I hate prepping wheels!

[Guest]

Does anyone else hate stripping old paint with chemicals and media blasting wheels as much as I do? I wouldn't mind it so much if I was actually charging for it, but this is my own fault... I'm too nice and always end up losing time and money on these wheels.

Sorry for my ranting, but hopefully I can get some ideas on how to either avoid doing all this extra work, find more efficient ways, or find a way to just apply additional charges.

Today's example is a set of 15" wheels for a customer's track setup. They are aluminum and unfortunately came painted from the manufacturer. Not just paint of course, primer, paint, and clear coat! So far I'm 4 hours into these wheels and have just not gotten 95% of each wheel clean and ready for sand blasting. About another hour and they will both be ready for powder. You can see how 5 hours for 2 small wheels can be an issue when I'm not charging nearly enough

I know this is more of a business question than powder coating, but we're all in the powder coating business so hopefully I can get some feedback.

What would you typically do in a situation like this?

A. Bite the bullet. Prep the wheels and finish the job for the quoted price.

B. Inform the customer that additional work is required and hope they accept this.

C. Really bite the bullet and take them to a sand blaster and have them stripped for 40 bucks each.

I don't mind getting a bare metal wheel and doing some light media blasting for the original price, but this is certainly a lot more work.

So here's the other question... What is the most effective way to strip an entire wheel. Chemicals seem to be working well so far. However, they take a while to work, require several coats, and application involves a brush. I want to just dump the entire wheel in this stuff, but I can't find enough information on how to do such a thing.

Thanks again for all the help...

[baz]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Juan]Does anyone else hate stripping old paint with chemicals and media blasting wheels as much as I do? I wouldn't mind it so much if I was actually charging for it, but this is my own fault... I'm too nice and always end up losing time and money on these wheels.

Sorry for my ranting, but hopefully I can get some ideas on how to either avoid doing all this extra work, find more efficient ways, or find a way to just apply additional charges.

Today's example is a set of 15" wheels for a customer's track setup. They are aluminum and unfortunately came painted from the manufacturer. Not just paint of course, primer, paint, and clear coat! So far I'm 4 hours into these wheels and have just not gotten 95% of each wheel clean and ready for sand blasting. About another hour and they will both be ready for powder. You can see how 5 hours for 2 small wheels can be an issue when I'm not charging nearly enough

I know this is more of a business question than powder coating, but we're all in the powder coating business so hopefully I can get some feedback.

What would you typically do in a situation like this?

A. Bite the bullet. Prep the wheels and finish the job for the quoted price.

B. Inform the customer that additional work is required and hope they accept this.

C. Really bite the bullet and take them to a sand blaster and have them stripped for 40 bucks each.

I don't mind getting a bare metal wheel and doing some light media blasting for the original price, but this is certainly a lot more work.

So here's the other question... What is the most effective way to strip an entire wheel. Chemicals seem to be working well so far. However, they take a while to work, require several coats, and application involves a brush. I want to just dump the entire wheel in this stuff, but I can't find enough information on how to do such a thing.

Thanks again for all the help...

you won t like my answer but here it is anyway.
B is out of question because it is not the customers fault if you don t have the right equipment to do the job .so that leaves you with A or C your call .
next job you get make sure you add stripping to the price .
using a tank filled with stripper would save you lots of time .
in my case i send out all my parts that need to be stripped to a place tht does just that . most wheels he charges me 20 $ and he picks them up and delivers when done

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Juan]
you won t like my answer but here it is anyway.
B is out of question because it is not the customers fault if you don t have the right equipment to do the job .so that leaves you with A or C your call .
next job you get make sure you add stripping to the price .
using a tank filled with stripper would save you lots of time .
in my case i send out all my parts that need to be stripped to a place tht does just that . most wheels he charges me 20 $ and he picks them up and delivers when done

I have no reason to not like your answer, I asked for it

I really don't see how B is out of the question. Powder coating can't be the only industry where a customer fails to describe a part when asking for a quote and is then informed of additional work.

I will be adding stripping to wheels from now on, the question is whether it would be more cost effective to add the price of sending them off or acquire additional equipment and do it in house. I realize this is totally depending on my needs, which is why I ask what others are doing to get some feedback.

I like the idea of a tank filled with stripper, but I'm sure there is more to it than just dumping a few gallons of chemical in a 55 gallon drum. Filters, heaters, safety issues, etc... I just can't find a good resource for information on the subject.

