MTFCA Forum

Where are people sending or taking their rims to get hot dip galvanized in Michigan? I had my 21 inch split rims zinc electroplated 50 years ago, do not remember where, still look good, but now I need some TT split rims done.

The company I work for uses Gatto Industrial Platers in Chicago for zinc electroplating. The quality is quite good and consistent. I don't know if they do hot dip. There are two other companies we use for hot dipping and the quality of the coating varies from week to week.

I had my rims hot dipped at the Valmont plant near Tulsa. I prefer hot dip rather than electroplate. The Valmont plants nearest to you are in Ontario and Chicago.

There is V&S in Redford, Mi. Their website says they hot dip galvanize. I have not used their service yet.

12600 Arnold Street
Redford, MI 48239
Phone: (313) 535-2600
Fax: (313) 535-0862

Aren't galvanizing and zinc plating two different things?

Yes and no.......


Both zinc plating and galvanizing is an application of zinc plating. The big difference is thickness: zinc plating is normally 0.2 mils thick. Hot dip galvanizing might be 1.0 mil thick – you get over 5 times the protection with galvanizing. ... After 20 years outdoors a galvanized product will not show signs of rust.

I like the way Steves hot dip rims look. Did you have to sand blast and clean them up first, or did the galvanizers do that as part of the process?

There’s a new place that’s opened in Waco, Texas that’s does zinc coating and hot dip galvanizing plus other coating types.
It’s called ZincPower. They have a website that’s very informative about what they do.
I don’t know anything about them and don’t have any connection to them.

They claim to be a German established company that opened another location in Texas.

Southwest galvanizing Houston Tx. Huge plant that charges by the pound. I have done 2 rim galvanizing cooperatives in past years. I am considering doing a 3rd.

What's the going rate for this? I have both Valmont and V & S locations in my state.

How long do they look like bright like that? I assume over time they lose their luster sort of like a boat trailer does.

Oh so very long ago, at work we had to have some custom antenna mounts made and hot-dip galvanized. Because it was done by the pound, and the company had a large minimum charge, I was able to have every loose T rim I owned at the time done for free!
The wonderful thing about hot-dip galvanize I found, was that the zinc filled pits and thin areas so well that several rims I figured were beyond using came out nice enough that with just some minor filing and cleanup, I had nice usable rims. The downside was that good or bad rims all needed some cleanup where zinc would puddle and/or solidify in lumps (often easily done by melting the excess away with a torch!). If you have nice rims? The zinc plated may be best? If you have some marginal rims that you would like to save? Definitely hot-dip is the better way to go. As long as the steel is solid enough for strength, the zinc can do an amazing job of filling thin spots and pits.
Of course, nothing short of a massive welding and grinding job can save a really bad rim. Those few, after hot-dipped, I mounted ancient tires onto for display use. With enough of the clincher edge gone, mounting brick hard tires was easier.

If you don’t have access to a place that does this plating or are working on a limited budget, the next best option is a bright silver roof paint called “Silver Brite”, made by Sherwin Williams. I painted my split rims with it and it is as bright and shiny as the rims in the pile of rims in the photo above. The best thing about using this is that it requires no primer and is very durable. Roof paint is made with a very high content of metallic pigment to protect steel shingle roofs from the most severe elements. Sunshine, heat, rain, hail, falling limbs, etc. It is also very easy to touch up the rims if they ever get scratched or become dull. Check out the rims on my two T’s in the photos. The rims were painted many years ago and are still shiny. Jim Patrick

galvanize | ˈɡalvəˌnīz |
(often as adjective galvanized) coat (iron or steel) with a protective layer of zinc: an old galvanized bucket.

Coating with zinc is galvanizing. Galvanizing is coating with zinc.

There are two types of galvanizing: hot dip and electroplate. Hot dip is exactly what the name says. The object to be plated is dipped in melted zinc. Electroplate is exactly what the name says. The dissolved metal (zinc) is deposited on the object by an electric current.

Yes, the zinc loses its brilliant shine over time and becomes a light metallic gray.

Modern galvanized roofing nails you buy at the hardware store are electroplated. Their zinc coating is very thin and in a few years they become rust spots. Galvanized shingle nails my grandfather used when he was building my house ninety years ago were hot dipped. Most were unrusted and I was able to use them over.

Here's one of those shiny rims eight years later:

One problem with electroplating that hot dipped does not have is the Farraday effect. Electric currents in the electroplate process can leave bare areas inside of bends. The beads of rims may not receive a zinc coating on the inside. Molten zinc in a hot dip tank will flow into those areas.