Whether you paint it or powdercoat it, the coating will probably come off the contact areas over time. Mine is powdercoated and it seems to be holding up fairly well although it is pretty fresh. (The white that you see is lithium grease). The nice thing about powder is that it doesn't soften with thinners or anything and will probably hold up better in the long run.
Depending on your color scheme, you may or may not be happy with silver. I had my hinges, door latches, etc done in silver initially then went back to black. The silver looked cheap against the paint color I chose for the truck. You can't go wrong with black as they say.