Powder coating cost....Am I getting screwed? Seattle?

I took some bare steel (steelies) to my powder coater. $25/wheel. If they needed to be blasted it would have been $45/wheel. You're getting screwed...

 

200 is the going rate..i always ask my guy to pre heat my parts to burn off any oils on the parts as well

 

I haven't had any done lately but around here the last i checked it was running in the 25-35 dollar range. Things are more expensive where you live, the cost of living here is about 30% less than yours. So you need to figure that into your price.

You had better look real good at the work the shop puts out. We recently had some headers ceramic coated at a place across town that does ceramic and powder coating. They decided to grind around on the headers and literally ground holes in them. But they still wanted to get paid, go figure.

Never cheap out, it is your car.

 

There is always an underlying perception that if it costs more then it's higher quality. Not so!!! I shop around for the best quality and then go from there.

I will pay the price if it worth it, but there are too many businesses (especially automotive) that throw an extremely high number out there just to see if you'll pay it. No skin off their **** if you walk away, especially if the total job is $300.

I'm all for a business making a profit, but I'm looking to work with businesses that work for a fair price and provide a quality product or service. That means they are looking for repeat business. Then both of us win. There's no need to ask me to bend over and take it up the a$$ just because I walked in your front door.

 

Maybe cheaping out has more to do with quality then price. Like I said take a damned good look at what they put out the door.

I seldom if ever pay retail, I was raised to believe that retail was for ****ers. But I am real concious of quality, I expect every last penny to purchase me as much as it can. I guess I am just frugal.

 

SERVICE, PRICE, QUALITY..............pick any two.

 

I was quoted $280 from one shop and $300 from another, here in SWMO. The $300 guy told me he could have me done within a week, the $280 shop told me 3 weeks. I've heard nothing but great things about the $300 guy, so high marks and quick turnaround wins for me.

 

I agree with checking with Ken's Powder coating. Their number is 253-847-9431

 

is it a color that they stock or is it something they had to order for you? if it's a house color it's a bit pricey. if it's something they're getting for you then it's a deal. i paid almost $500 to powder coat a set of 16" steel wheels. i wanted a matte finish which required a top coat. you gotta pay to play.

 

The "big" powder coating outfit here in Yakima quoted me around 75 a wheel to do 18 inch Chevy wires. There is a local one man operation that had done wheels for a couple of friends who don't know each other and charged both of them 35 a wheel to sandblast and powder coat them. One pair of 35 Ford wires and one set of ot car wheels. Having a Les Schwab account makes it a bit easier to send my wheels off to Prineville though.

 

I guess some powder coaters do it differently than others. Our guy automatically takes everything we send to him to his sandblast building where two guys do nothing all day but blast parts. Then it gets cleaned, primed, and then the final pc. No matter if we take him a wheel or a frame everything gets done the same process and the price he quotes is for everything.

In stock colors do affect the price too, as does any additional steps like a clear top coat (which we will never do again ) Turnaround time is always quoted as a week but he has never hit that yet, generally more like 10 days, but that is ok, his work is good and he takes care of us.

Don

 

This isn't adding anything to the post, but last month a buddy of mine dropped off 2 steelies to be blasted.They got mixed in with another order and ended up getting powder coated also. since it was theiR screw up they didnt charge him for the powder coating,just the blasting. and it was a decent color that he could use.

 

Well if you're getting a reach around while you are getting screwed for $340 I guess it isn't too bad.

On a side note I've had Les Schwab powder coat about 5 sets of wheels for me and I've never had a complaint. The price has been more than fair and they send them out to their own facilities up in Oregon. Some of the colors I've had done were, red, blue, cream, gloss black and semi gloss black.

 

I do lots of wheels. I have a blaster that will do steel wheels for $10 ea. Take about $15/set in powder for a basic color. About an hour to spray and bake. I get $200 for a set of wheels, I think I am making great money.....some times I think I charge too much I cant imagine paying/charging more than that.

I just finished a complete motorcycle job. Frame, wheels, and about 50 misc parts. Everything had to be blasted. I got $450 for the job. Me and the customer were happy ......

Shop around .......

 

25-35 a wheel is a good deal anything over 50 is expensive..I think, and I spent the time to blast all mine before I took them hoping it would be cheaper, didnt help. F#*k it and let them do it it so you can spend the time doing something else.

I got my 16" wheels coated back in December and I called close to 20 places in Northern California and Reno area. The cheap guys were far away and the expensive guys were close by (go figure).

 

They were going to screw me hard then! I called the one near me and it was $55 a wheel.

 

I just got quoted 65 per wheel blasted and coated .. but I'm in Alaska, so my options are limited.

 

I get m***ive discounts as I spend about $10,000 a year on tires.

 

I let Coker do mine. I got their wheels and it's extra for the powder coating (I have no idea what they charged) but you get free mounting, balancing and shipping plus a HAMB discount on a set. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Gary

 

There's a place on the west side of Mt. Vernon that does wheels for $40 a piece blasted, and coated. They do good work.

 

I have used les schwab they do decent job on the wheels I had done.

 

too much too much!

 

It's always hard to compare labor rates from different parts of the country, so good prices in Timbuktu don't mean much unless you can get the wheels there and back for nothing. You know our part of the world tends to be a bit higher in labor costs because employment costs are higher than a lot of the country. So pricing within a region is the only thing that makes sense.

All that said, I should have shown you the pair of '40 wheels I had done by Schwab the last time you were over. They were done about a year ago. Had to send them back after the first time because they looked like ****. Now, after the redo they only look like diarhea........................a complete waste of money and a total of 3 weeks because of the timing of their trucks doing the Prineville turnaround. Once is a mistake, twice a pattern. Their excuse for the poor finish? "Well, they're good enough for the field trucks we normally do!" Nuff said.........

I would imagine wires take more effort/time (maybe the real experienced guys could comment on that) than solids/gennies so a slight premium might be in order. The last gennies I had done at the shop in Preston were done well, $50 ea, about 2 years ago. $340 seems a bit high, but you need to make sure you're comparing quality to quality

 

You are right, Bob, just because a company does powder coating doesn't mean they do GOOD powdercoating. The guy we use has become a friend and makes sure our stuff is right. I just dropped off some of the trophy I am building for Billetproof to have some sparkle put on it and the day I was supposed to pick it up he told me he rejected it because he didn't like the way some of it came out, so they blasted it and started over.

He did the same thing when about 46 parts that we took him for my Son's rpu started shedding the clear coat. No questions, he blasted them all back to bare metal, took off some money because Dan had to spend time fairing the frame again with Tiger Drylac, and then totally redid all 46 pieces.

Like I have said, I can't paint stuff for what he charges and it is sooooo much easier.

Don

 

And you're old and difficult to live with...............................

 

Geeez, I thought maybe you had mellowed with age. I would have thought that retirement home had softened you up a little.

Don

 

A few months ago schwabs did some 16 inch steel 1940leaned ford wheels for 100 bucks, blasted and coated.
as well a few months ago I bought an A pickup that had 16 inch wires on it, receipt was from schwabs, 100 bucks as well. Both look good.

They will get all my coating business.

 

too much try KENS here in spanaway or one of many other places 200 would be max id pay.. too many GOOD shops will do it for less...... check out PMI in tacoma i hear they do a lot of dragsters/funny cars

 

old post but since its back up ill say my peice,yesterday we blasted 2 old cragars wheels,powdercoater told us 45 a wheel,going with his chrome color because when its on the wheel it looks like polished al.which is what i really want.i have polished al. on the back so with luck they should match.i think its kinda high because we blasted them.oh well,hes the only show in town.