How are your Avid Light bars holding up to rust

Waiting for my Avid Light Bars to be shipped and thinking about how to finish them. I've read most of the posts talking about line-x, rattle can, powdercoating, and spray on bedliners. My question is, for you guys and gals who have had your Avids for awhile now, how are they holding up to rust and how did you finish them? I live near the beach in the mid-atlantic so I am looking for the best rust protection.

Great site! Did the seat belt beep mod this morning and it worked like a charm on my 08 Indigo Ink DC LB Pre-Runner.

 

i've only had mine for this winter and so far to rust at all but we dont use a lot of salt on our roads.

 

Had mine powdercoated this past summer. Lots of beach use, no rust at all.

 

I bought the slider bars, they got wet and started rusting over the next week. Got them Line-X, awesome now. Stainless steel gets a little rust on them, and its not u can not get off, just doing it all the time might get old.

 

Here is a pic of what one of the braces looked like at after some moister got to it. It was just on the surface and easy to take off though.

 

well duh, you can't expect bare metal not to rust...

 

You know that they are't made of stainless steel, right?

 

I did not. I thought they were though. The welder tig weld them with stainless. We had tried using other weld but it wouldn't stick.

 

cantac09: How did you finish the bars?

fishshooter: Any special instruction or coating for the powdercoat or just basic powdercoat?

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

I got a basic, matte black on the light bar, and a black, textured, mil-spec coating on the sliders, since most people that get in use them as steps. The powdercoater will take care of all the prep work. It was actually cheaper to get the bar powdercoated than Rhino or X-lined.

 

Steel, Not Stainless

I had mine:
Sand Blasted
Degreased
Powdercoat Primer coat - baked
Powdercoat Color coat - baked
Powdercoat Clear coat - baked
Cost more than the light bar
Better not friggin' rust !!!
But the Powdercoater told me it will still chip

You've gotta Seal it with something.
It's bare steel.
And if it's already got rust on it,
get it off before you cover it with anything.





CC

 

Had mine powdercoated. No problems with rust. Brandon caps the ends with welded metal caps (as opposed to plastic tap-ins) which makes a big difference too because it keeps the tubes from rusting from the inside. That being said, as with anything you want to keep looking nice, preventative maintenance is key ... little scratches can become big rust problems if allowed to remain open. I touch up any scratches with anti-rust primer and topcoat as I see them.

 

VERY nice!!

 

if you powdercoat it im sure it will be rust free for a long time

 

I have an Avid Light Bar on order and was thinking of first painting it with red oxide and then with Gloss Black Rust Oleum. Do you think that gray auto primer is better then red oxide?

 

Come on guys. No opinion?