is powder coating worth the price?

[noonzor]

so maybe this is the wrong forum, but its about powdercoating your suspension and components. ive gotten rough quotes for what powdercoating would cost at a few local shops and lets just say it costs considerably more then the alternatives. the frame being the big one, having only 2 shops ive found capable of such large pieces.

ive seen good rattle can work, ive seen nice powder coating, and of course por15 has its own reputation on this website. what i need to do SOON is finish my dropmember in something so that it doesnt rust up(some surface rust currently visable). what do you guys recomend?

Thanks,
Kyle.

[PanelDeland]

I like paint myself.But that may be because I drive my truck.Powder coating is certainly durable but I have seen it chipped and worn thru one corners.That would be hard to touch up.Paint is easy.Just my opinion of course.

[blime81]

I'm going to vote for POR-15 or a similar type coating (eastwood, rust bullet etc).

Both my sand rail and my Jeep have a substantial amount of powder coated parts and as paneldeland said it's not an easy repair since you have to get it done all over again.

I used POR-15 on my '72 frame and lots of other projects (VWs, Harleys, Hondas). Easy to apply, brush it on and it levels off very well (or you can spray). A quart will do your frame and suspension pieces with some to spare.

I've recently been redoing pieces on my Jeep in POR-15. They were new powdercoat in '08-'09 and are now rusty underneath the powdercoat since once the coating gets a chip, it can lift and it will hold water between the metal and the coating allowing rust to go wild unseen by you until it's too late.

As with anything, make sure you do good prep work (use the metal ready stuff) and wear gloves. Paint thinner won't touch POR when you try to get it off you hands.

Best of luck!

[texastrendz]

Originally Posted by noonzor

so maybe this is the wrong forum, but its about powdercoating your suspension and components. ive gotten rough quotes for what powdercoating would cost at a few local shops and lets just say it costs considerably more then the alternatives. the frame being the big one, having only 2 shops ive found capable of such large pieces.

ive seen good rattle can work, ive seen nice powder coating, and of course por15 has its own reputation on this website. what i need to do SOON is finish my dropmember in something so that it doesnt rust up(some surface rust currently visable). what do you guys recomend?

Thanks,
Kyle.

I had my frame, dropmember and all components, air tanks, diff housing brackets, tabs, and all for 800.00. I do have more options then you living in houston tx. It was worth every cent. Just imagine the hours of blasting, painting and just the price of the paint itself.

[noonzor]

thanks for the replys guys! and texastrendz i understand and if i could get everything done for $800 of course thatd be my option. but my lowest price in town is offering to do just my dropmember, trailing arms and trailing arm crossmember for $700.... hrs of time i have, $$$ i do not.

[andrewmp6]

I love powder coating when its done right but sometimes it gets done and don't fully stick and chips off.If its done right you can beat on it with a hammer its still there it takes a razor blade to shave it off.A frame i would think hard on just because of the price anything normal size like a arms go for it.

[77chris03]

Originally Posted by noonzor

thanks for the replys guys! and texastrendz i understand and if i could get everything done for $800 of course thatd be my option. but my lowest price in town is offering to do just my dropmember, trailing arms and trailing arm crossmember for $700.... hrs of time i have, $$$ i do not.

South Texas powdercoating down the road here in Conroe tx is good cheap price. And he does good work. Look at my stuff he's doing. Of course I didnt do my frame but I did in por15. To do a bare frame blast prep and powder coat any color u want is 450.
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[SCOTI]

Noonzor,

Have you gotten a quote for just sand-blasting all of the parts?
Have you priced the materials req'd for painting the parts (paint, hardner, reducer, clean-up thinner, sand paper, degreaser, scotchbrite, etc...).

Sandblasting goes a long way toward a 'pro' finish whether it's PC'd or rattle canned. Curious what the costs are there for your area.

[stomper]

For me it was.

I considered the cost of materials to paint a frame and misc chassis components ($200-$250 maybe) against my sandblast and powdercoat quote of $400 (cheap. 'Black Friday" the shop calls it). For the $150-$200 difference I could have bought a `sandblast set-up. However, sandblasting outside a cabinet is a REALLY messy and time consuming job and a frame requires a big space.

What put me over the edge is that powdercoating is generally considered to be the ultimate finish - particularly on a frame.

