Paint or Power Coat?

[Dynomutt]

Would you paint or powder coat the chassis, and why?

I only have a few more things to fab up before I'm ready and it was headed to the powder coater. I've been told by a few people that I should paint it instead so I'm looking for more opinions now before I pull the trigger.

[garykirby25]

I went with powder coat, i think it just amounts to if you want to pay a little more. I got mine done in Mansfield,Tx and was very happy with the turn out and he did at a very good price.http://www.txhouseofhotrods.com/services.htm
Hope that helps.

[classicchev]

Unless you do a complete tear down, the powder will probably not get every nook and cranny in the multiple layers of metal.'

I have done 4 frames now and have sprayed everyone of them. At least you can touch them up and not get all pissed if you scratch or chip of a peice of powder,

Dont get me wrong, powder is beautiful, but the prep is what really makes it. I just bought a 18' hauler that was powdercoated everywhere, and I do not want to put anything on it.

Darren

[woodwright]

I don't mean to hijack, but I'm curious about this too. I don't want to do a complete teardown, just cleanup and paint the frame as I uncover it. What frame coating will handle a daily driver 4x4, with mud, gravel, and the occasional anti-iceing spray on the road? I just want it to look respectable.

[classicchev]

I have used a variety.
Tremclad, Zero Rust, and Acrycote. At the end of the day, they all look the same. I think Zero Rust would be my choice again.

Darren

[westofb]

I used cheap tractor paint, it looks good, helps slow down oxidation, and is simple to touch up should I scar it up. I am doing a frame off resto mod, that will be driven quite a bit, was not looking at building a full blown "trailer queen".

[Dynomutt]

Thanks or the responses guys. I did find this site in my search for information as well.

http://www.circletrack.com/chassiste...mpany_inc.html

[Longhorn Man]

i prefer the POR15 over powder coat. Look at the rear frame rails of a semi and you'll see, once you get a small chip, water and grime (salt if aplicable) will get under the powder and then it'll hold the water there and rust.
Powder looks great, and is pretty strong, but there is no way to repair it when it chips. POR is stronger, it bonds better to the metal instead of over the metal and it can be done in stages, plus, repair is easy too.

[MisterE72]

I went for powdercoat only because the price difference between paint and it was about $150. By the time i included transportation to and from the sandblaster, renting a paint booth, paint materials, and transportation to and from the paint booth, I was looking a close figures. Again I have a unique situation because I cant paint or sandblast at my home. Powdercoaters were able to sandblast everything on site.

[VA72C10]

I have about 100 total in wire wheels, grinding discs, and spraypaint in mine. No one can do a sandblast and powdercoat for near that (unless they do it themselves and then consider the cost of the blaster, sand, pcoat oven, and powder.

I dropped my frame from three foot tall jack stands/wheel dollies and it only put small scratches in the paint. The rustoleum hammered I use is stronger than normal spray paint because it's so high build and I have four to five coats on all the parts now including two rust preventative primer coats.

Here's what a powdercoated brake bracket looked like mocked up. I scuffed it with a scotchbrite pad and sprayed it with hammered paint and it looks good as new.


Just think if I had dropped a powdercoated frame....I would have been so upset...with the spraypaint, it was a 20 minute fix including sanding, priming, and painting. (mainly waiting between coats)

Here's the frame as it stands


And a closeup of the rear...(note the calipers came powdercoated....)


My upper control arm


Extreme closeup (note the bottom corner shows primer through...this was just the first coat...I put a few more on and it's perfect now.)


You don't have to do a textured finish, you can do smooth spraypaint just as nice...the hammered just looks really cool to me.

[cdowns]

a good cleaning degreaseing and brushed on rustoleum at less than $10 a quart has worked fine on loads of daily driver projects i've done over the years

[turp mcspray]

Powdercoat is plastic over bare metal. When it chips (no it's not bullitproof) there is NO corrossion resistance. I think paint looks much smoother than powder as well.

[rambler]

I would agree with Andy and use Por15, I've not done a complete frame off, but on my front end and under the bed is where I used it, and looks pretty good...

[mclairmo]

I had my Camaro subframe powdercoated 15 years and no chips and no issues. It is rarely driven though. I will be painting my truck's frame, though. POR15 is what most seem to use. However, Eastwood makes a chasiss black that looks good, too. Tremclad is not sold here (only in Canada) but Rustoleum is the same thing. I don't like Rustoleum because it takes so long to dry but others love it. It is rock hard once it really cures.

[Gene]

I've got 400 bucks invested in my frame, blasted and powdercoated. I could'nt have had it blasted and painted for that. They hit every nook and cranny on my frame and it turned out much better than I ever expected.

