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Powder coating verses anodizing

I own a dirt bike and I want to change the colour of my silver alloy rims to black. Keeping in mind that this part of the bike takes a lot of abuse and gets hit by rocks, for a longer lasting finish would it be better to anodize or powder coat them?

Jason Lombardo
hobbyist - Sydney, New South Wale, Australia
2007

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Anodizing wins this round, and if you can settle for dark gray, a hard anodize coating is about as abrasion resistant as you can get.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007

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Boy, I don't know about that Ted. Yes, anodizing is much more abrasion resistant, but it appears he's looking for impact resistance from the rocks (assuming I understand his post). Anodizing can chip quite easily with a direct impact, where the powder coating (being a softer/thicker coating)would tend to have much more "give" when being impacted.

You know what they say about opinions.... :)

Marc Green
anodizer - Boise, Idaho
2007

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Say, Jason, I think I might have read somewhere that powder coating is better on front wheels and anodizing is better on rear wheels, or maybe it was vice-versa. I think you should try one each and get back to us :-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
June ,14 2007