Wheel Painting Service

B

BashawT

Senior Member
Good morning All,

I'm looking to get feedback from people as I am thinking about offering a wheel painting service.

My background is in auto refinishing and industrial coatings (10+ years).

I recently blasted, primed and painted my set of Model A wheels and I thought about what type of interest there would be in the FordBarn community if I began doing this on the side.

In my professional opinion, a liquid paint system on these wheels is superior to powder-coating. This is due to the challenge of getting in and around the spokes while powder-coating (Faraday Cage Effect).

All wheel colors would be paint matched to the MAFCA panels.

The price would be $1000.00 ($200 Per Wheel) + shipping charges

The service would include,

- Garnet Media Blast (SSPC-SP5 - White Metal Blast)

- Epoxy Prime

- Acrylic Polyurethane Topcoat

- Additional Charge will apply depending on condition of wheel (spoke straightening, body work, etc - Cost will be discussed with customer before moving forward)

- Shipping would be an additional charge - Packaged by UPS

I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback and if there is any interest.

Thank you - Travis
 
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Travis, I applaud you if you can charge $200 a wheel and be profitable while providing all of those services & materials you have listed. You do not mention anything about bodywork on the wheel so I would expect that to be an additional charge.
 
Thanks for the feedback Brent - I appreciate your input.

Depending on the condition of the wheel it would be an additional charge. I've updated my original post to reflect that.

Cheers
 
Drop shipping might be a good way to ship, both ways. Otherwise that's a lot of cardboard.
Sounds competitive with powder coating IMO.
 
you might want to do a survey on the Barn, just to see how many prospective clients you might have.

May not want to quit your day job, as work could be limited........ or add other services.
 
Shipping will come close to doubling that cost.
I took a 3 lb small package to UPS to ship across country……$42 with $500 insurance
Post office did it for $22 and I should have put it in USPS medium box for $18.
 
Here in SoCal it's $75-100 to blast and powder coat a wheel. The jump in automotive paints over the last few years makes powder coat a cheap option. I just had my dash, door trim and windshield trim done - blast & coat $75. I'm not sure but I think a drawback to powder coat would be if the surface is pitted you can't use any fillers since the baking would damage it.
 
Paint vs powder coating: My 1930 CCPU is a burgundy colour and the wheels were powder coated the same. They are no where near the same colour now. The powder has faded to an awful reddish brown that looks absolutely ridiculous while the paint is fine. I can see the original colour of the powder in the back of the hubs and it is the same as the body. The spokes and rims are not. The car came to me that way and I've learned he lesson. Paint the wheels!
 
ModelA29 said:
Here in SoCal it's $75-100 to blast and powder coat a wheel. The jump in automotive paints over the last few years makes powder coat a cheap option. I just had my dash, door trim and windshield trim done - blast & coat $75. I'm not sure but I think a drawback to powder coat would be if the surface is pitted you can't use any fillers since the baking would damage it.
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Often times when comparing static-applied paint vs. spray-applied paints, we tend to forget to include the quality of the product in our decision making. For example, we can go to our local big-box store and buy the cheapest alkyd enamel paint to coat our wheels that for less than $50, we can spray a coat of paint on them and call them painted. The same applies for powder paint. Buy a cheap quality powder and have them done however ...the caveat is the color fastness, UV holdout, and rust prevention all diminish within a year or so. There is not anyway a company can coat a wheel for $50-$75 and be profitable unless they are using cheap materials.

As for fillers, there are several on the market that can be used with powder painting. We used Alvin's Lab-Metal to 'bodywork' the wheel when we were doing powder-painting of Model-A parts in-house. What we learned was the effort to bodywork the wheel was the same as spray painting however the advantages of using a good quality 2K liquid paint showed up in longevity. I have seen a few powder-painted pieces last as long as paint that was sprayed however most powder-painted pieces (-especially when cheap materials were used) had issues after several years. As a comparison, look at the finish on farm equipment after a few years that was powder painted. It rarely has a shine, and often has rust forming underneath.



J Franklin said:
Maybe have 4-5 dip tanks with the most popular wheel colors. Get that job done fast!
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This can definitely be done however the quality of a job that I find most people wanting comes from a catalyzed paint over a bodyworked wheel. Realistically, if someone really doesn't care about the longevity, then choose a color from the Krylon or Rust-oleum shelf and then use a 'rattle-can' to paint them.
 
Les Schwab Tires in Prineville, Oregon will powdercoat. They have several colors. If you do not have a store near you you can ship them to them.
 
My cost to paint 5 wheels recently, including media blast, PPG epoxy primer and single stage urethane was about $600. I used a full quart of urethane and 1/2 qt of primer. Factoring in someone's labor and $200 each is reasonable. However a lot depends on the condition of the wheels. Light rust or paint is fairly easy to remove, but I had some with powdercoating that could not be completely removed. It took many hours of additional hand sanding to get a good smooth base for paint. This could add substantially to the cost for somebody else to do.
 
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I paid $55 per wheel for powder coat. No change in color over the last 8 years or so. Powder coater is 60 miles from my place, well worth the drive.
 
Carl, you mention 8 years ago. Most things have at least doubled in that time.
Is the price the same today?
 
Bob that sounds reasonable. Now we need to know the quality of the finish, as Brent mentions. Carl states that his finish still looks good after 8 yrs.

So Bash, business might be tougher then you realize?
 
ronn said:
Bob that sounds reasonable. Now we need to know the quality of the finish, as Brent mentions. Carl states that his finish still looks good after 8 yrs.

So Bash, business might be tougher then you realize?
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I never said that I didn't think business was going to be tough. If you read my initial post I stated that I'm looking for feedback. If it was easy everyone would be doing it.

Where there is a difference in price, there is a difference in quality.

I am not looking for this to be a full time job. I am passionate about providing a high quality paint finish for a piece of a restored car that has high visibility.

I can tell you that unless you purchase a brand new wheel, powder-coating will not cover up the pitting in a restored wheel. If it does, the mil thickness is going to be so high that that coating will be prone to chipping, cracking and premature failure.
 
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