Powdercoat Armor or Rattle Can?

[flyingwil]

What do you guys think... With the rear bumper all set should I get it powdercoated or stick with the rattle can?

 

[articulate]

Spray paint is a pain to apply on something that large and intricate, and you're inviting a maintenance problem.

My rear bumper on the truck is only painted, and it gets hammered by road debris. I'm constantly touching it up from "basic" use. My powdercoated parts aren't nearly as delicate.

Dos centavos.





Oh yeah, Arizona Powdercoat on Washington near the airport will do that bumper quite reasonably too.

 

[flyingwil]

Oh yeah, Arizona Powdercoat on Washington near the airport will do that bumper quite reasonably too.

That's who I have lined up if I head down that road. My main concern is that the first day out on the trail with the new bumper I put some nice scratches in it on the passenger side, and the side bars were put to the test. This would be super easy to touch up with the rattle can, but the Powder coat would be more difficult to touch up. I prefer the look of the powder-coat, and think it is more durable than paint. I do touch up my sliders with the rattle can on top of the Powder-coating with good results IMO.

 

[jeffryscott]

i'd go powder coat on the bumper ... it isn't as likely to see quite as much abuse as the sliders. but you know all that:arabia:

 

[articulate]

It's not taboo, immoral, or illegal to touch up powder coat with a little spray paint.

 

[goodtimes]

It's not taboo, immoral, or illegal to touch up powder coat with a little spray paint.

But it does not make sense. If you are going to have a painted bumper in the end, why spend the $$$ on powder coating? Slobber some POR-15 on it, and never worry about rust again.

Personally, all of my junk is rattle canned. Every year or so, I spend $2.95 on a can of semi-gloss black paint and touch up both bumpers and the sliders. They look fine for the next year....even here in the Tucson sun.

Now, if I were to have a vehicle that did not see much (ab)use on the more technical trails (where bumpers and sliders get beat up), I would be sporting the powder coat in a heartbeat. But I also would not be spray painting over it whenever it got a scratch.

 

[Spikepretorius]

I use Hammerite. Not the spray can....the regular tin, which I then spray with a spraygun and compressor. It comes out in a nice satin finish.

If I had to do it again I'd first apply a couple of coats with a small sponge paint roller to build up thickness then finish off with a couple of coats with the spray gun. The spraygun give a nice finish but is a mission to build up the thickness.

Looks good, tough, doesn't chip but gets scratches, easy to touch up.

Unfortunately Hammerite is hellishly expensive in my end of the world.

 

[MaddBaggins]

But it does not make sense. If you are going to have a painted bumper in the end, why spend the $$$ on powder coating? Slobber some POR-15 on it, and never worry about rust again.

Personally, all of my junk is rattle canned. Every year or so, I spend $2.95 on a can of semi-gloss black paint and touch up both bumpers and the sliders. They look fine for the next year....even here in the Tucson sun.

Now, if I were to have a vehicle that did not see much (ab)use on the more technical trails (where bumpers and sliders get beat up), I would be sporting the powder coat in a heartbeat. But I also would not be spray painting over it whenever it got a scratch.

Thats what I do with all my junk. Ace semi-gloss black. Done. I've found that powdercoat gets scratched almost as easy as paint anyway. Escpecially when you run it over the rocks.

 

[Desertdude]

We might be talking about two different things here;

(1) How it looks

(2) Protecting the metal from corrosion (not something to worry much about in AZ)

As far as a how it looks you can do wonders with rattle can work. Cheap, fast, easy, and always can be touched up on the fly. (and it will look like it too Scratches easily, can even rub off.

Powder coating, parts are super cleaned before coating, coating if applied properly is even and complete - metal is protected. Does not scratch as easily as rattle can.

As far as a bumper, I would powder coat it, its a cleaner more factory look.

 

[crawler#976]

Rattle can for me...

The back side of my bumper has been hammered by gravel - looks like the craters on the moon. It's easy to recoat with hammer finish paint. Same for sliders...

 

[ntsqd]

The problem I have with powdercoat is that once it is broached, and eventually it will be, the rust monster starts working btwn it and the steel, and then it lifts and peels.
Neither PC nor paint can claim no eventual re-work required.

POR-15 is a good paint. It is one of the multitudes of "Moisture Curing Polyurethane" paints available. Look to marine and industrial paints for other options in the direction. These paints actually cure best in humid environments. A friend had it rain on the inside of his Scout tub right after painting it with POR. That stuff is the most durable paint of all of the POR on the truck (gallons and gallons of it).

Another friend works at a power plant right on the beach. They used to use Rustoleum, but like all good things environmental concerns appears to have changed the formula and they no longer use it.

 

[DaveInDenver]

My Smittybilt back bumper is powdercoated and it's just as rusted and beat up as anything else (the winters here are murder on sliders and rear bumpers, rock driven mag-chloride is awesome at removing your finish). I think it's possible to get a better finish with powdercoat, but it does not seem automatic. However ARB does it is bulletproof, but it seems not all processes are as good. Personally I wouldn't spend the money to have it done after the fact, I'd just do whatever in your garage. I personally use Krylon, but it's nothing special.

 

[Andrew Walcker]

My vote is to powdercoat the bumpers. I've observed that in sunny SoCal, surfaces with PC handle the UV better than surfaces that have been Rattle Canned. There are of course a lot of different variables that could affect this, but was just wondering which treatment handles the UV the best?

 

[overlander]

I just POR-15'd the entire undercarriage of a CJ7 I'm selling, and now that I've experienced it, I'll never use anything else. That stuff is so durable it's sick.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I just POR-15'd the entire undercarriage of a CJ7 I'm selling, and now that I've experienced it, I'll never use anything else. That stuff is so durable it's sick.

The experience I have with it is that POR15 is very sensitive to UV, so anything exposed to lots of sunlight needs to be coated with something to protect it from UV. It fades at least, however I don't know if the UV ultimately reduces it's life.