Hi Folks Just sent a pile of fairly badly surface rusted parts to be sand blasted and powder coated. Old Chevy pickup running boards and inner fenders etc. Decided to have them powder coated at the sand blasters to prevent any flash rust etc. They will be in storage for a bit..... Question is...what is the procedure to prep the parts for paint at a later date.
Someone else can correct me if I am wrong, but I have just sanded the powder coat not much different than if it were paint.
Scuff with scotch brite and squirt. Powder is an expensive rust preventative if you are just planning on painting over it at a later date though....
If it were me, I would have the parts sprayed with an epoxy primer instead. It would be easier to fill any heavily pitted pieces or other imperfections prior to prepping for paint. Probably cheaper too. Same proceedure for powder coat or paint prep at a later date. Use a degreaser before sanding, The important thing is the compatability of subsequent steps in the finishing process. For instance, a high build primer very well may bond better to the epoxy than powder coat. But yes, you could just scuff the powder coat with 220 grit
I'd be interested to know what primer to use on powder. When I bought my I beam, it was all ready powdered, but id like to change the colour. Thanks
Get a high adhesion primer formulated for use on non porous surfaces. I find that when in doubt of what products to use, ask the pro behind the counter. They are the guys that get the feedback from their customers every day.
I’m not a big powder paint fan unless it for high heat stuff. I’ve seen water get under it and rust bigtime
Powder coat is less forgiving especially when subjected to impacts from stones or metal stress and fatigue, thus a greater chance of moisture infiltration. I never really cared for its use in anything other than purely cosmetic purposes and I'm more of an old beater dude as well.
Maybe look into the powder coat primer, I see lots of the restoration videos where they use it before the final color coat. It's usually on small projects or toys, not cars.
"Powder coat" is mentioned but there is no reference given for the type of powder being discussed (polyester, epoxy, urethane, hybrid blend?). It makes a huge difference in what you can or can't do later.
Powdercoat is not a great rust inhibitor. Most blasters i know wet coat with red oxide primer after blasting. If you have ever seen what corrosion does to a powder coat finish you will know what I mean
As @Joe H said above, powder primer. For prep, just sand and paint as you would any other substrate. All the talk of water and abrasion and corrosion, what's up with that? Other than very few even here, even a****st the most ********, who's doing this **** to drive in mud, snow, salt and slush, into your construction job site, high speed hijinx on dusty gravel roads? It's not a line of ******** to say 99.491% of all cars here, regardless of how rough they're left to be, will be actually cared for far beyond the usual treatment of some lease or daily beater. Now if you're building an all conditions 12 month use urban ***ault rig then carry on, but the reality is the inverse. I plan to drive mine daily. I have an ⅛ mi of gravel to p*** over every day. Yes, I'll creep along at 20 MPH or less til I get to the corner. Yes, I'll wash it often. No, I won't drive it in salt and slush (MI). No, I won't care if I get caught in rain. No, I won't abuse it as some unfounded flex of what a bad*** I am. Not everything needs to be ****yzed to NASA standards. And quite frankly the easy and economic way is often the only way. Don't worry, I too am guilty of over thinking some things. Sometimes it's a tough spiral to get out of. And if I didn't have cars out there that I'd done decades ago that still stand tall and score high I'd keep my trap shut. Oh, even if just powdercoat not powder primer, still sand and paint as desired. I think powder primer is cheaper as well but I won't raise a rt hand to it. Perfect choice for the parts asked of. Good luck, have at it.
I have a DIY powder coater from Eastwood, it's pretty tough to get powered into tight corners, much harder than paint would be on the same part. Flat open ground, it will look good, a lot of tight area's, you will see heavy and light spots.
Thank you for all the replies fellas, I have to agree with Highlander in that this vehicle will probably never see much rain let alone salt or sand or gravel roads etc. Looks like I will be OK with good scuff and etch primer and then the usual paint process. I suppose time will tell but thank you again for all your input
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