I'm hearing that powdercoating heat can cause the spokes to crack overtime and have also heard that these particular wheels need to be either painted or pc'd in low heat. Can any give me some insight?

 

I would contact Champion directly and ask them what they recommend.

 

I'm expecting people that have actually pc'd or refinished there wheels to respond.

 

Old thread but I had my RS98's powder coated without any special low temp procedure and they were not compromised in any way. I drove on them over many potholes for the year I kept the car after coating. Since they are truly forged wheels they are extremely strong and not damaged by the heat involved in powder coating.
On the other hand, I just had some lower quality cast wheels powder coated and within two weeks two of them developed cracks at the bead and slowly leak air now. Definitely not just a coincidence.

 

unfortunately I sold the wheels and regret selling them - now finding another set is next to impossible.

 

I’m wheel shopping now too and I would love to have another set but I can’t find them anywhere. I wish I wouldn’t have sold them on my 996T

 

When I bought my car, I had no idea what the wheels were. I assumed they were some crap aftermarket or stock Carrera wheel. Turns out they are Champion RS 97's, that were powder coated or likely painted. Super light and the rears are actually 11.5". Keeping them now...

 

So I read powder coating requires ~ 400F. Kind of surprising wheels can’t endure this compared to the heat they face at the track. But, another reason to just paint. Funny aside, I had a set of turbo twists painted once with the tires on. They turned out like new. I only used these wheels for autocrossing, and the next time I was out it was like I was driving on ice! Of course I later realized the rubber hardened when the wheels were baked after paining (nowhere near powder coat temp of course, but enough to ruin the tires).

 

No one should have baked your wheels (or painted them) with the tires still mounted! That's a given. Obviously the same goes for powder coating. Wheels need to be stripped down to just metal including removal of all weights, valve stems, TPMS, etc.