[awjens]

I would like to know if anyone has experienced a rim failure as a result of powder painting. I have a friend with a 2011 Ford F-350 with forged aluminum factory wheels. These wheels had Michelin tires on them with very low miles. His last set went to 100,000 miles. He had his rims removed and powder painted. He had them remounted and balanced. The rears were supposed to be inflated to 60 PSI and the fronts were supposed to be 75. After he bolted the rims on the truck he checked the tire pressures. They had the front and rear pressures swapped. He took the rears down to 60 psi from 75, and the fronts up to 75. Michelin rates these tires at 80 PSI. But fords sticker in the doorjamb says 75 front, 60 rear. Probably lower in the rear because they are duals. He is a commercial driver and this truck has all the bells and whistles to monitor tire pressures. He drove not more than 20 miles and was slowing to make a turn and enter a freeway. The right front tire blew, he assumed the tire failed. He put on a spare (steel wheel) and did not make it more than another 200 yards and the left front tire blew. After inspecting the tires, they have no holes in them. Both tires came off the back side of the rim. I would add that he checked the other front tire after the first blew. Both of the rims are severely bent, so much than in the few feet he traveled on the second blowout, the egg shaped rim rubbed on the brake calipers. I went to help him on the road, and he moved the one of the inside duals because they are steel to the left front tire because he already used his spare. H was afraid to drive this truck on the freeway with any of these powderpainted rims on the truck. It is now parked and we are looking to get the rims inspected to find the root cause. This could hae been a fatal accident had he been on the highway. He is pulling 23,000 pounds behind this truck.