Complete breakdown of Our Powdercoating Process : (Its a lot! be prepared to read)
Added Loaner Offer Feature not normally included with any other offer:
- Vehicle is lifted and placed on stands. The wheels are removed and indexed so that when we finish the coating process, the tire pressure sensors end up in the same position they came from.
- Tires and sensors are carefully removed from the wheels and marked and stored indoors ($75 value) (tpms sensors older than 5 years old, may become inoperative during this storage period, the battery inside the tpms sensor is assisted by piezo crystal which supplies a voltage charge while under pressure inside the tire. no pressure means the battery may die)
- Wheels are Inspected for straightness. runout is measured by dial indicator ($100 retail inspection value)
- Any wheels outside of our runout specification of .030” (thirty-thousandths of an inch) a video is captured and sent to you for approval to straighten the wheel ($150 normal retail cost to straighten each wheel, but* special combo pricing of only $75 ea. applies for weekend powder coating VIP customers) **due to the compressed time frame of this offer, we may not hit the Monday AM deadline if we have to wait for you to approve wheel straightening. we recommend pre-approving the costs so that we can go directly to straightening after we send you the videos. If you pre-approve and all 4 wheels check out within spec then no costs are added**
- Wheels are sent to chemical bath to strip the existing coating down to bare metal ($120 retail value)
- Once the wheels are completely clean and rinsed, they are put through a drying/pre-bake cycle to burn off any residual chemical and to condition the alloy for the 400° coating temperature
- After the wheels have cooled, they are sanded and prepared for the sandblasting process. any light to moderate curb rash is removed and smoothed for free. (deeper or more widespread curb rash or severe damage is also sanded and smoothed for an additional charge)
- Sandblasting is the final step to make the wheels ready for coating. The alloy is clean, bright and thoroughly etched with a profile that maximizes coating adhesion. ($200 retail value)
- Lug seats on the face of the wheel are masked AND the hub bore AND the flat mating surface on the back of the wheel is also masked to ensure proper balancing and to ensure that nothing interferes with lug nut torque. This is a feature that none of our local competitors care to attempt.
- The wheels are hung and grounded and powder coated with the desired color.
- The wheels are then oven-cured until the wheel temperature reaches and holds 400° for 10 minutes.
- Once the wheels cool to room temperature after the oven-cure, they are considered fully cured. The tire pressure sensors that we indexed in the beginning of the process are installed on the wheels and The tires are then carefully mounted via our cutting edge fully automatic touch-less mount machine, the Hunter Engineering TCR1. This ensures that no accidental damage occurs during the mounting process. ($75 retail value)
- The tires are then balanced via our laser-guided Hunter Engineering Road Force Elite balancer. This ensures the most accurate balance possible. This also applies a 400 lb roller to the tire while it spins, revealing the quality and roadworthiness of the tire. The machine then suggests solutions for tires that do not roll smoothly while loaded. Solutions include laser-measuring the deflection of the wheel vs the irregularities in the tire and providing us with an ideal mating mark to “clock” the tire on the wheel so that the matched assembly will then roll as smoothly as possible given how far out of spec the wheel/tire assembly was previously. (some shops charge $160-$200 for diagnostic balancing)
- Once balanced, the ceramic wheel protectant topcoat is applied and cured for 2 hours (specially formulated for protecting powdercoat finishes) ($400 value)
- The balanced wheel/tire assembly is then installed and torqued properly in the same position on the vehicle they came from. For example, the passenger front tire and sensor go back on the passenger front of the car.
- Vehicle is ready to drive (tpms sensors may need time to reinitialize, this may mean a few miles but could mean a few hours)
Added Loaner Offer Feature not normally included with any other offer:
- Loaner vehicle provided at no additional cost when you pre-pay and schedule the job 30-days out
- DOUBLE the Workmanship Guarantee to 6 years. Your wheels won't peel or delaminate or lose gloss for no reason or we do them again for free! (curb damage or staining from chemicals or"wheel cleaners" or damage from car washes is not covered.)