Should I sandblast my wheel centers?

[allieverwanted]

I am planning on dropping off the centers of my wheels for paint soon. I do not plan on using powder, but paint instead. I have a few dents in the finish of the wheel and body filler or similar will have to be used to fill them, as you can see below.

I am wondering if I should have these sandblasted, or instead just have them hand sanded and then painted by the body shop.

[C.Johnston]

do whatever you want. either will be fine.

[allieverwanted]

do whatever you want. either will be fine.

How much material does blasting take off? Just out of curiosity.

So, you can apply paint and body filler directly to a sandblasted surface? Is any other prep work required, or do you just blast and start painting?

[scotto]

use a media blast instead of sand (walnut shells are readily available and softer on the finish) then just prime and paint.

[allieverwanted]

Thanks guys, and one last question. For 90 degree sharp angles, the media blast won't round off the corners or anything correct?

[KyleAnderson]

Thanks guys, and one last question. For 90 degree sharp angles, the media blast won't round off the corners or anything correct?

Not enough for you to notice.

[SwagenGti]

I blasted my old ASA AR1's. I tried using aircraft paint remover and it didn't do a damn thing. So I tried blasting with walnuts, but they were too big for my nozzle/gun so I went with aluminum oxide; works like a charm.

[High_5er]

I've only used chemical stripper. But thats just me. Any reason why you want to go with paint rather than powder?

[Chasen88]

I've only used chemical stripper. But thats just me. Any reason why you want to go with paint rather than powder?

I was wondering the same.

[C.Johnston]

Thanks guys, and one last question. For 90 degree sharp angles, the media blast won't round off the corners or anything correct?

less so than sanding, that's for sure.

he does not want to powder coat them because they aren't completely flat due to some chipping or something in the alum.. that said, that could be fixed and wheels powder coated. usually the finish is thick enough that it will fill it some blemishes anyhow.

it's expensive being cheap, do it right - to last - the first time.

[High_5er]

less so than sanding, that's for sure.

he does not want to powder coat them because they aren't completely flat due to some chipping or something in the alum.. that said, that could be fixed and wheels powder coated. usually the finish is thick enough that it will fill it some blemishes anyhow.

it's expensive being cheap, do it right - to last - the first time.

My Hayashi's on my build thread had hella nicks in them from the PO for some weird ass reason. I shopped around when i was looking to get them painted. I found a local powdercoating shop that did really good work, and they only wanted 80 for all four faces!

But the prep they did filled all of the little nicks and the color came out FLAWLESS. So end result: a perfect finish for under a hundred.

just my .02

[SwagenGti]

Yeah, from what I know the powder coaters will strip and prep the wheels and it isn't even that expensive. My next wheels I can get, sure I can strip them my self, but its not worth the trouble when it will only cost me an extra $20 or so...

[allieverwanted]

Thanks for the input guys, I dropped the wheels off for powder yesterday.

[High_5er]

Thanks for the input guys, I dropped the wheels off for powder yesterday.

Well Done lol