🖌 Aesthetic Finishers

Aesthetic Finishers Inc. (AFI Powder)

• Strip an entire classic-car body — AFI says its thermal stripping oven can accommodate a complete car body, removing old paint, undercoating, oils, contaminants and body filler before restoration.
• Media-blast complete bodies and large automotive parts — Their large blast room can handle entire car bodies, which could be useful when preparing sheet metal for restoration, repair, refinishing or inspection.
• Strip delicate vintage wheels — AFI specifically identifies car wheels as parts that can be cleaned using plastic-media blasting, a gentler process intended for more delicate components.
• Powder-coat wheels — After stripping, steel or aluminum wheels could potentially be powder coated for a durable, clean finish. AFI handles steel and aluminum substrates and stocks hundreds of powder colors.
• Powder-coat chassis and suspension components — Their large batch system can accommodate products up to approximately 6 × 7 × 22 feet, making them potentially suitable for large automotive components such as frames, subframes, crossmembers and related pieces. Whether they accept a particular vehicle frame would need to be confirmed directly with AFI.
• Restore smaller undercarriage components — Brackets, control arms, mounts, supports, housings and similar metal parts could potentially be stripped and powder coated for corrosion resistance and a finished appearance. AFI explicitly offers both stripping and powder coating from individual parts through high-volume production.
• Refinish engine-bay components — Classic-car owners could potentially use powder coating on suitable metal brackets, accessory mounts, covers and other non-high-heat components where a durable finish is desired. AFI handles specialty powders, textures, wrinkles and other finishes.
• High-temperature ceramic coating — AFI offers high-temperature-resistant ceramic coatings and specifically says these coatings serve the automotive market. That could make them relevant for certain exhaust or high-heat automotive components, although the exact parts and temperature ratings should be confirmed with AFI.
• Cerakote finishing for specialty automotive pieces — AFI is a Cerakote Certified Commercial Applicator. Cerakote may be appropriate for certain custom restoration components where a thin, durable specialty coating is preferred over conventional powder coating.
• Fabricate hard-to-find replacement metal pieces — This one could be particularly interesting for restorers. AFI has fiber-optic laser cutting, MIG welding, spot welding and metal-forming capabilities and works with aluminum, stainless steel and steel. That means they may be able to fabricate certain brackets, plates, mounting pieces or other unavailable metal components from drawings or patterns.
• Laser-cut custom automotive components — Their equipment can cut aluminum, stainless and steel up to one inch thick, potentially useful for custom brackets, mounting plates, gussets, reinforcement pieces, signage or specialty restoration components.
• Welding and metal repair/fabrication — AFI has precision spot-welding equipment along with multiple Miller and Lincoln MIG welders, giving them capabilities that could complement a restoration involving fabricated replacement pieces.

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