Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Painted or powdercoated front wheels

Question: are the oem black wire wheels painted black or are they powdercoated black?

Can't answer your question, but I have confirmed that they are made by MWS, so an email to them could likely get you an answer. Their website is mwsint.com and one email address I have is isabella@mwsint.com.

I believe they are painted: http://shop.mwsint.com/product_details.asp?id=62

That must be it since I did spot the MWS logo on the rim and sticker on the hub. Thanks for steering me there, can’t believe it didn’t occur to me.

The local powdercoater asked me and I was not positive.

I will ask her in the odd chance they did something special for Morgan, thanks.

For all of you that are curious, although their web site states the wheels are painted they are actually powdercoated.

This is MWS reply to my query.

Good morning Stephen,

Thank you for your request.
All our stock painted wheels (black and silver) are powder-coated.
The MWS wire wheels are primer coated using Cathodic Electrophoretic technology. This increases the corrosion resistance to very high levels. A topcoat of silver ash or black follows this.
The paint system provides salt spray resistance of 840 Hours when tested and evaluated on panels as per ASTM B117.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any other question you may have.

Kind Regards,

Fatima Bouaziz

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So, I asked the best/recommended method to powdercoat their wheels and pointed out their web site states “painted”. This is the response.

Hi Stephen,

Sorry you are right, the wheels are not powder coated but primed with electrodeposition coating, the topcoat is spray paint and finish with stove enamelling (wet paint).
Getting your wheels powder coated should be straight forward.
Our paint shop usually shot blast them first.
Your paint shop should be able to give you more information about their process.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any other question you may have.

Kind Regards,

Fatima Bouaziz

My Morgan wheels were the standard silver and were starting to show signs of rust after 4 years despite regular cleaning.

4 years and showing signs of degradation. Another reason to powder coat the wheels.

When I was prepping the wheels to take to the powdercoated I noticed that the wheel weights were covered by black vinyl electrical tape. Not bad and does perform a cosmetic function but, they took the tape past the end of the wheel weights and that formed a triangular pocket for water and dirt to collect= rust point possibility. Leaving the tape off the new coated wheel weights. Rather look at weights than think about it rusting away in seclusion.

Loose the wheel weights and use Dina Beads instead.

Powder coating in very tight corners such as around the spoke nipples etc can be a real problem as the Faraday Effect can cause voids in the corners allowing the powder coat to crack and allow moisture in.

I've blagged the short article below from the internet but there is a lot about it if you look.

Not saying it's impossible to get good coverage with powder but ask the questions of your contractor or play safe and wet paint using a rust resistant primer.

By the way, this article came from an American website called powdercoatedtough.com which has an "agony aunt" called Joe Powder. Check it out.


"How do you prevent “Faraday”?

By “Faraday” you undoubtedly are referring to the “Faraday Cage” effect. This is the issue of penetrating a tight inside corner with electrostatically charged powder coating. The electric field produced by the corona charge delivered by the gun creates a dead space of charge within the corner. This dead space repels the deposition of powder. In addition the air volume exiting the gun creates blow-back the further impedes powder deposition. So not only do you get electrostatic repulsion but pneumatic repulsion as well.

So, how do we mitigate this common problem? A few actions will eliminate this issue. First, use a powder spray gun that has a charge limiter device. Most of the recent models have this feature. It essentially detects a build-up of excess charge in the Faraday Cage and automatically reduces the current of the corona charging tip. This diminishes electrostatic repulsion. If you do not have a gun with this feature simply reduce the current of the gun by about 30 percent. For example, if you are spraying at 18 microamps, cut back to 12 microamps. This can usually be accomplished by simply reducing the gun voltage.

Second, use a high volume/low air velocity powder pump system. The major powder gun suppliers have this option which conveys a very high concentration of powder with significantly less air velocity. This helps with Faraday penetration by delivering more powder and less air to the tight corner.

Third, use a slotted gun tip instead of a fan spray tip. This will concentrate the powder stream to the corner.

Fourth, ensure that you have a good connection from your parts to ground. You can check this visually and also with a megohm meter. You should measure less than 1.0 megohms. It is important to use a megohm meter and not a simple volt-ohm meter. Megohm meters actually put out voltage that more precisely ascertains if an acceptable ground is present.

Joe Powder"