Hot Rods Grill powder coating and other decisions

I did a grill for my 66 Plymouth Valiant. I started by straightening the grill then we had the grill chemically stripped. After bead blasting we powder coated it Argent. Turned out real nice.

 

Paint chips, powder coat doesn’t.

 

What I’m hoping for

 

Powder coat can chip, it is just less likely, especially if surface prep is good.

 

I’ve never seen a powder coated grill hold up to the heat. Porcelain yes. A powder coated grille may work because I’ve seen axles powder coated.

 

I’ve done numerous grills and have never seen one chip. Now, a rock ding is another story

 

And I have run my aluminium window and door business for 27 years now, and worked in the industry for quite a few years before that, and have seen many chips in powder coat. It is vastly superior to paint, but it does chip.

 

Powder coating is usually good for 200 degrees, although there are some specialty powders that withstand much higher temps. I really doubt most grilles will get to 200 degrees, but powder coating on engine parts is frowned on by most companies who do the work. It can get soft and then dirt sticks to the soft finish.

 

What is up front is gonna get dinged but maybe powder my not ding as easy

 

I'll have to disagree... The vast majority of powder coat failures I've seen are for two reasons: inadequate/poor pre-coating prep and a too-thin coating. This is particularly true with 'production' coating where speed and cost are the driving forces. First, powder really needs a good 'tooth' on the coated surface to adhere properly. That's why blasting with media is the nearly universal pre-coating prep. A lot of the production coatings you see skip this step, ***uming incorrectly that clean virgin metal doesn't need any prep. Second, a thin coat won't be as durable as a thicker coat. Merely getting coverage thereby reducing powder costs results in a coating that will be much more prone to chipping.

 

My powder coat shop is a one man operation, that is why I’m going to do the taping and prep work. I can see how tedious and time consuming a grill is. He will probably get it done as a minimum cost as most of my jobs have been priced

 

So, essentially what you are saying is that powder coat can chip........???
And, as for surface prep, I did mention that in my post a couple of days ago. Here it is again so you can read it.

 

I agree production powder coat shops don’t want to spend the time or have the trained people to do decorative work. Just a suggestion but a lot of gun shops/gunsmiths are now using Cerakote on handguns and long guns in a variety of colors for easy to maintain finishes. A Gunsmith would more than likely have the skills needed to do the quality of work needed. If properly done powder coat can be very tough and scratch resistant. Don’t have any idea about pricing. Your mileage may vary!

 

Start looking at truck wheels, semi trucks and box trucks that use black steel wheels. Most will be rusted. Our fleet of school buses have black powder coated wheels that last about 6 to 8 years before the rust eats them up. We have had some redone by out tire dealer and they look good for about 6 months , after 6 months they are totally rusted again due to the thin coating.

SO I totally agree with the above statements, it all about prep and thickness. Wheel rust starts at the seams, powder just can't get into tight areas like a liquid coating will. And, yes it will chip, it just takes a harder hit before it does.

 

For you young fellas rust maybe a concern, but at my age……(I can no longer double my age) not gonna give rust a thought

 

I had my original Deuce insert powder coated almost 40 years ago and it still looks great, I did decide to do my own tape work.

The only problem with powder coating is the heat softens the tape and it's hard to remove. HRP

 

Good to hear from you hrp. I’m thinking an unpolished silver color. But that almost changes daily, that’s why the grill is still in my living room lol.

 

Having been involved with production powder coating for many years (decades), one of the big concerns with early grills is the spacing of the grill "bars" and how that spacing screws with the powder being attracted to them. If you could see the magnetic flux pattern on each bar during the process it becomes obvious how each bar impacts those adjacent to it and adds to the difficult to fully coat each bar. There are ways to "fudge" this issue but the cost to coat a part increases dramatically.

 

Just have the bars bead blasted…will end up Dove Grey.