Best smart fortwo I have seen so far

[SmartAzz]

I think the colored wheel look could be good on the Smart - personally I'd prefer to paint though, the high temps of powder coating can weaken the alloy.

[bumblebee]

Those sure does look sweet. I wanted to do it at the dealer but the price is just too steep at $1,200. I found a place to powder coat for about $400. But I am having a hard time figuring out how to put my smart on 4 jack stands. They don't give you much room to work with to lift the car and put the jack stand right next to it. I've tried with no success. Has anyone tried putting jack stands on their smart yet?

[Smartdavis]

Originally Posted by SmartAzz

I think the colored wheel look could be good on the Smart - personally I'd prefer to paint though, the high temps of powder coating can weaken the alloy.

Is weakening the alloy a serious problem with the wheels that came with the Smart or is powder coating safe enough that you can do this with confidence?

[911k]

Any Wheels America location will powder coat the wheels any color you like for $125 per wheel with overnight service. We use the Dallas location at work all the time and they do excellent work.

[SmartPassion]

Originally Posted by SmartAzz

I think the colored wheel look could be good on the Smart - personally I'd prefer to paint though, the high temps of powder coating can weaken the alloy.

It does? I never heard of that. I would imagine the temperature while powder coating could be any higher than when the wheel was originally cast.

[SmartAzz]

Originally Posted by SmartPassion

It does? I never heard of that. I would imagine the temperature while powder coating could be any higher than when the wheel was originally cast.

It's a different issue once the wheel is cast, as I understand it the high temps required for powdercoating can make the alloys/metals more brittle. I've read and learned about it on other forums and articles - might want to search online if you want more info (that's what I'd have to do at this point too).

I'm sure it might be fine with lots of wheels and under various circumstances, but what I learned was enough to dissuade me from taking the risk considering the very poor pothole ridden streets we have here.

[SmartAzz]

Originally Posted by 911k

Any Wheels America location will powder coat the wheels any color you like for $125 per wheel with overnight service. We use the Dallas location at work all the time and they do excellent work.

Ironic you mention that company, a location local to us ineptly ruined a BBS wheel of ours they were supposed to fix and the whole thing was a crazy scenario. I'd check specifics and referrals from people and trusted body shops on any particular branch of a chain or car related business first.

[SmartAzz]

Here's a in depth discussion about it - over my head but it pretty much reveals the fact that it is kind of a crap shoot considering all the factors. Enjoy

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.c...151053&page=10

[smartune]

Get your wheels powdercoated and enjoy a hassle-free finish, I haven't heard nor experienced anything negative related to the process.

-Dan

[Fredvon4]

With thanks to a guy named Corey I don't have to look this up

I have been powder coating cast and forged aluminum rims for 2 decades now with zero failures under racing conditions

The liability of components like this are such that the wheel strengths are usually three or four times the worst case weights and stresses they will experience "in service"

The weight of this particular car, and the side loads at maximum speed and lateral load are never going to get close to stressing the wheels into the fracture range.

Form Corey's post in the link above

ASM Handbook Volume 2, Properties and Selection: Nonferrous Alloys and Special-Purpose Materials has the following information:

356-T6: aging at 305 to 315 °F for 2 to 5 hours
Yield stress = 185 MPa
Ultimate stress = 262 MPa
Fracture strain = 0.05

356-T7: aging at 435 to 445 °F for 7 to 9 hours
Yield stress = 165 MPa
Ultimate stress = 220 MPa
Fracture strain = 0.06

Based on these data, a 400 °F treatment for less than 1 hour shouldn't reduce the fatigue strength significantly.
Regards,

Cory

What he is describing is the aging ( heat treating) of 356 aluminum alloy (the typical alloy in cast aluminum wheels) to either T6 strength (optimum for wheels) or T7 strength (slightly more brittle)

The powder coating process requires a 360F~420F oven cure for some where between 15 to 50 minutes... this is not hot enough for long enough time to change a cast wheel from T6 to T7....

If you have 6061 forged alloy wheels the processes to anneal (heat treat them) is not affected at all from the short term powder cure process.

You can safely powder coat any wheel with out fear of making it weaker.

These same wheels ( the factory ones) come from the same alloys and companies that provide wheels to MB for cars that weight 3 to 5 times more and are rated at 2 to 3 times higher speeds... Trust me they are significantly over engineered for this application.