.

From what I've heard, the clear powder coat is much more resistant to chipping than a standard clear coat. How much did you pay for HRE to re-clear your wheels?

Ben Gay

HRE charged $200/wheel plus shipping (which was about $200 total). Wheels arrived in June 04, by August 04 the clear coat was starting to come off! I discussed coatings with an HRE rep before they refinished to see if there was an option for something tougher than what the new wheels arrived with. They pick the coating for beauty, not durability. OEM clear coats are extremely tough and thick - e.g., partner has had a couple of Ford coated alloy wheels that made it several years in WA with no discernable impact to the finish! HRE uses a PPG paint quality product. It's pretty, but brittle. Maybe if the wheels had paint protection film (e.g., Stonguard) like the leading edges of the car body. :-) Powder coating these would be a sin. The wheels really look beautiful with their clean shiny au natural AL finish. Friends tell me for this type of allow wheel the only way to go is uncoated and resign yourself to polishing them regularly - in the long run they look better longer. As I've been scrubbing the HREs with wheel cleaner on a weekly basis anyway, adding a polishing step doesn't seem to be so bad. I just hope I can get the refinish done for a more resonable price than HRE's. Otherwise it's not getting done this year.

Ben Gay

PS I specifually asked HRE if powder clear coat was an option, they said no they only use PPG

Ben Gay

Sorry if my text is screwy - using IE7 B2, seems to have issues with AW posting

HIS4

Search the forums for LI-S4. He has the same wheels as I do and got them clear powder coated for more durability. The cost for his refinishing was pretty close to what you paid for HRE to refinish your wheels. If you look at the pictures he posted, the brushed finish of the wheel is not hidden or masked in any way by the clear powder coat. I know he even mentioned that some shop had dropped brake fluid on it and he thought they had ruined the powder coat but it ended up buffing right off. I've been considering sending my wheels to the same guy that did his wheels.

Ben Gay

Thanks for responding HIS4. I searched on "li-s4 wheel" and read them all - don't see any reference to powder coating, did see article on "Zoop", then a much later follow-up that it is not holding up.

HIS4

I've talked to him over email many times about this and he says that the shop that did it can even do the disassembly and reassembly of the wheel. Not something that just any old wheel shop can do.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/detail/msgs/31984.phtml">LI-S4s refinished wheels</a></li></ul>

Ben Gay

Thanks for the link - east coast place, still hoping to find one near Seattle

HIS4

There are a few wheel refinishing places that can do the stripping and powder coat here but no one is willing to do the disassembly and reassembly of a multi piece wheel.