Calling All Avid Bull Bar Owners...!

Hey Guys - I'm hoping this is just an isolated incident but my front bar is starting to rust bad. I was one of the first if not the first person to get Brandon's front bar and after this winter season yesterday I looked at my bar closely and noticed this....







I had my bar powdercoated within the first week of getting it so thats why the rust wasn't visible untill it was already pretty extensive. I em'd Brandon and am waiting what he thinks about this and I just wanted to give all you owners a heads up to take a min and inspect closely. Especially if you were one of the first ones to get the bar. At the rate this rust is going I"m expecting the bar to brake off in under 2 years.

 

You might want to take it somewhere and have it sand blasted to get off all the powder coat and rust and have it redone. It was probably just a bad powder coat job.

 

Have you contacted your powdercoater?

 

I just ordered one and was thinking of having it line-x'd. I was actually just calling around, and it doesn't sound like it will be much more than powdercoating. And I would think the line-x would stand up better than the powdercoat.
Razor's truck is one of the reasons I decided on the Avid bar. Initially I was interested in a brush guard like the Westin Sportsman, but the Avid bar grew on me over time and I finally took the plunge.
Let us know how it turns out.

 

If the powdercoat is placed on over any surface rust I could see this happening.

The bars are shipped raw and will need prep before painting or coating.
I cannot see how it could be Avids problem that it has rust under the powder coat.

I would do as the above poster said and have it blasted and recoated, painted or rubber coated again.
If it is in any kind of high humidity area the time between blasting and coating has to be very quick. A day or so wait will allow rust to start.

 

what he said, Avid sends you raw material, it all about the prep and finish. Looks like the surface wasn't prepped correctly. Should be fine after you get it blasted. I'd look into linex before I went the powder coat route again. Regardless, sorry to see that. I believe I'd have a talk w/ who coated it.

ETA, or is it linex? Just noticed the texture.

 

I bought mine shortly after you and just prepped, primed, and painted it. It spent the winter here in NH and it looks like the day I installed it.

 

I do know that the bar comes raw. It actually arrived to me with some rust ( delivered in the rain ) I think next time I wouldnt get the bar powdercoated. I'd probally lay down some anti-rust primer and than put down some bed liner over it. Like I said I dont expect any kind of freebie for this as some of you presume. I'm just letting you guys know about how easily it can rust. I was probally the first one to get this bar so I had it for alot longer than most if you. Mine looked perfect too untill it went through this winter. Maybe the chicago salt some how penetrated. Either way I'll probally just visually touch it up myself and in the future when the bar is way degraded I'll ask Brandon to fab me up a diffferent style bar. Like I said my purpose of this thread was to show people what can possibly happen and maybe get Brandon to offer some type of already primered bar.

 

No hating here, Razor- I appreciate the heads up.
I've had this bar sitting in my garage waiting for warm enough weather to finish and mount, I have color matched spray cans and now am not sure how I might go about rust proofing first....

Your truck rules and is a big time influence on this forum

 

Mine has done the same thing. Just sanded those spots down and hit it with another coat of rattle can. Looks like new.

 

I did find a small (2mm) speck of rust on mine about a month ago. In fairness though, it was where the powdercoat had chipped. I threw some Rustoleum onto the knice until it was flush, and so far (knock on wood!) it looks fine.