I do not think powdercoat clear flakes off or peels. I’m led to believe this is clearcoat peeling and I got ripped off but either way the rims are expensive. I want to paint them black. Should I sand down to bare aluminum on areas where the coating was compromised, 2k primer, basecoat, clear coat? Any adhesion promoter prior to primer? And I don’t want to just use spray cans. I have jet black urethane base and some Tamco urethane left over from a job. Will urethane work including urethane primer?

Powder coating Aluminum is hit or miss as Aluminum off gasses when its Baked.
Ask any powder coating place.

As far as painting Aluminum its been covered many times a quick search reveals many threads such as this one I did a post on on last page covering how Aircraft aluminum would be treated.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27195&hilit=Painting+aluminum

Just Paint will not be a tough as Powder coating, If getting them re Powder coated is out of question I would polish and seal with Shark Hide.

I wonder if I can just sand it enough for basecoat to bite and clear coat it. Or completely strip it, prime, base/clear

Rule of thumb with me.....If it's coming off....I get it off... Almost all coatings fail on wheels because of the harsh environment they are in and the heat/cold cycling. I'd get them clean then do your finish schedule.

DarrelK wrote:Rule of thumb with me.....If it's coming off....I get it off... Almost all coatings fail on wheels because of the harsh environment they are in and the heat/cold cycling. I'd get them clean then do your finish schedule.

i like that , if its coming off .... get it off
Jay D.

I doubt powdercoat flakes off. I noticed a clear film starting to flake off the rims so that leads me to think it’s not powdercoated

You are probably right....most of the clear powdercoat I've had to deal with came off more like hard chips as it failed.....

it will flake off if the prep is bad just like paint does. I can't imagen anyone mass producing wheels and not using powder coating.
Jay D.

Yea I can’t imagine them not powder coating it either. Where the clear is flaking I can pick it off with my finger nail. I think the guy painted it before. Any other tests to truly see if it’s powdercoat? Would scuffing it’s and bc/cc adhere to it as long as I sand the flaming off?