Anodising

[gjm 3194]

Wheel rims... Looking to get some refurbished. I'm not in the least interested in some bling chrome, and would much rather have something understated.

I've read the powder coat vs paint thread.. Good start.

But not quite the finish I'm after.

Has anyone had alloy rims anodised? Pros, cons? I appreciate you can touch up a painted or coated rim, but an anodised one will be different. And anodising won't hide imperfections in the way that powder coating could.

[yng_750 247]

I had some factory anodised sparco racing wheels a while back.

Turned out the slight movement of a tiedown strop on a trailer was enough to wear the anodising off pretty quickly where the strop was looped through the wheel.

So maybe bear that in mind with your drift car as i think the constant tyre changes etc might be hard on the finish.

[yng_750 247]

I would also say anodizing is a great way to get bright colours but if you only want a plain basic colour it may be easier to have paint where they can be toiched up

[polley 916]

I had some factory anodised sparco racing wheels a while back.

Turned out the slight movement of a tiedown strop on a trailer was enough to wear the anodising off pretty quickly where the strop was looped through the wheel.

So maybe bear that in mind with your drift car as i think the constant tyre changes etc might be hard on the finish.

Happened to my factory painted wheels as well. Only took one trip, 100km~

[gjm 3194]

Info so far is very helpful - it's reminded me of the different types of anodising available.

If you have a set of braided hoses in your engine bay, chances are you have either stainless or anodised fittings. Y'know, the red or blue ones (They seem to be the two most common colours.) I think these are (relatively speaking) 'soft' anodised. You can mark them.

Hard anodising is another story. It really is HARD wearing. It's used on marine parts that live in salt water, for example. I've read that it can even be hard to mark by taking a metal file to it, but can't say how true that is.

So, done right, it could be good. No idea of price, but I have a couple of places to ask. One regularly does work on motorcycle rims so may be able to suggest how suitable it might be for car rims.

Being Friday, I'll probably have forgotten about this by Monday!

[gjm 3194]

The other thing with anodising is not to get too hung up on the thickness of the result. Up to 100 microns is possible, but this may not be the best solution - 50 or even 25 microns can sometimes be more effective.

Standard 'soft' anodising is thinner, down as far as 5 microns. This doesn't make it bad, just not perhaps suitable for hard wearing conditions.

[aja540i 1903]

Another thing to consider is that any colour applied while anodizing, usually red or blue for fittings, is just a dye in the anodizing solution and usually fades badly with uv exposure so not really suitable for wheels (unless you only drive at night!)

[sonic_attack 89]

That colouring can depend on the treatment and application prior. I spent a long time screenprinting anodised ali and the dye inks vary in consistency and quality, as does bake time and temp.

Ali though, you'd have to baby them.