Does anyone know if the forged aluminum rims that came on the 2005 trucks have a coating on them?

Wondering if I can polish them without messing up a coating...

Gerry

 

I don't know specificly about your '05 wheels, but when I had my '04s powder coated, the plant had to blast the factory clear coat off. Every late aluminum wheel I've messed with has had a clear coat on it and it's pretty tough. Bare aluminum will turn dull very quickly hence the factory clear coat.

 

cool... thanks...

There are some very light scratches in them (almost swirl like marks) and thought I would check before I tried to polish them out.

Gerry

 

I wish I could get my new rims anodized to a fully black forged wheel. Anyone ever done this?

 

I really think powder coating would hold up better than anodizing. I had mine done in red.

 

I like The American Racing Mojave wheel Teflon coated goes great with the trim on the truck and so easy to clean

 

Motorhead, what do they charge for a good powdercoat job? How durable is the coating?

 

i want a set of them too, but not until they come out with proper backspacing to fit our trucks properly...

 

I have both the 04s and 05s. Yes they ARE coated.....at least on the front, but I have experienced damage on the insides on both from the *@~^&! Mag Cloride they use out here in the west. I think that evil stuff would eat through unobtanium!
I actually bought a set of the chrome wheels, thinking they would at least hold up thru the winter better than the alloys....just the opposite. Have been concidering going to powdercoat, and will try to follow this thread to see how that process holds up. My guess is that it is the toughest.

 

As does most anything, price likely varies with local and competition. I had mine done when I lived in the Florida Keys. Only one powder coat company there and he was BUSY. I paid $85 each for the five wheels I had done. The color was "custom" for him so he wanted a $35 extra for that. When he saw how good they looked, he decided to stock the color & didn't charge me the $35. I had my wheels done both inside and out. If you look thru the slots in the wheels, you see red, not silver. That is, when I bother to wash the inside of the wheels. The job would have been cheaper to have had only the outside done. If you do have your wheels done, be sure and tell them NOT to coat the inside of the hub opening. Just the thickness of the powder coat prevented me from getting mine on. I had two done, then three. Played games with the spare and other wheels to keep the truck from being down. I had to take a die grinder and grind all the coating off the inner hub opening to get 'em on. The last three, he didn't coat & they went on fine. I couldn't have my hub caps done as they are plastic. I just used some touchup paint and painted around the Ram's head red and gave him red eyes. IMO, looks OK. They held up just fine in the Keys. Here in the Texas Panhandle, there really isn't anything around to harm them. No salt air like the Keys and no salt on the roads in winter.

 

Thanks Motorhead.

Maybe I'll try it. I'm off road 50% of the time and am not sure if the powder coat will stand the loose rock flying around although the polished rims seem to be holding up Ok.