Restoring Jota wheels

ngiles

ngiles

Senior member
Location
Sydney, Australia
My Jota restoration is coming along and the only piece I have not really figured what to do with are the wheels and brake calipers.  I figure in both cases they need stripping back and then re-coating.  The question is what is the best way to go about this - sand blasting, bead blasting, paint stripper - and then paint them, powder coat...?

I have had a pretty poor experience of powder coating - frame which looked crappy and I had re-sprayed, satin finish brake cylinder which is too gloss....I figure paint is too susceptible to damage when changing tyres...

I'd welcome any points of view about the best way to go.

Cheers, Nick
 
Get the wheels checked for straightness before you get into blasting and paint. You may be surprised how much they are out. Easy enough to check while they are still mounted with aid of a dial gauge. Even a bit of wire clamped to a fork or the swing arm will tell you if they are warped or not.
 
Nick, I agree with Davo, check the wheels for damage and straightness before you even look at refinishing.
I would not use sand blasting at all, too aggressive IMO.  Bead blasting works a treat and just requires some time spent making sure no residue is left..

You will notice that the LAV mag wheels have quite a thick layer of undercoat, this is to allow a much smoother finish than just a thin undercoat and finish coat onto the raw casting.  You will also notice lots of casting dags/sprue which can be carefully filed back for a much better look if you have the time and energy. 
Then get the finish done.

Unless you are using somebody you know and trust, I would go with a painted finish against a powder coat, but that is a personal thing. The use of high build primer and undercoat pays dividends in over-all finish, but multiple coats adds to the cost due to having to be rubbed back between coats.              If it is going to a known, high quality powder coater, then powder coat is a good option., but your colour selection is limited.
Hope this helps.
 
DavidH said:
Unless you are using somebody you know and trust, I would go with a painted finish against a powder coat, but that is a personal thing. The use of high build primer and undercoat pays dividends in over-all finish, but multiple coats adds to the cost due to having to be rubbed back between coats.              If it is going to a known, high quality powder coater, then powder coat is a good option., but your colour selection is limited.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

We are blessed in Brisbane to have access to a custom powder coating company that specializes in custom powder finishes and Roberto has formulated a near perfect Laverda silver finish that we use on wheels, frames, etc.
Is so close to identical to the original finish that you would not be able to tell it was not factory finish.

we send the wheels to Dave Kellet first to have them checked for trueness and to repair any damage, they then come back to our workshop and we strip them and then send them to Roberto's Custom Powder to be finished in whatever colour we need for the bike in question

Have seen Roberto's range of colours that are available, he would have to have over 500 colours on hand in all different shades and finishes like flat, satin, gloss and then the various custom finishes where he replicates say the finish on a Bosch headlight shell which is a perfect match

 
Hi Nick, If the brake callipers have been painted, which a lot have been, then you can just remove the paint with paint stripper, this should reveal the lovely blue grey of the original anodised finish.
You cant get them re anodised in Australia as far as I know, so then its only powder coating or cerelac coating. check out Ducati Paddy's website for pics of ceralac coating.
I just took mine back to original and although they are pretty worn in places they look fine in my opinion.
hope this helps.
Cheers
Tom
 
Hey Nick

Brisbane isn't too far from Sydney, so I reckon it would be worth talking to Red about his man doing them in powder coat.

I'm not a fan of powder coat myself for similar reasons to you - bad experience with local PC mob.  But it seems Red has his man Roberto well trained.

If you're into DIY. High build epoxy would be a good option. It's generally available from people who sell marine coatings (I'm actually cleaning, de-rusting and re-painting the bilge of my steel boat with it at present). You can get a pretty good finish with a fine brush, so minimal sanding back required between coats. Might not be available in the colour you want so you may need a compatible top coat.

Cheers,
Cam
 
TC said:
Hi Nick, If the brake callipers have been painted, which a lot have been, then you can just remove the paint with paint stripper, this should reveal the lovely blue grey of the original anodised finish.
You cant get them re anodised in Australia as far as I know, so then its only powder coating or cerelac coating. check out Ducati Paddy's website for pics of ceralac coating.
I just took mine back to original and although they are pretty worn in places they look fine in my opinion.
hope this helps.
Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...

Plenty of places will anodise brake calipers and indeed mastercylinders in Oz. Had mine done at Aeroplate.
 
Std anondising should be easy, hard anandising not so much but I eventual found a place in Meolbourne. I want to anandise my Flush fit petrol cap suround, the fuel stripped its power coating off in 3 or 4 years. I am hopeing for permantent fuel risstance with Red anaondising.
 
I had my Jota rims powder-coated in 1998 together with the frame. The frame has done roughly 30.000km since then, the rims most of the same millage (until I changed to GSX-R-Rims). The BIG advantage of powder-coating is that the surface is much harder and more resistant to almost anything that would leave a scratch or lift paint off of a painted frame or rim. Also, the brake-dust gets off just with some minimal afford. You can even wipe it off dry... Disadvantage is though, that changing color afterwards is harder and if something damages the surface, you can not just touch it up with some paint...

i would still prefer powder-coating at any time at least for the rims, assumed they are good and the powder coater knows his job.
 
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