Clean it good with alcohol, rattle can self etching primer, then paint it with rustoleum, black enamel or bed liner. Cheap and you will have an easy way to fix scatches

 

No offense to everyone who finds it sufficient to do $15 paint jobs on $600 parts, but I can't understand that. Might look good in pictures but there is no way that in person the texture and or color is consistent across the whole piece. It's like people don't want others to have something nicer than what they have.

My humble opinion. Flame me if you want. I don't care.

It's just retarded to me to buy such expensive things and then go and coat them with freaking aerosol coatings. I'm aware that a pro painter or someone who knows the same amount as a pro can make these types of jobs not look awful, I have done it myself, but they will never ever be in the same realm as a powdercoat. The whole touch up thing is just ridiculous to me. It's a jeep and if you wheel it and scratch it why are you so concerned with touching it up to make it look all the same again? Rust that develops under a scratch on something painted will spread under the rest of the paint I get that. But it will only be surface rust. It can easily be removed when you decide to revisit the whole thing later down the road.

A powdercoat generally doesn't allow rust to spread under scratches as it is bonded to the metal in a way far different that regular paint, much less spray paint or bedliner. I have scratches on the bottom of my rocker knockers and they have surface rust that is not spreading.

Use it, let t get scratched, wait til you feel it needs a recoat, and pop it off and have it recoated.

Chances are that if you're just "touching up" little scratches on a painted part without addressing the rust that develops within hours in most cases, then you're just covering up a problem. And it will spread and you'll have no knowledge of it til your paint starts lifting. You'll have a whole bumper full of rust spots as opposed to confined areas of rust with a nice properly done powdercoat.

 

This is the result to a proper, thick powdercoat when the whole front end slams into rocks...not even through the coating

The other is the result of the full weight of the jeep slamming onto 4 foot ledges and scraping over as I went up or down...barely made it through the coating and that was only on impact. Not on the slide...


If anybody thinks any type of aerosol can take the same abuse without incurring more damage they're just wrong. Also notice no spread of rust. It can't spread.

Powdercoat=less damage and less touch ups


That's a fact not an opinion. Looks are one argument...physical results are another...although the I wouldn't say there's much to argue there

 

Bingo. Thanks Mike. Im new here and trying not to come off as a Richard, as my intention is NOT to offend anyone's method but the sentence of yours I've highlighted is EXACTLY why Im spending the $300-ish something to have all the PSC parts professionally powder-coated by a joint that does this on off-road vehicles for a living. Also helps they have actually done all the parts Im sending them, multiple times.


I can understand if I got a used bumper and sandblasted it myself, and could save some that way, but this is brand new PSC stuff; likely in the end an EMBARRASSINGLY expensive amount of PSC stuff. Ive priced it all, direct from PSC, as well as a few quotes from some 4x4 shops and dealers.
This will end up being $2000 - $2300 worth of equipment, and Ill not be painting it with rattle cans from the local hardware store.
I can see the benefits of doing that in certain circumstances, but in this case, having powder coated my previous rigs bumpers and tire carrier, if the raw stuff is prepped right, the exposure and overall chipping is drastically reduced from normal paint, and in the end as Mike mentioned, you just wait until you have sufficient chipping and re-coat. However on my last powder job, it lasted SO well even through Nebraska winters, wheeling, and generally horrible humid and wet conditions, I never once had to re-coat it in 8 years.

 

I wish I could have my whole body powdercoated haha. I'm getting sick of finding new little rock chips in mopars weak ass factory paint job every time I wash it. My powdercoated PSC stuff however doesn't even get scratches from flying rocks. Powdercoat is a pretty awesome thing. There's a reason most industrial applications are powdercoated not painted nowadays. It's much more durable.

The place I got mine done it is called Elco Powder Coat and it's in China Spring, Texas, right down the road from Ted Nugent's ranch. They do lots of industrial stuff and also will do things as small as A-Pillar Rigid Dually mounts. Their prices are very fair and their work is very well done. And they haven't taken over 2 weeks even when I asked for custom color. I would use them a thousand times over.

 

I dont find it to be a good idea to spend hundreds on powdercoating that is just going to be run into rocks and trees and sometimes the ground. Hit things as hard as I do and the type of paint doesnt matter. I dont care how things look, not everyone else is crazy like me.

 

By that same logic you shouldn't spend hundreds on parts you're going to just bang into rocks either. That's just not very sound logic there at all.

As demonstrated and mentioned, powdercoat is far superior in durability to any paint or anything sprayed from an aerosol can. And I highly doubt you sandblasted your parts before painting them also which means that you're two levels below the adherence of powdercoat.

Saying that any aerosol spray coating is equivalent to a powdercoat is just factually incorrect. And that is what you've said by saying it doesn't matter what paint you have (I assume you meant coating in general not what type of paint(laquer vs enamel etc))

Let's not play the "I hit my stuff harder than you do" game because that's ignorant.

The fact is that powdercoat is more durable. It's science. Not opinion. Also rust spreads under paint and bedliner and can't spread under powdercoat. So all those cover ups you're doing are just covering rust that's spreading around.

In the end your rig is your rig, that's why I said no offense to anyone, to each his own, but fact is also fact. Paint is not equal to powdercoat in many ways.

 

I doubt his point was " I hit my stuff harder than you do "...

Powder coating certainly has advantages as you pointed out. It's more durable. He pointed out that when, and it is when, the powder coat chips off, you're not going to be able to repair that area very easily. The disadvantage of rattle can is that it's not as durable. Its advantage is that when, and it is when more often, it chips or scratches, you can repaint fairly easily and that includes proper prep to prevent the start/spread of rust.

 

Omg....the implication was there. Clearly. Let's not argue.

And as mentioned, there is no need to touch up powdercoat because the rust won't spread under it like paint. It gets chopped and scraped to the metal far less than paint. And if you need to touch it up that badly because of cosmetics reasons, then you probably shouldn't be hitting it on stuff...

All I'm doing is making points regarding the facts and reasons behind MY choice. And providing reason that may steer anyone else on the fence towards a powdercoat.

No harm intended. Do what makes you happy. That's all that matters.

 

Then at least be objective. You're reading into what he said all the while saying you're backed by science and being objective. Powder coating is not rust proof. It resists it but that's it. Most powder coating businesses will tell you that when you get a chip you will need to use paint to seal the area to prevent rust from spreading.

So your opinion and your agenda holds no more than his.

Like you said. Do what makes you happy. In his case paint. In yours powder coating.