Armor Pieces powder coat or nah?

Looking into a DIY low profile front bumper kit I found online and it comes with bare metal. I was thinking I would just rattle can it instead of powder coating it because it's purpose is to get scratched and dinged which would be easier to touch up? Is my thinking correct?

https://www.southernstyleoffroad.com/product/armageddon-armor-2016-tacoma-kit/

 

You have people on both sides of the fence. Rattle can is much easier to touch up

 

What are the pros to powdercoat on something that is meant to get beat up?

 

Harder to beat up?

 

probably just a better more consistent finish... at first. Powder coat is great if you never use them for their purpose

 

I would suggest powder coat if you're in an area that doesn't heavily salt roads in the winter. If you are in a winter-salt area, do a good coat of self-etching primer and then 3-4 coats of paint over that. I'm a fan of good old tractor paint. I've seen nice powder coat jobs get the cancer after 3-4 Minnesota winters that then need to be removed, stripped, and repainted. For painted steel parts it's just a matter of annual spring paint touchup.

 

If you're going to beat on it, go rattle can. Once powdercoat chips the rust will start to eat it from under the paint and you'll have to strip it and repaint it.

 

Instead of just straight paint, add a layer of rubberized undercoating for a layer of chip-resistant coat. The spray-on bedliner stuff is also tough, but the cost to have it applied professionally might be a hindrance.

 

I know AEV and Smittybilt both sell textured paint for their parts. I’d look into something like that if I were painting my own armor.

 

I dont think people consider a bumper as something that is meant to be beat up

 

If done right Id say powder coat. If you pick a color that matches well with a rattle can (say semi gloss black or whatever) then you have the best of both worlds really. Sure, you can still scratch or chip the PC, but just clean it up, mask off the area, and hit it with some Rustoleum.

Done that a few times on my ARB bar and it has held up well.

One thing Ill say is sharp corners are a killer on PC. It doesnt adhere well and is too thin - thats where you'll start to get rust. Something to think about when looking at your specific bumper.

 

Paint yourself with a 2 part epoxy primer being the first step. The stuff has an incredible bond and is great as far as corrosion resistance. As stated above powder coat is great until moisture gets under it and travels fast before you notice. Neither is going to hold up to a rock/Tacoma sandwich though.

 

Clearly you haven't seen how I parallel park then.

 

Good stuff everyone. Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be most likely tattle canning it based on the feedback.

 

If I could make a recommendation, I would use Steel-It, takes about 8-10 days to cure but its very durable and contains SS which reduces corrosion.

It's expensive, you'll need a few cans but it is worth it.

 

I suppose ARB (and others, like Slee) disagrees. Powdercoat is fine but it's like any finish - all about prep and quality. I had my rear bumper powdercoated with an epoxy zinc-bearing primer under a typical satin black polyester top coat and it's been holding up fine in a relatively less aggressive state for rust.

The only step I didn't do like ARB and Slee is a professional phosphate dip. I had the bumper sand blasted and then just did a wash with phosphoric acid myself with the stuff you get at the hardware store.



I have done sliders with a cheap one-layer powdercoat job and it predictably chipped, rusted and flaked off. I don't disagree with you that rattle can jobs in comparison are cheap, easy and quick. But all finishes can be done right and wrong. The benefit to doing spray paint is you can do a pretty good job yourself and it's not difficult to clean and redo yourself periodically.

 

I did the DIY armor paint before.

It's easy to touch up, but the powder coat has a better bond and holds up better. For a bumper I would 100% get it powder coated, then hit it with matte black spray paint when the time comes. It is all about prep work when painting but gonna be honest, i have to redo my sliders when the temperature is a touch warmer to fully bond correctly.

 

So this would be instead of powder coating right? Will look this up. Thanks for the advice.

 

I'm thinking about brushing on Ospho as well.

 

Did you use this for your sliders?