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Ceramic coating on new painted wheels


chocoholic_too

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Hi there,

I just bought new rims to upgrade my Audi S5 from 18" to 19" wheels. I decided I wanted to protect the wheels right off the bat so I ordered the ceramic wheel coating kit. My question is this, since they are still in the box and never been on a vehicle before, do I still have to go through the entire pre cleaning process or do I just wipe them down with a clean microfiber towel and skip straight to the coating?

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You still need to follow the preparation steps, even if they are new.  They likely have contaminates on the surfaces from manufacturing, shipping, handling, etc.

 

Use the Coating Prep to get them cleaned up before applying the coating.  I would also suggest inspecting them carefully for any scratches or swirls that should be fixed prior to prep and coating.

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You do need to do the whole cleaning process. You can most likely skip polishing. But understand that with coatings, prep is literally everything. Anything on the surface of the wheel will be permanent. Don’t skip a little bit of work to save time. 

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Just now, TheWolf said:

You still need to follow the preparation steps, even if they are new.  They likely have contaminates on the surfaces from manufacturing, shipping, handling, etc.

 

Use the Coating Prep to get them cleaned up before applying the coating.  I would also suggest inspecting them carefully for any scratches or swirls that should be fixed prior to prep and coating.

 

Great minds and all that Dan!

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21 minutes ago, GXPaycheck said:

If you do the barrels, try not to get the coating on the areas where wheel weights go. They can have trouble sticking to the coating. 

 

I agree 100% Brian.  Since it's impossible to tell exactly where the weights will be needed, I suggest leaving the barrels alone for now so any necessary wheel weights can be applied directly to the naked wheel, not the coating. Once the tires are mounted and balanced, then I would prep accordingly and hit the barrels with the ceramic coating.    

Edited by ZMAN024
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31 minutes ago, ZMAN024 said:

 

I agree 100% Brian.  Since it's impossible to tell exactly where the weights will be needed, I suggest leaving the barrels alone for now so any necessary wheel weights can be applied directly to the naked wheel, not the coating. Once the tires are mounted and balanced, then I would prep accordingly and hit the barrels with the ceramic coating.    

 

Good advice!  

 

Our preferred installation technique is an airbrush for wheels. It allows us to apply it evenly requiring less buffing while getting better coverage. Harbor Freight has an inexpensive set up and if you trash a brush, it’s $10 to replace it. The other bonus is speed of installation. We can coat four wheels in less than half the time of hand application. 

 

Those wheels don’t look bad to do either way. Just tossing options out there.

 

Next time we do a set of wheels, I’m planning on doing a photo sequence “how-to” for the forum. We have a few clients just waiting for better weather to have their vehicles done. Appointments are on the books though. I’d say that “how-to” should be done sometime in April.

 

And Oz, we may cover that technique at the clinic. I believe someone requested it. I’d have to bounce through my messages to make sure that request was made by someone attending. But I believe it’s on the agenda (which is still very loose in format for now).

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ugh, didn't think of that. That's going to be a problem since I was planning on having the tire shop mount and balance the wheels and put them on right away. I don't have another car to fall back on so getting to the barrels while the wheels are on the car might be a tad problematic.

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13 hours ago, ZMAN024 said:

 

I agree 100% Brian.  Since it's impossible to tell exactly where the weights will be needed, I suggest leaving the barrels alone for now so any necessary wheel weights can be applied directly to the naked wheel, not the coating. Once the tires are mounted and balanced, then I would prep accordingly and hit the barrels with the ceramic coating.    

Only problem there is the tires will need re-balancing long before the coating wears away.

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