We offer one of the most sophisticated truck rim paint reconditioning programs in the country. This why we can offer a 1 year limited warranty on a single coat rim.
WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT?
STEEL TRUCK RIM PAINT RECONDITIONING PROGRAM
Receiving Legacy Finishing, Inc. paint reconditioning program begins with receiving. It is a priority to make sure the rims sent in by the customer are the exact same rims returned to the customer. The customer’s paper work is reviewed. The counts are verified and the order is entered according to customer requirements. The customer’s rims are segregated and identified with tags and work tickets that will follow the rims through the process.
Tracking Legacy Finishing, Inc. has the ability to track rims by your customer, size, style, and handhole (2HH and 5HH.) For detailed tracking:
Pre-blast operations The next operation is a proprietary pre-blast operation. This process is the first of many steps that sets Legacy Finishing, Inc. apart from other paint reconditioning programs. This operation accomplishes two important steps; contaminant removal and paint breakdown.
Most rims come in with multiple contaminants on them to include tar, grease, concrete, and other road grime. The pre-blast operation ensures that these contaminants are removed from the rim. This prevents the contaminants from entering into the shot blast operation and then being recycled and re-deposited onto the rim’s surface.
This operation also breaks the paint down to a state that is easily removed in the blast operations. This process eliminates worries for multiple coats on the incoming rim. Even the thickest paint is reduced to a state that allows for 100% removal of the coating in the blast operations. Blasting operations Since the old paint of the rims is broken down, the blasting operation is greatly changed from standard rim reconditioning programs. Most programs require the use of heavy shot and grit and a significant amount of time in the blast cycle. This creates several problems. #1 – Time is money. The additional time in the blast machine means higher energy costs and higher labor costs. #2 – On areas with thick paint, the paint gets hot from the friction of the blast and actually becomes gummy, preventing the shot grit from removing it. #3 – The use of heavy shot and grit means that the shot profile is rough, creating tall peaks and deep valleys. Powder coating flows into the valleys and off the peaks. This creates premature rusting, often recognized as “freckle” rusting. To offset this, most coaters need two coats of paint to cover it. #4 – The larger shot and grit has is less likely to get into rust pits. #5 – The heavy shot and grit creates more wear and tear on the machine which translates into more down time.
At Legacy Finishing, Inc., the pre-blast operation allows for the use of straight S-230 shot. The amount of time in the blast cycle is often 1/3 of other programs. The powder is removed completely with no paint residue any where on the rim. The profile of the shot is finer allowing of a single coat application of powder coat with a 1 year limited warranty. Because the contaminants are removed in the pre-blast operation, the shot is also cleaner and the rims are free of contaminants when they leave the blast area.
After blasting, the rims are inspected for any obvious damage or defects. Rims with elongated holes, rusted out holes, cracks, and other noticeable defects are held out, tagged, and returned uncoated. Gauging can be done at this point, however, the customer must provide the gauges, the gauging procedure, and there may be an additional charge.
The rims are marked after blast with a special bleed through marker with either the customer tracking number or our work order number. This number will allow for long term tracking of the wheel and is especially important for warranty situations. With this number, we can identify the all of the parameters associated with the processing of the rims to include the date, the operators, and the powder used.
Another benefit of the Legacy Finishing, Inc. program is that we have multiple pieces of blast equipment to back-up our primary machine. This allows us to process rims on other pieces of equipment in the event the primary machine is down for maintenance. Pretreatment operations Most rim recon programs consist of taking the rims straight from the blasting and apply powder coating to the surface of the rim and curing them in a small oven. Legacy Finishing, Inc. is a powder coating company with over two decades of powder coating experience. We have two, very sophisticated, high volume production powder coat lines. Each line is capable of producing over 350 rims in an 8 hour shift.
While speed and capacity is a great benefit, the greatest benefit comes from the 5-stage cleaning and iron-phosphate pretreatment programs. Even with a much cleaner blast systems, rims have shot blast dust on them that can interfere with paint adhesion. This dust and any other contaminants are removed in the cleaning stage. After cleaning and rinsing, the rims go through an iron-phosphate stage. Iron-phosphate promotes paint adhesion and corrosion protection at a level that significantly out performs rims with no iron-phosphate. With phosphate, our rims at 4 mil powder thickness routinely out perform competitors that target up to 7 mils of powder thickness.
Powder Selection We use a variety of powders at Legacy Finishing, Inc. depending on the color and customer specification. Some customers require a specific brand or color. It is our goal to meet the customer’s need as specified. Depending on the requirements and volume, there may be an additional charge.
We have certain “in-house” powders we use for our stock white, black, and gray. These powders have been carefully selected to maximize the performance characteristics. Cheap powder is often cheap power. The cost of a powder is not related to the purchase price, but it is related to the cost of application. Working with our supplier reps and technical engineers, we have identified many characteristics that are critical to maximizing the powder performance to include particle size, gel time, chemical resistance, mar resistance, and corrosion resistance.
Marking of Rims after coating Based on the level of tracking information provided to Legacy Finishing, Inc., Legacy Finishing, Inc. will mark the rims at a minimum with “LFI” or “LFIZ” and the date of processing with permanent markings. If detailed information is provided, the tracking document number and your customer name will be applied to the rims as well. For rims processed with Zinc primer, “LFIZ” will be applied.
Warranty The powder coating on the rims will have a one-year warranty against complete rust through and peeling. Warranty does not cover minor rust bleed out from the seams or obvious misuse or abuse of the rim. Warranty does not cover the portion of the rim normally covered by the tire. Warranty coverage will cover only the reprocessing cost of the rim. Legacy Finishing, Inc., Inc. is not responsible for the cost of dismounting, mounting, transportation, or other fees associated with the return of the wheel other than the reprocessing of the rim. Some rims may be of such condition that no manner of blasting or other prep will create a condition for which we can warranty the rims. These rims will be designated as “No Warranty” by marking the rims “NLFI” or “NLFIZ” in place of “LFI” or “LFIZ”.
Track-Record Legacy Finishing, Inc. tracks every rim that is processed through our facility and documents rims that returned for any reason. Through 2010, over 137,000 rims have been processed on the systems used by Legacy Finishing, Inc. All returns combined are less than 0.3% or all rims processed since 2007.
Special Sizes / Special Services Rims outside of the standard steel truck rim sizes (16”-24.5”) can be processed to include rims for agricultural and construction. The pricing for these are looked at on a case by case basis. We can coat various sizes and types of rims including aluminum rims. Since we are a full service powder coater, we can also blast and coat other items such as bumpers and steps.
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