The Serious Freshening
Go to <Last, Summary, Next>Chassis—Powder Coat Wheels
 Lynn in Bugsby, September 5, 2005 |
Completed: 2008-04-11 — Started: 2007-07-14
 NEW WHEEL COLOR: The olive green powder coated wheels match the new green interior. |
 OLD WHEEL COLOR: Formerly painted white, the coating easily chipped. |
Work Completed:
Lynn has determined that the original color of Bugsby's wheels was green.
Further, the existing white paint on the wheels easily chips and is always in need of a touch up.
Lynn intends to have the wheels powder coated green to match the interior leather.
Lynn has solicited advice on the place to get the work done, and the consensus is that MAAS Brothers Powder Coating in Livermore is the service of choice.
Before delivering Bugsby's Buffalo-4 wire wheels to be powder coated, Lynn plans to adjust and "true" the wheels by adjusting the spokes. Having done this on bicycle wheels, he expects to employ a similar process on the car wheels.
Lynn is surprise how much physical effort is needed to get the tubes, liners and tires off the rims. All the parts are very heavy and they don't want to easily come apart after being mated for maybe 25 years or more.
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| BEFORE & AFTER: The old paint has been stripped from the rim, exposing the tops of the adjusting ferrules (left). The wheels after receiving the green powder coat with a scrap of the new interior leather (right). |
The next issue is the layers of paint and primer covering the wheels. Lynn uses chemical paint stripper to expose the tops of the spokes and ferrules, and is dismayed at the amount of corrosion that exists under the paint. Further he finds that the ferrules are rusted to the rim, and the spokes are rusted tight to the ferrules. Using a torch, Lynn is able to loosen the some of the ferrules at the rim, but is unable to loosen the spokes within the ferrules. He sees that the spokes want to twist rather than adjust, so he quickly abandons his plans to straighten the rims.
On Monday, Mar. 31, Bugsby's wheels are delivered to the Maas Brothers. They predict 10 workings days to perform the work. Within five days the wheels have been stripped and are awaiting the arrival of the powder (RAL 6003, olive green), specially ordered to match the leather interior. Like clockwork, the wheels are ready two weeks later.
In 2010, Lynn tries to order touch-up paint for the wheels, but doesn't easily find a source based on the RAL color number. Using a Dupont SpectraMaster book of paint chips, Lynn cross references RAL 6003 (olive green) to GS168 and uses this number to order touch-up paint.
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| BARE WHEELS: Old paint has been stripped and awaiting the powder coat (left). Each wheel is marked with a punch on the rim near the valve stem hole (right). |
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| GREEN WHEELS: New powder coated wheels and sample of interior leather (left), and close-up of one wheel (right). |
After the wheels were stripped but before they were powder coated, Lynn carefully inspects each wheel for excessive corrosion. He is concerned that the wheels may be unsafe. He is relieved to see that all the wheels and spokes are quite solid and don't appear to be a safety concern.
Work Remaining:
None.
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with your comments or questionsCopyright © 2018 Lynn Kissel
Last updated: July 12, 2010