I have Proteus 18" Wheels on my sport estate. I have taken them in for powder coating and the guy said he would have to remove/drill out all the "fake" Allen screws (they plastic plugs glued in to imitate split rims) in the side wall as the finish would be no good with them left in.

Does anyone know where I could get some replacements. . other than that I'll either have to fit some stainless Allen screws (not screwed in but made to fit and glued, I can't cut a thread in and have them coated as it would be a mess screwing them in afterwards) or some sort of stainless blanking plugs.

 

Interesting.. Several years ago I had an intake manifold and a valve cover powder coated,anything that I didn't wanted coated I simply taped off with masking tape.

I repainted my Proteus wheels and used heat shrink tubing to cover the Allen screws- I cut 1/2 inch or so pieces, slipped them over the screws, used a heat gun to shrink the tubing, then pinched the open ends to seal to them.

YMMV.

 

The issue is with powder coating, the powder is applied and then the item is put into an oven to be baked to make the powder molten and all the individual dust particles form a big sheet on the item and the paint imbeds itself into the item. Because of the heat, the plastic will deform and in the end, crack, resulting in a weak point of the powder coat. I see 3 potential options to this dilemma: 1) powder coat the rims and then super glue allen heads into the holes after the fact and hope they don't come out over time, 2) simply leave the open holes as more of a decorative thing and powder coat the rim like that, or 3) have the holes filled with something that can withstand the heat and then powder coat the rim to effectively get rid of the allen holes in the rim.

If you do the allen head replacement, keep in mind that you are most likely going to have to go 1 size down in the head size as the powder coat has got some thickness to it and that may make the current size head to big to fit in the opening after the fact. Just something to ponder.

I have some experience with powder coating as this was a common thing we did to metal parts that were subjected to salt water on the submarines I was on. It is a great protector until you chip it/scratch it and expose the metal underneath.

 

Hi

Yes. . . I have looked at using some sort of industrial adhesive to bond some stainless Allen screws in place of the plastic.

Not sure about leaving the hole with nothing in it. . look a bit weird . . . just looking around for some sort of stainless blanking plug.

I picked the wheels up today and OMG do they look fantastic

All the best Thermo