Rocker bars and a tough Paint.

Well i was going to buy a set of Olympic rocker bars for my jeep, then, i went and priced a stick welder,,havnt welded since i was 19 :) i got it, brought it home, ive built a brush-bar on my winch-plate and have re-mounted my K-C lihgts, over the winch, ive spot-welded my nut-heads on the winch, just two, im in the middle of building a sort-of- look-alike rocker-bars im having a ball, teaching my son how to weld, and what flash-burn feels like,,axidentaly, how to cut half a finger off, and get 16 stiches, with a grinder-wheel, all and all, , so far hes learning NOT to do what im doing,,,, , im getting more stuff built myself for the same amount of money ida spent on one item, and having fun doing it. , but i do have one question, whats a tough paint?? heres where building verses buying gets me, as i cant powder-coat. ive anodized tons of aluminum, but cant powder-coat large stuff, , so i need opinions on a tough paint, thanks, johnp

Reply to
Dirty Ditch Dawg
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I painted my mirror arms and brackets (after blasting them) with a Rustoleum they make for painting steel outdoor staircases and stuff. It has polymers or something in it so it won't scrape or scratch. Won't hold wax though :) It was like $5 a can at Home Depot.

Matt

Reply to
mhammer8

Powder coat is an extremely tough finish, works great for the top side of boulder bars. But it is no match for rocks, you will dig down to the raw steel in a hurry. Then you have the problem of not being able to touch up the powder coat. There are plenty of places that will powder coat these, be aware that tube assemblies tend to trap the wash down liquids, then bleed out onto the final finish.

I've been happy with rattle can Rustoleum. You need to find the commercial grade Semi Gloss. It is much tougher than the flat grade, much less touchy for looks than the full gloss versions. I used it on my front and rear bumpers, it takes the brush and small trees just fine, it will chip when I hook on a chain. Touchup is easy.

Dirty Ditch Dawg wrote:

Reply to
RoyJ

I use either Krylon or Rustoleum - I forget, and I don't think I make any attempt to be sure I alwasy use the same. My rocker protection is diamond plating and angle iron. I wash it all off every year or so and apply a fresh coat of paint. It gets scratched in the mean time, but it's no big deal. If I cared, I could paint it after every time I go for a ride. It isn't that the paint doesn't stick, it's that I find ways to scrape it off practically everytime I go for a ride.

I wouldn't bother with the expense of powder coating the rocker protection. If you use your rocker guards right, powder coating will get wiped out anyway. Buy a 12 pack of Krylon or Rustoleum, and you can get years of touching up.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

I did the same math you did and decided buying a welder and making my own stuff was better, cheaper, and more fun than buying it.

My first project was

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I used a rattle can to paint it. The paint lasted a couple of years and innumerable rock bashes, but in time it failed and the bumper was beginning to rust under the paint. So to do the job right I took it to a powder coating place and had it sand blasted and powder coated. OMG! The powder coating made a HUGE difference in how it looked.

I haven't worried too much about fixing the scratches in the powder coating. They are all underneath and the only thing that sees them are the rocks. And as it stands right now rocks tremble in fear of this bumper.

Dean

Reply to
Dean

I like the look of the Krylon "Hammered"-look paint. I seriously considered painting my CJ-5's entire frame with it before settling on POR-15 as a better choice for my application.

As for powder-coating, wasn't there someone here a few years back who opined that he'd never seen a powder-coated part that didn't rust after a couple of years of exposure? Has powder-coating technology gotten better?

-- "I defer to your plainly more vivid memories of topless women with whips....r" R. H. Draney recalls AFU in the Good Old Days.

Reply to
Lee Ayrton

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