[Zoomin]

They can use a wand type of sprayer to get inside the frame too, when powdercoating. If you're using spray cans you cant get in as deep.

The thing with POR is that if you have any rust issues, it will stop it, period. I also like the way POR looks when dry. You can put it on with a sponge brush and it looks like it was srayed.

Each has their strong points - You might consider using all of them for various parts.

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by Gene

I've got 400 bucks invested in my frame, blasted and powdercoated. I could'nt have had it blasted and painted for that. They hit every nook and cranny on my frame and it turned out much better than I ever expected.

that's a good deal...I'd have been tempted to do that but the only recommended people around here were a few hundred just to blast and powder was going to be a lot more.

I'm still happy with the spray because I am going to have to modify my trailing arm crossmember now and with powder, you'd be out of luck....have to blast it and re-primer and good luck not scraping off powder off the framerails as you pull it out....
Now, I'll make the mods I need, prime and paint it and look like nothing was ever done

[Dynomutt]

Thanks for all the input.

I should have mentioned that I have pricing for both powder and paint and they are almost exactly the same. As a matter of fact the powder is the cheaper of the two. I'm just looking for pros and cons of each to educate myself before I make a decision.

I also should have mentioned that the plan for this truck is a weekender and local shows. Not a trailer queen but not a daily driver either. This will just be something that my dad and I can have some fun with at some local shows.

VA72C10, I like what you've done with your frame. Looks good.

[blue 72 gmc 4x4]

I used Imron on my frame. Turned out really nice and the paint seems really tough.

[cparman]

here is my .02 worth. I powdercoat everything! yes you need to dissassemble down to the last bolt, Yes it is plastic, yes there are no rust preventatives underneath. I use POR 15 products, and recommend them for some things. In reality, just how far is someone going to drive their frame off restored truck/blazer. My Chevelle was powder coated every where. I had it finished for 4 years before I sold it. It had 4000 miles on it. You can wipe off the powdercoat with some citrus cleaners, I have even used brake clean to get rid of a oily stain, and it holds up. You cannot sandblast and paint as cheap as you can powder coat. Maybe that is $.03 worth.

[Longhorn Man]

i guess that's the big thing, if you are gonna do all this work and only drive it 1000 miles a year, then it doesn't even matter.
I hardly consider that as a possibility becouse I can't comprehend that.

[woodwright]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

i guess that's the big thing, if you are gonna do all this work and only drive it 1000 miles a year, then it doesn't even matter.
I hardly consider that as a possibility becouse I can't comprehend that.

I agree. Especially with my K10. I'm looking at making it my daily work truck. I average about 25,000 miles a year.

[Dynomutt]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

i guess that's the big thing, if you are gonna do all this work and only drive it 1000 miles a year, then it doesn't even matter.
I hardly consider that as a possibility becouse I can't comprehend that.

Sure it matters. Just because I don't use it the same as you would doesn't mean I feel differently about it than you would. I have no idea how many miles I'll put on it. It will never be a daily driver but it will be driven to as many shows or events as we can get to and if I'm going to do all this work on it, I want it to last.

It looks to me like most of the concerns with powder is chipping and no way to repair it or rust. I'm sure anything is going to chip somewhere and even if I paint it, I probably wouldn't worry with fixing a chip. The frame has had no coating at all for 38 years and it's holding up fine. I haven't heard any horror stories about either so since I was going to do powder I think I'll stick with that and move forward.

Thanks to all for the input. Much appreciated.

[Longhorn Man]

i ment it wouldn't matter on paint or powder. Either should hold up to the riggors of ultra light use.
For something that will be used all the time rain or shine, pavement or dirt, I still recomend POR or another encapsaltor persoinally. I did the rear of my one ton frame and it is all still there through salty winters and everything.
I didn't mean it in a rude way, please forgive my wording.
And 40 years ago they were painted black. once the paint wore off, up here in these parts, they started rusting, some to the point of breaking in half.

[Dynomutt]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

i ment it wouldn't matter on paint or powder. Either should hold up to the riggors of ultra light use.
For something that will be used all the time rain or shine, pavement or dirt, I still recomend POR or another encapsaltor persoinally. I did the rear of my one ton frame and it is all still there through salty winters and everything.
I didn't mean it in a rude way, please forgive my wording.
And 40 years ago they were painted black. once the paint wore off, up here in these parts, they started rusting, some to the point of breaking in half.

I Got ya. I've never had to deal with a vehicle that's been exposed to that kind of climate or salt. I have dealt with a lot of sheet metal rust but it's more due to moisture/humidity so it didn't really affect the thicker metals as much.
If my frame was ever black, you sure can't see it anywhere.
Thanks for the info.