kudos to les schwab and wheel vintiques

[special-K]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

cool!!



they actually blast and coat them in house, but in my case their automated system didn't work so they shipped them out.

i can't speak for other models/sizes but i got series 62 15x8's and they clear at least 3/16" all around. here's a pic of them with a 71-72 setup...

Ok, good to know. Now we'll have to watch for Wheel Vintiques 3-nub wheels making an exception to the age old drum vs disc wheel standard of 3-nub vs 4-nub. I passed on a set of Kelsey Hayes 5 on 5 8" steelies at a swap meet because those would have been for older drum brake Ford products. Those you have clear just as the old Kelsey Hayes 5-luggers do. At this point the drum brake 3-nubs will obviously be older wheels while the WVs will show less age. I'm talking buying them used. But a freshly sandblasted powder coated old wheel can look brand new.

Originally Posted by Nitis

IN all honesty powdercoating isn't that hard to do if you have the right equipment $25 is very fair I would have a hard time paying much more than that unless I was doing a special color

I actually started doing some on my own with the harbor freight gun and its pretty slick

Only real limitation is the size of your oven

I'm familiar with the process. I have had countless parts done for 30 or more years. The place I deal with charged $25 a wheel back then ('80s). Now that I know Les Schwab does these in-house I am sure they are doing it at a loss at $25 and figure it helps sell more tires and wheels to make it worthwhile (they made profit on the wheel sale). Just like a shop that does free mounting and balancing. I know I would want more than $100 to do a set. There are materials as well as facility and equipment expenses to take away from that. I can't imagine a paint shop doing a set of wheels for that little.
In the end, to buy a set of Wheel Vintiques steelies from Les Schwab and have them powder coated it will cost more than $25 a wheel. They screwed up on your order and had to eat the cost of outside sandblasting ($156). So my shop charges $260 a set for what Les Schwab would charge $256 to do on wheels they made money on. That's making more sense.

Sorry to distract from your thread, but I felt the 3-nub info was essential info for all. The cost thing I only intended to make the one comment, till other comments on it came in. I have a set of gloss red 8" Kelsey Hayes steelies I had done 10 or more years ago for a truck that never happened. I'll work them in on the '67 I'm doing. I also want to run drag radials on 10" wheels for more frisky times, while retaining 4 tire rotation with the 8s for distance driving. I'll be ordering a pair of 10" WVs at some point