For the most part I like doing things myself. So much that I would be money ahead working the weekend and paying someone else to build my truck - but I do it myself. In this case I dropped off an old crusty frame while I worked on other things. 2 days later I had a shiny powdercoated frame to start assembling - sweet!

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by blime81

I'm going to vote for POR-15 or a similar type coating (eastwood, rust bullet etc).

Both my sand rail and my Jeep have a substantial amount of powder coated parts and as paneldeland said it's not an easy repair since you have to get it done all over again.

I used POR-15 on my '72 frame and lots of other projects (VWs, Harleys, Hondas). Easy to apply, brush it on and it levels off very well (or you can spray). A quart will do your frame and suspension pieces with some to spare.

I've recently been redoing pieces on my Jeep in POR-15. They were new powdercoat in '08-'09 and are now rusty underneath the powdercoat since once the coating gets a chip, it can lift and it will hold water between the metal and the coating allowing rust to go wild unseen by you until it's too late.

As with anything, make sure you do good prep work (use the metal ready stuff) and wear gloves. Paint thinner won't touch POR when you try to get it off you hands.

Best of luck!

I agree, I would go with POR or similar. I used POR on all of my Jeeps before getting into these trucks. It will hold up much better than powder on a driver vehicle.

[jimmydean]

The finish is all in the prep. I use powder for most everything and have my own setup to do things smaller than a full frame. But POR15, powder, rattle can, doesn't mater if the surface isn't prep'ed correctly.

[noonzor]

the most expensive bit of it seems to be the sandblasting. $150/h for sandblasting and many of the powder shops here farm out there sandblasting. one quoted around $500 could be more, and the other quoted about $1000 for everything and the rest were scattered in between.

the thing i have against powder, is that IF i dont get that top quality job done and it chips water gets in and im back to square one. where as with paint or por if that happens i just need to clean the area and re-spray(brush). from the dozen or so people i know in town that have had work done, theyve almost all gone to different shops and not one of them say theyd powdercoat again.

i guess the biggest question i should be asking here is untill a make my decision, is there something i can cover the metal with to avoid rusting? does it have to be bare metal to powdercoat? or is there a primer layed down first? ive really got no idea.

[funkytechmonkey]

I powdercoated and painted parts of mine and I LOVE the way the PC turned out. Its a great color and the Powdercoaters did a great job. I paid about $800 to get all of my stuff blasted and coated. On my next build I will prob PC the same pieces I did this time. One thing I am really glad I didnt PC is the frame. I have had to touchup that frame many many times. Here are a few pic of mine....

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by noonzor

the most expensive bit of it seems to be the sandblasting. $150/h for sandblasting and many of the powder shops here farm out there sandblasting. one quoted around $500 could be more, and the other quoted about $1000 for everything and the rest were scattered in between.

the thing i have against powder, is that IF i dont get that top quality job done and it chips water gets in and im back to square one. where as with paint or por if that happens i just need to clean the area and re-spray(brush). from the dozen or so people i know in town that have had work done, theyve almost all gone to different shops and not one of them say theyd powdercoat again.

i guess the biggest question i should be asking here is untill a make my decision, is there something i can cover the metal with to avoid rusting? does it have to be bare metal to powdercoat? or is there a primer layed down first? ive really got no idea.

I've been able to touch up satin-black/gloss-black PC'd parts w/rattle can paint. It's not that big of a deal. You'd have to touch up chipped areas if painted as well so touch-up is touch-up in my book.

[Clyde65]

I think if you PC the right pieces, then your good. the frame I would paint and parts like the above poster, look fantastic and would be what I pc'd. I PC'd my upper and lower a-arms but painted just about everything else.

[Notch1988]

Originally Posted by noonzor

i guess the biggest question i should be asking here is untill a make my decision, is there something i can cover the metal with to avoid rusting? does it have to be bare metal to powdercoat? or is there a primer layed down first? ive really got no idea.

Do a search on picklex 20.

[Slammed50]

Funkeytechmonkey has it right on. With a low truck the frame will take all of the abuse and ruin that expensive powder coating job. Paint the frame with POR-15 and PC the rest of the parts.

[noonzor]

I bought some por15 and am going to try it out on a cab dolly ive made to see how i like the finish. And i agree, i am going to powdercoat components and por15 the frame and paint others. Cause that dropmember would look pretty sick powder coated!!

Thanks Folks!
Kyle.
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