[rbroker]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Do you have a pricing structure setup so every person gets the same price? I suggest you make one rather than make on the fly qoutes. Then you don't have to be the bad guy and give them a sweet deal and take a loss. ( each time i've made on the fly quotes I've gotten burned.)

I explictly highlight the fact that to the customer if they bring me parts that require longer than normal prep procedures that they will incur a shop fee of 50 per hour to clean/prep it more. In other words, really greasy gunky stuff. I also have a charge for chemical stripping, because lets face it, at 240 bucks for five gallons of stripper I better get more $ for it. I generally work all this into a quote though, the customer doesn't care about price breakouts, just what the end total will be.

Sounds like you need to work out a deal with the local sandblaster too.

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Do you have a pricing structure setup so every person gets the same price? I suggest you make one rather than make on the fly qoutes. Then you don't have to be the bad guy and give them a sweet deal and take a loss. ( each time i've made on the fly quotes I've gotten burned.)

I explictly highlight the fact that to the customer if they bring me parts that require longer than normal prep procedures that they will incur a shop fee of 50 per hour to clean/prep it more. In other words, really greasy gunky stuff. I also have a charge for chemical stripping, because lets face it, at 240 bucks for five gallons of stripper I better get more $ for it. I generally work all this into a quote though, the customer doesn't care about price breakouts, just what the end total will be.

Sounds like you need to work out a deal with the local sandblaster too.

I actually have a small price list on the website which customers are often referred to. Pricing is pretty straight forward and mentions that it includes "basic sand blasting" I guess I need to be more clear about removing previous finishes such as paint and chrome.

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Be aware that removing the previous coating is not always equal.....in other words, you may be trying to remove a difficult finish that is liquid based that is not so easily removed. Versitility is the name of the game for the custom coaters....

what finish are you removing?

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

what finish are you removing?

This is just liquid paint with a heavy clear coat. Chemical can only strip one layer at a time, usually clear and some paint, then all paint, then all primer...

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Try cross hatching down to the substrate...that will allow the chemistry to leach under the coating !

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

What stripper are you using?

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

What stripper are you using?

Aircraft Stripper... I always use a welding wire brush on the finish, this seems to allow the chemical to penetrate very well. It's working great, it's just a lot more time spent on prep than actual powder coating

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Im going threw something very similar right now with a set of harley jugs and heads. A regular customer droped them off with some type of coating on them at first I thought it was just paint my little syphon blast cabinet would not touch it. Took them to my local blaster thinking it was just powder coat wrong again he can normally do a 16" powder coated wheel in 15 min. He did a test on these and called me to warn me that it was going to take a couple of hours at $90 an hour I said hold off. Picked them up tried cyber solve on them no go then air craft stripper err thanks for playing. I thought to myself that if these have held up to all of this I will try coating right over it but befor I did that I put one of the jugs in the oven at 450 for an hour it started smoking like crazy and lifting the coating. At this point Im like great I finaly fiqured out a way to remove whatever this is. Took it out of the oven let it cool and back to the blast cabinet would not touch it again. Finally after warming them up the air craft stripper did its job. I have 5+ hours into just preping these parts normally if they were just painted I can turn them around in that time frame done finished you my pass go and collect $200.

I called the guy and told him that its going to be at least $100 more then I normally do these for him because of the extra work involved he said no problem. This is also the 6th set ive done for him but the only one with whatever this coating is.

My advice call the customer and explain the situation. You can always give them the option of striping or doing the majority of the prep themselves to save on cost.

For anything large wheels frames ect I send it all out to the local blaster and add the cost of blasting into my quote saves me both time and money.

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

King can you set me up with a stripper??

Harley

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

You could talk to your customer and point out theres more coatings on them than intially figured in your estimate. Now you do have to way it out and decide if this is a understanding customer or not. You want repeat buisness.The flip side eat it and move on. Make a mental note for the future. Me I'd cuss, and scream a little then strip the wheels and remember to talk to people about additional charges for removing coatings. The stripper tank I think is the way to go thats why I have been getting stuff together to build one. I am like you, using a slow stripper. Also do like I have done with pricing somethings and I have seen others on here. Ask what people are charging get several then decide what you think is fair or average them and charge that. One price including stripping, blasting, phosphate,and coating.

Hope my opinion helps.
Harley

[Guest]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Please take a second to read and understand the question I asked. I didn't ask what I should do about this customer, I asked what others would typically do in a similar situation in hopes of receiving some guidance on future projects. I may not have the resources of the "big dogs" but I guarantee my business ethics and customer service are high... so I refuse to stay on the porch.

[wiseguyz]

Re: I hate prepping wheels!

Plus, you do some really nice work.