jray02r1

Powdercoat proved to be worthless already. Once it gets scratched, it trusts and then peels off.

Rednroll

What everyone is describing sounds a lot like my under carriage rust protection process I use which uses truck bed liner. I can verify, that if you scrape the truck bed liner spray hard enough, it will scratch easily. If you want to add durability to it to make it more scratch resistant, then you should go over the truck bed liner with a few layers of clear coat. Clear coat will obviously add a shine to the truck bed liner which you may not want. Try to find a Satin type clear coat and avoid the high gloss clear coats.

I recently, sanded my rusted trailer hitch receiver down. After that I went over it with a rust reformer spray and then followed that with a primer. The rust reformer really helps control the rust from growing underneath, so you can paint over it. Even after sanding, any rust that started pitting the metal, can and will start to grow again.

Here's my trailer hitch and the steps it went through. I used a high gloss clear coat, but if I was doing bumpers I wouldn't use that since I really don't want shiney bumpers but don't mind shine for a trailer hitch.
1. Sand down to bare metal
2. Liberally apply rust reformer spray (Iron Armor brand)

3. 2 layers of primer
4. 2 coats Iron Armor truck bed liner (it has some texture to it and goes on pretty thick and is better and more durable than Rustoleum).

5. 4 coats of clear coat spray.

It's not better than a good powder coat job, but it works pretty well and cost a whole lot less. The clear coat really does help make the Truck Bed Liner much more scratch resistant which is what I wanted for a trailer hitch since that obviously will be coming in contact with other metal every time I use it.
Pre Clear coat


With Clear coat





Completed

Smudgeontheglass

As long as you can get it down to bare metal getting the powder coating is pretty simple. One trick that some of my local Jeepers have done is get in contact with local powder coating shops and find out when they're running through a big batch. They'll happily put in single pieces into large batches and usually for pretty cheap. As long as you're happy with what colour and texture they're running through at the time it's all good.

jray02r1

Update...

Initially I was not impressed with the hardness of the bed liner. It did toughen up over time. It's not amazing, but it's ok now. Anyways, I wash my Jeep every 2 weeks in the winter and sometimes more often. The bumpers have already started showing signs of rust all over. In the spring I will probably spray bomb them until I can get them in somewhere to be sand blasted and coated with some thick stuff. There has got to be a finish that's more durable to the winter climate. I will get some pics tomorrow when the sun is up hopefilully.

TrailBadger

Anything new that will be installed on the jeep will defiantly be sent to the power coaters from our point of view, though I've done similar painting techniques in the past on several small projects nothing that would ever see the harsh climate of road salts, winter, rain and heavy off road use. I think you're going about this all right, but the weather and humidity are keys in the success of a rattle can paint job. Thus we'll have to wait this warmer days to finish up several of our projects.

Rednroll

Powder coat is definitely the best for durability but not very cost effective.

Have you tried the IA truck bed coating I suggested earlier or are you using the Rustoleum? I found the Rustoleum to not be a very durable surface. The IA will also scrap off if rubbed hard enough with a metal to metal or rock to metal contact, but definitely more durable than the Rustoleum. For a more durable coating over that of the IA truck bed coating, look for a Satin clear coat which will add a hard protective layer over the truck bed liner but not add too much shine like the gloss clear coats will. I found that combo to rival powder coating.

For the rust, you can try to take it down to bare metal all you want but once rust starts it's difficult to contain. I have found this rust reformer to work really well in containing the rust because like it says on the can, it "destroys" the rust on contact. I'm willing to bet if you had sprayed down the bumper with this stuff after you had it sanded down to bare metal, and prior to adding any primer/paint you wouldn't be seeing the rust coming back up. At least that has been my experience.


I have a $20/month unlimited car wash subscription. I will typically go through the car wash 2-3 and sometimes more per week, especially during the winter to get the salt off and my stuff has been holding up pretty well.

TrailBadger

Rednroll

Glad someone mentions Rustoeum. We had an issue with the Rustoleum stripe paint product as the paint said it was matte black, but one sprayed on the surface, it looks more olive drab. In this case and while on twitter Rusto wanted to make this up to us. They opted to send us a case full of their rust prevention spray paint.

About half way through the shipment we changed our minds as we didn't want hazardous material being delivered to our location as we had no use for a case of this stuff. Hitting the proper channels I stopped the shipment mid flight from ever reaching our door. The whole principle of this is that we contacted them on behalf of their product testing as they must have been asleep on the job. paint listed as matte or flat black should be matte or flat black not olive drab.

So now we're left with an olive drab stripe on the front quarter panels of the jeep until I can correct it this spring with the Dubplicolor carbon fiber top coat spray as we've already tested this color on the jeep.

But I agree and we'll have several of our own products powder coated. For instance, the RK coils should run us $160.00 for all four coils.

BoraBora

Powder coating bumpers? Might as well set your money on fire, or go buy Bitcoin now and watch your investment disappear.

Powder coating bumpers as a normal person (read: not a shop rig or sponsored rig) is foolish. The first time you touch a rock or tree, flake flake flake bye bye $$$$. If you're lucky, it'll last a few wheeling trips. Regardless you'll have the same outcome, and your rig will look like crap.

Rattle can bumpers, sliders, and skids because you'll be re-finishing them often. Powder coat things that don't/won't contact crap, such as body armor (rockers, corners, hood louvers if that's your thing).

jray02r1

So far, this has been my experience with powder coating.

TrailBadger

There are different levels of powder coating. Some manufactures simply do the least amount of powder coating on their products just to save money in the knowing these products will receive a beating on the trail. AEV for instance, worked with their customers in an efforts to make sure all of their product have been throughly powder coated based on ridged techniques and inspections.

The powder coating company we've been using since 2004, has always done a superior job coating a variety of product for us. metal work, plating acid dipping etc. The key point is timing. One must allow the company to do their job and not be rushed. In this instance the company would periodically contact us informing us that a particular color was coming up and wanted to know if we had anything to include in their lot.

So if you want it half assed, the rattle it.. But if you want it done right, you will have to pay for it then you may have to wait a bit longer than normal to get your finished product.