paint or powder coat

IMHO paint, only because it's cheaper to repair, and if it doesn't look good in 3 years time paint it again, gotta be cheaper and more practical. although looks good when it's powder coated.

Baz.

Whoa!!! Cans of worms alert here......

Okay......... I spend around $1000.00 @ month on Powdercoating, and have done for nearly 15 years.

All the stuff I make for myself, I powdercoat.

If we have an Engineer spec our work, he will sometimes spec Inorganic Paint after grit blasting, lasts longer.

As far as a Bull Bar is concerned, won't matter at all. Paint is easier to retouch, plus it keys into the steel a little better through slight chemical changes. Powdercoating is simply applied electrostaticly, and then heated to 180 C to shrink fit on. Both are good.

I am lazy........powdercoat wins for me........

Okay, I'm ready to duck........flaming mode!!!

powder coating is so cheap now there is little price difference from painting.
if you intend keeping the vehicle for a long time get the bull bar electroplated zinc at industrial platers which is also cheap and then get it powder coated.
electroplated zinc will stop the rust and gives the best adhesion surface for powder coating.

powder coating is so cheap now there is little price difference from painting.
if you intend keeping the vehicle for a long time get the bull bar electroplated zinc at industrial platers which is also cheap and then get it powder coated.
electroplated zinc will stop the rust and gives the best adhesion surface for powder coating.

Now here's a timely post. I've been out with the Auto-Sol today giving the Alloy Bar a spuce up after all the mud last week.

After an hour or so of polishing (which may also be the last time!) I think I will be voting for the powdercoated version next time round!

Steven

You know there is a liquid version of autosol so you can use a small hard brisel brush makes it easier to polish large items made of alloy.

I don`t have acces to powder coating but I just went over my bar with some wet and dry, hand painted it with under coat at the stone chips ,threw a large plastic sheet over the bonnet and sprayed over the bar with a couple of coats of black.Total time four hours.Thats got to be better than taking the whole shebang of to get the job done. Stone chips can re occur quite quickly on certain roads,so weigh up the work as well as the cost .Regards P.K.

As you are doing a steel bar the two options you ask are equal to the task of protective coating. Powdercoat when chipped can be touched up and eventually have a bar looking like acne and will fade off in 3 to 4 years the cost to re-do means sandblasted and re-processed. Paint with an zinc rich undercoat then top coat when chipped can be fixed up more easily when it fades off in 3 to 4 years slight rub back and re-paint. The less expensive up front is powdercoat the cheapest long term would be paint. If doing alloy powdercoat you must chromate dip the bar first if you dont it will peel off. As a suggestion up top to use electroplating I would consider hot dip galvanising over electroplating as it has porous properties. In my game I use many types of protective coatings for metal and alloy product and IMHO I would go the paint job for a bull bar.

The steel bull bar on my troopy was painted, got sick of having to touch up the rusting spots every year.
Had it sand blasted, zinc spray paint undercoated and then powdercoated with a graphite hammertone finish. No maintenance so far after 3+ years.

If I were to paint it, I would use POR15 paint, used that stuff on the axles of my boat trailer and it stood up to stone chips, saltwater, etc. better than anything else I tried there.

Klaus

The steel bull bar on my troopy was painted, got sick of having to touch up the rusting spots every year.
Had it sand blasted, zinc spray paint undercoated and then powdercoated with a graphite hammertone finish. No maintenance so far after 3+ years.

If I were to paint it, I would use POR15 paint, used that stuff on the axles of my boat trailer and it stood up to stone chips, saltwater, etc. better than anything else I tried there.

Klaus

Guys,
Powder coat every time,
Jobs which are fading and coming off in just three years probably wernt done properly. My bars done 300,000km and six years old and after a pressure wash looks like new
My powdercoat place uses a thick spray on primer after blasting, then coats over this, few stone chips and roo rub marks is all the problems Ive had.
The coating is adhered so well it is very hard to sandblast off before retreating, on other stuff we had to get a mining contractor to get the old coating off before retreatment. I have had some come off when not left in the oven long enough.
Best of all cost around $150. Some places can even give warranty now

JR