Powder Coat or Paint Comstars?

jhendu21

New Member
Looking to powder coat or paint my comstars... Anyone have a preference? Anything I should be concerned about?
 
To PC or not to PC, a play in one BASIC part

By Rich Ard

10 *mydlyfkrysis*: Don't do it blah blah blah

20 *o1marc* Do it blah blah blah

30 GOTO 10
 
Rich Ard said:
To PC or not to PC, a play in one BASIC part

By Rich Ard

10 *mydlyfkrysis*: Don't do it blah blah blah

20 *o1marc* Do it blah blah blah

30 GOTO 10


I'm not even gonna try and help someone who won't search for the answer first. It's not like this subject is even cold yet.

Rich, I liked the intermission, had time to go get some popcorn. ;)


Actually I will answer his question. Yes, everyone has a preference.
 
To powder coat the wheels you have to remove all of the bearings and everything else in the wheel and to paint them you don't.
Powder coating the wheels is well worth it but my wheels were a real pain. The bearing retainers take specialized removers which of course are no longer offered in the USA and you have to improvise.

I did actually find the large retainer removal tool and guess where it was. YEP you got JAPAN!

It's your choice. You can always repaint redoing the powder coat harder and more expensive.
 
I think I know what you mean by the bearing retainer, I changed the bearings and seals in my wheels a few days ago and I had to use a chisel and a hammer....put the end in one of the four holes and start hammering away until it turns

oooo that sounds dirty
 
Re: Re: Powder Coat or Paint Comstars?

edukaycheon said:
I think I know what you mean by the bearing retainer, I changed the bearings and seals in my wheels a few days ago and I had to use a chisel and a hammer....put the end in one of the four holes and start hammering away until it turns

oooo that sounds dirty

It is also not the way to do it
 
Re: Re: Powder Coat or Paint Comstars?

o1marc said:
I'm not even gonna try and help someone who won't search for the answer first. It's not like this subject is even cold yet.

Rich, I liked the intermission, had time to go get some popcorn. ;)


Actually I will answer his question. Yes, everyone has a preference.

Best answer I've seen yet!
 
I wouldn't use Comstars ;D
If you have to though, paint them.
Nothing against powder coat but, Comstar is a composite wheel, early ones were stainless steel and alloy, bolted and riveted together
Later ones were all alloy bolted and riveted together
I'm not sure what (if anything) would happen when heated to 400f, they were never designed to get that hot
To remove the bearing retainer rings YOU MUST drill 1/8" hole, 1/8" deep on the punch marks'Honda say 6mm 1/4" deep but I've never found that necessary.
Instructions are in the service manual but no one reads the words, just looks at the pictures
 
PJ, 400*f for 10 minutes will not have any detrimental effect on any of the metal parts.
 
Re: Re: Powder Coat or Paint Comstars?

o1marc said:
PJ, 400*f for 10 minutes will not have any detrimental effect on any of the metal parts.

+1
 
Wait not to thread jack but what does drilling the bearing retainer do? How do you get it to screw in or out from there?
 
I think it depends what you want and how much you're willing to spend.

I rattle canned my comstars with epoxy appliance paint, and it works pretty good. Only problem is if you spill any brake hydraulic fluid onto them. Brake fluid will make your paint dissolve and flake off.

I've leaked a bit of hydraulic fluid on the right side of my rims, and its pretty torn up now. Most of the paint on the rim edge is gone. That said, I still don't mind. Only set me back $10.
 
edukaycheon said:
Wait not to thread jack but what does drilling the bearing retainer do? How do you get it to screw in or out from there?
Retainer is staked along the threads and you should drill that punch mark out before turning... Like crazypj said, it's in the manual.

And as far as the OP question, I vote "Neither".
They're rather pretty under that fatory coating.
 

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Hoosier Daddy said:
Retainer is staked along the threads and you should drill that punch mark out before turning... Like crazypj said, it's in the manual.

And as far as the OP question, I vote "Neither".
They're rather pretty under that fatory coating.

I wish I had your patients HD

Those "special Tools" are available on ebay £10 over here. The one that has the 4 round holes on just put in a couple of right sized drills in there opposite each other and use a flat bar to wind them out. After drilling out the punch mark first.
 
o1marc said:
PJ, 400*f for 10 minutes will not have any detrimental effect on any of the metal parts.

It's a heat treated alloy, 400f is around the treatment temp, but, I'm really more concerned about the differential expansion rates between components as I've seen the spokes come loose where they are riveted to rim (I was working at a Honda dealers when these things were brand new)
 
That heat treat cycle would have been between 6 and 30 hours Pj :)
 
I know, but, 30 yrs of exposure to the elements can have all sorts of effects.
Main thing would be oxidation/corrosion inside the holes where things are riveted, heating/cooling cycle could cause things to loosen off by unnoticable amount when first done but failure in use could be catastrophic
I know there is at least one online article where someone replaced all the rivets with bolts because spokes were 'moving' during use
It's slim chance anything will happen short term but I've seen all sorts of failures on stuff, many of which are age related
Weirdest was probably a 1950's Cooper race car with cast magnesium wheels (and Vincent single cylinder 500 motor)
That was the first time I'd heard of intergranular corrosion of alloys and why the wheels got changed when it went to the track for demo days (probably around 1975)
 
I've heard every conceivable wife's tale about about how heating wheels or whatever while powder coating caused the part to fail. I have challenged ever person, interweb or in person, to show me documentation of just one case to back their claim. I'm still waiting, because they are just that, wife's tales. I would agree to not take the chance when the parts are used for 10/10ths racing where parts are often stressed to limit and beyond. Heat treating of aluminum is usually higher than 400*F and as Rich mentioned for extremely long hours. 400*f for 10-20 minutes is not going to hurt anything or cause a failure that was not already in progress.
As an example, heating aluminum to 500*f may weaken it by up to 2%. Most wheel manufacturers do not make their product to 100% of what is safely needed, they usually exceed the requirement by 50%. So by losing 2% you would now be at 148% of the required safe limit. Far from something to worry about. I spent many hours on the phone with some of the best metallurgists in the country before taking a chance by powder coating my priceless magnesium Kimtab Snowflake alloys.
 
Point of fact - there are heat treat cycles that run as low as 350F if I recall correctly.

That said - even though Al is a fantastic conductor - 10 min in an oven isn't going to bring the material up to that temperature.
 
The problem isn't wheels, the problem is Comstar wheels.
They have issues even if you don't mess with them
o1marc, have you even looked for the Honda service bulletin telling how to check Comstars or faults?
 
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