[Chucksta]

I've got one rim about as nice as it's going to get, and another two not that far behind. It's time to do a final scrubbing, but first I'll "off gas " the rims by baking them in the oven at 400 F for about an hour each, to burn off anything that is in the pores of the metal. Then a pass with the wire wheel, wipe with alcohol and take a tack rag to it as a final step before coating and baking.

As it's physically impossible to see both sides of the car at the same time, I'm going to give two rims one colour scheme and two rims a different one. One side will be "Liquid Mirror Black" powder, shot into the back of the rim, without masking off the front section of the rim, and then the "Clear Burgundy" shot onto the spoke side, once again without masking. I should land up with a bit of the black mirror coating on the back edges of the spokes, underneath the Burgundy. The second rim for that side will get the same colour scheme, with the only difference being that I'll mask between the inside and the spoke side when I apply the powder coating. The two wheels for the other side will be done the same methodology, but I'll be using "Lamborghini Silver Vein" on the inside of the rim, instead of the liquid black. I hadn't made a colour choice before I started this, as I thought it was best to wait until I saw how well the rims came out physically. At this point, I'm pretty sure I can get a decent finish on the spokes with a clear colour, but it's doubtful on the on the (inside ) back of the rim, hence the choice of a solid colour powder. I'd never noticed it before, but the inside of a stock rim isn't smooth, it's grooved. Getting the surface pristine enough to have just clear coated them would have been a royal PITA.

When powder coating is being baked, it's around 25 minutes to cure, but that time only starts when the piece is up to curing temperature. on something like a belt buckle or fishing lure, it's just a case of add a couple of minutes to the curing time, set the timer and wait for it to go off. As a rim is a significant amount of metal to heat up to curing temperature, I'm probably looking at more like 45 minutes to an hour per rim. I have a IR / Laser temp gun from my nitro RC stuff to temp check the rim for when to start the clock. I think I'll have more than enough time to prep the fourth rim while baking the other three.