Bullbar painted

I have used the Wattyl range of etch/paint products on my bulbar without any major prep and you would be hard pressed to know it was painted and didn't have the original black ARB powdercoat finish. Has lasted ages.
There are a few posts on this on a few sites. Punch it into google.
Good luck

Powder coating is quite tough in itself but rarely is the substrate prepared and primed properly so that if you get a chip or scratch ithrough the powder coating, the corrosion (rust) will spread rapidly under the coating. (unless the bull bar is aluminium)
If you wish to 'colour code' your bull bar, I would suggest that you do get it blasted (garnet or steel grit) and then topcoat with a two pack polyurethane which you can do yourself - and also touch up easily.
If steel, then you should prime with a zinc rich epoxy primer. If aluminium, there is no need to prime, just apply a thinned polyurethane (as a primer) and then topcoat.
Polyurethane is extremely tough but not a hard as the powder coatings so you may need to touch up now and again.
Bear in mind, that if you are overcoating an epoxy primer, there is a limited 'open time' within which you must apply the topcoat, usually within 24 hrs. Any longer and intercoat adhesion becomes suspect.
When touching up polurethanes, you will need to abrade i.e. sand down, to give a mechanical key.

He is corect it needs to be burnt. In the past I have used companys that plastic coat steel, for example the clothes rails you get from bunnings outdoor chairs. Most powder coaters can give you a contact. I paid $75 to burn then $200 to blast @ powder coat a ARB bar late last year. I found a company that was happy to be paid cash with no reciept.

Hey "Menace" i was worried that the mods would kick me off for being off topic but so glad they did hang in there for me, some excellent info came out of it, it is on the border as you probally thought also but it looks like you are getting some really good feedback also ...... never know unless ya ask eh.. and think about it, is is a relevent subject..
I used to do blasting and it is the best prep for any metal surface to make it stick and last ....
Cheers and good luck with it
.
.

I used to work at a powdercoaters and in my opinion I would always have it blasted first before 2 pac and remove all powdercoat if you want it to last.

I used to be realy fond of powder coating, and for many things it is a realy good thing...but there are issues as you are finding.

#1..if you are going to get anything powdercoated and you care if it lasts you have to go to a good operator and one that does their own blasting.

The best powder coat comes on a freshly blasted surface, the fresher the better.

If they are a decent operator they will know all about striping powder coat too, and they will have several options depending on what they are faced with.

One thing is for certain, a powder coat job that is not sand blasted first is half a job.....my powder coater will not coat anything that has not been blasted if it is solid or etched if it is light work.
I have seen plenty of powder coat fail where it has not been blasted or etched.

And you have it right, that a cheaply done powder coating job is heaps cheaper than a conventionally painted job....this is why so many things are powdercoated these days and poorly.

#2..because powdecoat is thermally set polyester, it is very resistant to a great many things.....but it is also very hard to get a good bond to any sort of finish you may try to put over it..so if its starting to look tatty, the only real option is to get the stuff off

So no matter what you are going to do, the existing powder coat has to come off.

If you are going to a good operator, they wont be talking about burning the powder coat, they will just do the job.

A good high power sand blaster will have powder coat off with no problem at all, especially if it was not blasted the first time.

Now if you want to do this yourself.......the painting is no problem at all...but resist the temptation to use two pack top coats......two pack is realy not safe to spray at home and single pack paints are far easier to touch up and recoat later.

My recomendation is "wattyl super etch" as a primer undercoat, it is a thinners bassed single pack epoxy and can be overcoated with just about anything......it contains zircon as a corrosion inhibiter & is good stuff and easy enough to obtain. It is also easy enough to work with.

Unless you are intending to dip this thing regularly in salt water there is no need for a zinc primer.....the superetch will be more than fine.

As for top coat.....acrilic laquer, quick dry automotive enamel, epoxy enamel ( kill rust) are all options..all can be sprayed well enouh by amateurs outside of a spary booth and without "special" breathing equipment...standard organic vapour respirator is fine.

My last comment is with bot paint and powder coat...think about if painting the same colour as the body is a good idea......the bull bar WILL get scuffed up, scratched and scraped........on a nice smooth same colour as the body finish these will stick out like dogs balls.

With the powder coats, the textured finishes look great and hide scrapes very well..consider antique silver, antique copper or bronze or ripple graphite.

with self sprayed...introducing a texture is a good idea..and black is soo easy to touch up.

cheers

Has anyone here used POR 15 paints on any camping and 4WD related stuff. A couple of years ago, I welded up a bracket to mount an underbody compressor. I then left the thing in the shed for some time and the untreated bare steel developed a little surface rust. When I came to painting it, I went to my local automotive paint shop and they sold me a 'starter pack' of this POR 15 stuff in black.

The light surface rust saw not treated at all mechanically, but was converted with their product called "Marine Clean" from memory and the rust turned white and powdery. The POR 15 pain was then simply applied with a brush. 2 coats from memory.

After it had dried I had a look and was amazed at the finish (far better than what I need for under bonnet use). It looked sprayed.

It has been there now for a couple of years with all sort of use and travel and there is not sign of any pitting or rust coming through. I even found it difficult to remove when grinding a little area for an electrical earth.

I'm now sold on this stuff (not cheap of course) and am about to re-furbish the suspension components of my camper trailer and plan to use this stuff.

If I was going to the trouble to re-paint my bulbar, I would very seriously consider this stuff. It can also be top coated with any colour that you like for colour matching.

It's very tough stuff for our applications. Just my 02 and with no affiliations etc....

CHeers,

Mark

Thanks everyone for the great and knowledgeable information...it is obvious that it comes down to , just what I want the end result to be..learning all the time !..there is absolutely nothing wrong with it at the moment , not even a scratch ! but I just have a liking for colour coding ..
I get great satisfaction out of doing most things myself but it seems that at times it is more beneficial to out source for a more professional result .
yes Joe n Mel n Kids..it does seem that there is nearly no such thing as a dumb or what could be perceived as an out of line question here...excellent advise in all areas is welcomely given...lit is great !!!...cheers all