Rock Slider Powder Coat Failing

Is it “normal” for the powder coat to start chipping in these areas? Presumably it’s from debris as it’s only happen on the front, but I thought a powder coat would stand up a little better. Should I just hit this with some matte black rust-oleum and get over it?

 

This is normal. Nothing is immune to rocks/sand/road debris.

I use rustoleum bed liner. Easy to use, decent coverage, and hides stuff well.

 

Very normal. That's why powdercoat kinda sucks

 

My dad powder coated his hubs on his dirtbike and they have zero chips from years of abuse. He's a bit of a perfectionist though, but he'll always say it's 90% in the prep work.

 

Wheels arent getting sprayed with rocks/sand from tires at high speeds though

 

When PC failed like that (in flakes) it usually means there’s adhesion problems. There could’ve been an error in prepping the metal prior to costing. The delamination also suggests that there’s rust underneath the coating. If you just spray over it, it will return as the rust will spread under the PC. I’d wire brush away all the loose coating and then sand to feather it out to where you get good adhesion. Then you can recoat with paint. Don’t be surprised if more of those flakes show up in other areas as time goes on.

I might also suggest reaching out to the vendor or whoever coated them to see if there’s any warranty depending on how long ago it was. But that’s usually a frustrating exercise.

 

Fair point, but, I can't tell what part of the slider I'm looking at from these pictures. It sounds like from what the OP is saying is that this is the front of the silder? As in the picture is taken looking forward?

 

Powder coating is garbage. I have seen 100% of it fail and everytime it's "it wasn't prepped properly", so apparently there's no good way to prep for it. Black spray paint, especially on sliders, that way it's easier to touch up.

 

I’ll also add that if you don’t notice the coating flaking beyond the small chips you have there, then it’s very possible that it’s just the result of tire roost. This is expected if you drive a lot on sand, dirt or gravel.

 

Normal for bad powered coating.

 

I plan on just rattlecanning chassis black on mine. Easy to touch up and I won't need to rely on the prep work of someone else.

 

It's going to happen not matter what you paint with, I just bought the raw steel and rattle canned them. Just give them a touch up occasionally to keep the rust down.

 

The first picture is on the kick out portion and the next on the next support beam. The chipping is happening in the location where debris would hit while driving forward.

I suspect this really started after my recent Death Valley trip... saw plenty of rocks/sand/debris during higher speed stretches.

 

Does it flake off when you pick at it?

 

Yes, especially the bigger spots in the first picture.

 

Sounds like adhesion problems like Ghost Ship mentioned.

 

I'm with @slander on this. I've never seen powder coating on sliders hold up for more then a few years. Most chip out faster then that. If you actually use those sliders powder coating isn't a great choice. Self etching primer then spray paint of your choice is cheaper and easier to touch up. I know you use your sliders. Are they powder coated?

 

Well... I sent an email with pictures to @RCI-Offroad but I’m just gonna hit it with a wire brush, hope there’s some end to it coming off, then hit it with some spray paint.

I expect rock sliders to take damage and need touching up, just wasn’t sure if this was an issue with the original powder coat job or not.

 

Mine are holding up great. The only time I have lost powder is literally dragging them across rocks.

Honestly the textured black rustoleum looks exactly the same so touch up is pretty easy.

 

I had a good buddy who had the same problem. He could never stop the chipping and then sanding the areas down and painting them black looked terrible. He eventually took them to a place and had them sandblasted down to the bare metal (it was pretty cheap if I recall). Then he took them to a place and had them sprayed with Line-X. Never had a problem after that. Spend a few hundred bucks and was pretty easy.

Just throwing out another option for you to consider ...