Itinerant Air-Cooled

We got Gertie's wheels powder coated last week and now I see that some fret the lug bolts can work off, due to the nature of the powder coating. Others worry that the baking process weakens the metal (this strikes me as less plausible; the temps aren't that high, are they?).
Thoughts?

I've had powder coated wheels on my '71 for about a decade.

Occasionally, I count the wheels to make sure that there are still four, and so far I have not lost even one of them.

I still count though, 'cause you never know.

Take a small rotary tool with a grinding attachment and grind off the powdercoat where the lugs contact the wheel -- just a little bit. That's what I did with mine. Takes all of a minute or so.

Of course, you probably have lug nuts, right? Pretty much the same thing, maybe a little more surface area, I forget, but same principle.

MeyerII wrote:Of course, you probably have lug nuts, right? Pretty much the same thing, maybe a little more surface area, I forget, but same principle.

I was severely chastised once by an ACVW mechanic for calling these...



..."lug nuts", and it's stuck with me. Lug nuts being the components that hold the wheel on with this kind of set-up:



...and lug bolts being the component of the first kind above, which Beetles and Type IIIs have.

I think I'll do the grinder thing when I do my brakes soon--thanks!

whc03grady wrote:

MeyerII wrote:Of course, you probably have lug nuts, right? Pretty much the same thing, maybe a little more surface area, I forget, but same principle.

I was severely chastised once by an ACVW mechanic for calling these...



..."lug nuts", and it's stuck with me. Lug nuts being the components that hold the wheel on with this kind of set-up:



...and lug bolts being the component of the first kind above, which Beetles and Type IIIs have.

I think I'll do the grinder thing when I do my brakes soon--thanks!

Yes I appreciate the difference, which is why I mentioned it. I call the things that hold the wheels on my '65 T3 "lugs", and the things that held the wheels on my '71 camper "lug nuts". I don't want to call them "bolts", because to me, they aren't bolts - they're "lug bolts", which as you say, they they should best be called.

But yeah - I was asking the same questions you were when I had my wheels powdercoated and got all sorts of loose-lug horror stories. IIRC, every story was second-hand, though - so it could be a myth, who knows? Still didn't stop me from grinding that stuff off, though.

 

MeyerII wrote:Still didn't stop me from grinding that stuff off, though.

 

Did you find that the powder coating wanted to flake away/peel back from the spots where you ground it off, or does powder coating just not work that way?

whc03grady wrote:

MeyerII wrote:Still didn't stop me from grinding that stuff off, though.

 

Did you find that the powder coating wanted to flake away/peel back from the spots where you ground it off, or does powder coating just not work that way?

If you're using a high RPM spinning tool like a Dremmel (sp?), it will come off only where you tell it to. A steady hand is all that's required.