Powdercoating Shock Tower Brace

[demigod]

I have a red anodized Comptech shock tower brace for a T. The red is fading a little in some spots. Anyone know if the paint will crack after time if I powdercoat it? Or there might be a way around it cracking..? Thanks alot.

 

[titaniumdave]

Powder-coat is a plastic which is melted onto the part. Provided the part is sand blasted to give a mechanical bond and is well prepped so there is no oil on it, the coat should stay on. The place to watch is where the bolt clamp the brace, it is pretty easy to crack the powder coat when you tighten the fasteners. You might see if they can mask the fastener area so that part is bare aluminum.

I powder-coat many of my bicycle frames, so I have lots of experience with the process.

 

[demigod]

Powder-coat is a plastic which is melted onto the part. Provided the part is sand blasted to give a mechanical bond and is well prepped so there is no oil on it, the coat should stay on. The place to watch is where the bolt clamp the brace, it is pretty easy to crack the powder coat when you tighten the fasteners. You might see if they can mask the fastener area so that part is bare aluminum.

I powder-coat many of my bicycle frames, so I have lots of experience with the process.

Thanks for the reply. That's what I was concerned about, the area where the bar is bolted to the car. Masking the fastner area is a good idea as long as no red is showing through after it's bolted down. Maybe I can use rubber washers for the bolts. Any thoughts on this?

 

[titaniumdave]

You might check out plastic washers to keep from damaging the powder-coat. You will need to clamp the brace pretty tight for it to do it's job, so the rubber idea does not sound good to me. The whole issue is distributing pressure over a large area, you might just be able to have big enough washers you don't have a problem. The other thing to think about is the washers twisting on the powder-coat and cutting the surface. You can use 2 washers stacked to help with that, so the washers slide on themselves, instead of the powder-coat.

 

[demigod]

You might check out plastic washers to keep from damaging the powder-coat. You will need to clamp the brace pretty tight for it to do it's job, so the rubber idea does not sound good to me. The whole issue is distributing pressure over a large area, you might just be able to have big enough washers you don't have a problem. The other thing to think about is the washers twisting on the powder-coat and cutting the surface. You can use 2 washers stacked to help with that, so the washers slide on themselves, instead of the powder-coat.

Ahh great idea! Thanks for the info man.. I appreciate it.

 

[OneRedNSX]

I like to get everything done like this:

so that there is no powdercoating where the nut/washer is going to go. Just mask off the area where the bolt is going and be done with it without worrying about if it will scratch / peel / whatever.