99 Vfr W. Newly Powder-coated Wheels And Pilot Road 2s.

I just replaced my tires (Pilot Road 2s) and, while the wheels were off the bike, sent them to Kevin Sluder at Powder Perfect, Inc.

http://www.powderperfect.com/

Kevin turned them around in one day(!), communicated flawlessly, and did a really nice job. $125 total for both wheels, plus shipping.

I think the silver color ("Bengal Silver") makes the VFR look much "lighter" than the stock black rims did. I'm very pleased. Just thought I'd share.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e294/F14Scott/VFRsnewwheelstires.jpg

Looks great and I'm sure you'll love the Road 2's! :fing02:

btw the USA is one of the few or only country that put black rims on the VFR! :dry:

Looks good and it seems like a reasonable price. I'd do it too!

Looks great, $125 is what my local shops want per wheel!

[image: View Post]vfrcapn, on Jun 28 2009, 04:56 AM, said:

Looks great, $125 is what my local shops want per wheel!

Shipping via UPS Ground, both ways, with $500 insurance both ways, was $65 dollars, total. I just had UPS make a pre-paid return label and put it in the box with the rims when I shipped them out. I even remembered to have them shipped back not to me, but to my local bike shop, so I wouldn't have to make an extra trip (although I did, anyway, to see them before installation, but it was still nice to not have to lug them around).

I UPSed them on a Friday, and they arrived back at the shop on Wednesday.

Hi F14SCOTT; I really like you wheels, two question, did you have to remove the orig. wheel bearings and install new ones after the powdercoating?
if so what kind of bearings did you use? eddie

[image: View Post]onedowneaster, on Jun 28 2009, 07:36 AM, said:

Hi F14SCOTT; I really like you wheels, two question, did you have to remove the orig. wheel bearings and install new ones after the powdercoating?
if so what kind of bearings did you use? eddieI'm going to guess there are ways to mask the bearings from the bead blasting. The powder coat is very thick and you wouldn't want it in on any machined surfaces as it will have to be removed for the bearings to fit. Had my fork lowers done and had to clean out the axel slots to fit the axel back in.

Wheels look great! I'm tired of my black rims but they do hide brake dust well. :cool:

When I had my wheels powdercoated, the bearings had to come out. With the heat of the oven, the wheel bearing grease can drip out and ruin the powedercoating job. New bearings were ordered from All Balls.

[image: View Post]F14Scott, on Jun 27 2009, 06:09 PM, said:

I just replaced my tires (Pilot Road 2s) and, while the wheels were off the bike, sent them to Kevin Sluder at Powder Perfect, Inc.

http://www.powderperfect.com/

Kevin turned them around in one day(!), communicated flawlessly, and did a really nice job. $125 total for both wheels, plus shipping.

I think the silver color ("Bengal Silver") makes the VFR look much "lighter" than the stock black rims did. I'm very pleased. Just thought I'd share.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e294/F14Scott/VFRsnewwheelstires.jpg


Looks great,

What did you do to prep the wheel?

Merlin

[image: View Post]VFR Capt.Bob, on Jun 28 2009, 05:26 PM, said:

[image: View Post]onedowneaster, on Jun 28 2009, 07:36 AM, said:

Hi F14SCOTT; I really like you wheels, two question, did you have to remove the orig. wheel bearings and install new ones after the powder coating?
if so what kind of bearings did you use? eddieI'm going to guess there are ways to mask the bearings from the bead blasting. The powder coat is very thick and you wouldn't want it in on any machined surfaces as it will have to be removed for the bearings to fit. Had my fork lowers done and had to clean out the axel slots to fit the axel back in.

Wheels look great! I'm tired of my black rims but they do hide brake dust well. :cool:

Actually, the bearings had to come out, because powder coating involves baking at 400 degrees. If one leaves the bearings in, the grease runs out of them when heated and mucks up the powder coat. I also imagine some of the sand blasting media would find its way into the bearings, no matter how well one taped them off, and that would kill them in short order. My shop replaced the pair of wheel bearings and the pair of dust seals with OEM Honda ones for $20 parts and .5 hours labor. The original spacer was fine.

The dust seals came right out with a screwdriver, but when I tried to pull the bearings out, my car bearing puller was too big and I couldn't get it to hook the edge. So, when I got to the bike shop, my guy showed me his method. He had an old electric stove in the corner. He put my wheel on it, suspended by a couple of 2x4 blocks, with the center right above a burner, which he turned on. About five minutes later, we heard a "clunk;" the bearing had fallen right out, along with the spacer. We flipped it over, and the other one fell out in one minute. Slick!

I also needed to remove the valve stems, but they were easy; just run a razor blade around the stem on the inboard side of the rim, then use a pair of pliers to rip the stem in half, then push the remaining part out the outboard side of the rim.

So, basically, I sent Kevin two solid circles of aluminum, and nothing more. He cleaned them, taped off the machined surfaces, sand blasted them, and powder coated them.