Media blasting alloy wheels - Prone to Corrosion?

I have a set of stock Tacoma (95-00) alloy wheels that I am going to sandblast prior to painting.

My question is: the back side of the rims are not going to be maintained much at all once back on the truck. If I media blast the surface then paint them... which will no doubt get chipped, etc... will the media blasted alloy surface then be prone to rust/corrosion?

Or is a blasted surface no different than how the alloys come stock?

 

Why don't you powder coat them after blasting? Seems like if your going to get them blasted do it right. if your just going to paint them don't waste the money on blasting. Just sand them down yourself.

 

Powder coating wheels never made sense to me. If they chip then it's impossible to touch them up. I do wheel and also travel up wintry roads where they use gravel.

My original plan was to just sand them down by hand, etc... but I thought blasting them would (obviously) do a more thorough job.

 

A good powder coat will last 3-4 times longer than paint and chip way less.

As long as you get a standard color powder coating can be touched up just like any paint. The main difference is you will do it WAY less.

If your not looking for showroom quality just sand them by hand, prime, and paint. That's what I always do and I just give them a coat every spring to refresh them.

To answer your original question I would not strip off the original coating if painting them. They will corrode faster.

 

Any recommendations on what grit and technique for sanding?

btw - I do not approve of your signature

 

finer the better... I'm no paint guy, but I used 300 grit and did it by hand.

Hold on.... The Av's are doing great and your a Rangers fan?

 

Born and raised right outside NYC.

Ranger, Yanks, Giants and Knicks fan.

I do enjoy watching the Avs and will pull for them against anyone but the Blueshirts.

And yeah, on all my painting projects so far that entailed painting metal, eg the fake chrome on steel bumper inserts, I used 320 grit.