Powder coating regrets?

[CG]

I know over the years I have seen that a lot of you guys powder coat your entire chassis and misc. suspension and engine bay items. I'm wondering after a bunch of time has passed do you regret your decision to powder coat?

I took a set of inner fenders and a core support in to the sand blasters today for my C30 project. From there Ill take em in to get semi gloss black powder coating. In the process of finding a sand blaster closer to home, and talking to a bunch of automotive guys I sure got a lot of negative feedback regarding powder coating. The usual, if it chips it spreads, and how do you touch it up? I know just like paint, prep correctly first, and then know what you are doing when laying and baking the powder coat.

What's your experience after some time has elapsed with your powder coating?

[54blackhornet]

I had my original wheels done love the results. Suspension entirely different story.

[LS short box]

Prep is the key to making powder stick. It loves sand blasting. Choose a color that has a matching spray can touch up paint.

[Lee H]

When I did the frame off in 2012 I had the frame, core support, trailing arms, control arms, bumper brackets, and almost all the other stuff that was or was supposed to be black powder coated. One of the very few things not power coated was the inner fenders, because I knew the would get chipped. All the powder coating is still as new, 8 years and about 30k miles later. I’m glad I did it. As a side note, I had a few of the pieces blasted when I did the body, the powder coater insisted he reblast them or he would not do them as could not warrant the coating on those parts.

[CG]

Originally Posted by Lee H

When I did the frame off in 2012 I had the frame, core support, trailing arms, control arms, bumper brackets, and almost all the other stuff that was or was supposed to be black powder coated. One of the very few things not power coated was the inner fenders, because I knew the would get chipped. All the powder coating is still as new, 8 years and about 30k miles later. I’m glad I did it. As a side note, I had a few of the pieces blasted when I did the body, the powder coater insisted he reblast them or he would not do them as could not warrant the coating on those parts.

That's very good advice on the inner fenders. I had totally forgotten about that. Its the way I did it on my old Unibody ... Thanks for reminding me!

[D.PASSMORE]

Florida - weather elements are tough, high moisture, high sodium in rain and UV blasted sunlight, nothing survives for long. Powder coating is good if you can keep your driver in the shade and out of the rain. So, instead of spending a lot of $$ on powder coating. I use this method and material.
Sandblast clean, Transtar epoxy primer (2 coats), within flash time, Nason Ful-Thane 2K Urethane Topcoat. Bullet proof protection. But, got to have right HVLP paint gun and associated accessories.

[bry593]

I'm not a fan of powder coat for the reason you mentioned. As soon as it gets chipped, it starts coming off in sheets. Paint doesn't have that problem. So I guess it depends on if you use your truck as a truck or something to show on weekends. Weekend show truck, powder coat looks pretty nice. Hauling branches through a muddy field, paint is what you want.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by CG

I know over the years I have seen that a lot of you guys powder coat your entire chassis and misc. suspension and engine bay items. I'm wondering after a bunch of time has passed do you regret your decision to powder coat?

I took a set of inner fenders and a core support in to the sand blasters today for my C30 project. From there Ill take em in to get semi gloss black powder coating. In the process of finding a sand blaster closer to home, and talking to a bunch of automotive guys I sure got a lot of negative feedback regarding powder coating. The usual, if it chips it spreads, and how do you touch it up? I know just like paint, prep correctly first, and then know what you are doing when laying and baking the powder coat.

What's your experience after some time has elapsed with your powder coating?

I worked for a company that made tubular products for FreightLiner, Western Star, PeterBuilt, and Kenworth. Mother Flock we were pooping out 6000 parts a shift before the recession in 08. They shipped the bulk of production to Mexico. THANKS!

Most all the parts we produced were Powder Coated. I believe they phosphoric acid etched them before coating. I know for sure they both washed and rinsed them with something turning them a light tint of green.

[chewychevy67]

I had my chassis coated 8 years ago and they etched everything before coating. It hasn't made it on the road yet but I had a few extra parts I did for experiments. It was hard to chip them when they were new and then I left them out on my fence in the elements. I bring them in to try to get the coating off from time to time and its still hard on there and the spots that I chipped off aren't lossening on the edges. It's like paint, everything is in the prep and use good products.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

I had my chassis coated 8 years ago and they etched everything before coating. It hasn't made it on the road yet but I had a few extra parts I did for experiments. It was hard to chip them when they were new and then I left them out on my fence in the elements. I bring them in to try to get the coating off from time to time and its still hard on there and the spots that I chipped off aren't lossening on the edges. It's like paint, everything is in the prep and use good products.

I agree properly prepared surfaces and it's hard to beat the durability of quality powder coating.

[MiraclePieCo]

I've changed my wheel color three times. Glad it wasn't powder coat!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

I'm sure it's mostly prep.

I've had two places do PC for me, near I can tell their only process is bake & blast. No issues and looks good, but it's early yet. Good to know powder coating inner fenders is less than desirable, though one of the PC guys I use might disagree. He says one great thing about PC is it flexes, seems that would work well for thin inner fenders, but I'm no expert. I've heard PC is less than ideal for springs, but in his mind it's an ideal finish because it allows for flex. He's well trained and his equipment top notch.

[CG]

In the end I chose not to powder coat. Even though the price was decent I just have no idea where I am going to go for sure with my truck. Make it extra purdy, or just use it as a work horse?

I had a buddy fix the unexpected pin holes (I swear they weren't there before haha!) and he laid down a nice thick coat of primer. I rattle canned them from there. And I also rattle canned with sort of a bed liner-ish (not as thick) coating on the under part of the inner fenders.