so lets start out saying I live in Minnesota home of the 9 month winter/salt season.i just received my new powder coated bumpers and they look awesome.now before I put them together and install the winch I was thinking maybe I should have them wrapped in clear 3m wrap to try and protect them.


at least the vertical faces and the connection areas where the brush guard bolts on.


not sure if you can wrap powdercoat as it appears to be kinda a hammertone finish buit maybe that is just the look?


the bumper is a buckstop classic if that matters.


waiting on the x code springs so ideas are spinning thru my head.


thanks
pete

 

Is your goal to keep them looking pristine? If so, take them off during those nine months and put the original rusty chrome bumper back on. Your buckstops will look awesome during June, July and August ('cept for those mosquito carcasses).

 

Rock chips will tear the PC up eventually, my bumper is only a few months old (if that) and already has chips. Wrapping it won't do anything against a pebble at 70MPH.

 

Powder coating isn't really all that durable. Paint is easier to touch up.

If you want your new bumper to stay pretty, don't drive it.

 

It sucks. at every 90 degree edge they fail and start peeling off. I never, never liked powdercoat. My buckstop has got a few sections peeling and I need to get it repainted. If I was to do it again, I would have ordered it unpainted and had a local shop paint it in something more durable. It is not Buckstops fault. Powdercoat just never holds up in the outdoors on a vehicle.

 

I have found that it depends upon the coater, the types of product they use and how they apply it.

For instance, my bumper was coated by a guy whose end products take heavy duty paint stripper to remove the coating. My bumper is thickly coated, however, rock chips happen! Thus I recommend picking a color that you can easily touchup. My semigloss/satin black has been easy to take care of. I did however add some non slip tape to some of the facing surfaces, this was added protection for rocks, and my belt buckle when I am climbing into the engine bay.

Now is coating better or worse than painting? I guess that is up to the opinion of the person you are asking, and we all know what opinions are like.

I would say that if you are going to go this route, then make sure you go with a place known for their quality. As for the hammer finish of your powder coat, that was the product they used, my bumper is smooth. as you can see here:



One last note, if there are any imperfections in your bumper, scratches, pits, bad welds or other issues, these will be seen with powder coating! If you want to hide any issues, you need to weld and grind them smooth prior to coating. Otherwise take the bumpers to a paint shop and have them fill the blemishes prior to their shooting them with paint.

Hope this helps!

On a side note, have you thought of getting them Rhino Lined (or other similar product)? Since those are designed for a pickup bed, they may provide a little more protection...

 

My experience is the same as above, powder coating never holds up and all 90 degree edges will chip and peel off. Bedliner is one option though it will almost always fade and can be hard to touch up for inevitable scratches.

Honestly anymore I just paint everything in rustoleum because it's easy to touch up and relatively cheap. I just assume nothing lasts forever and try to keep it simple to maintain.

 

Rhino-line it?

 

Monstaliner!

 

Any quality bedliner will beat powdercoating hands down. My F250 had LineX in the bed and it went through more hell than a bumper would.

If bedliner can stand up to two calves stomping around, a 5th wheel dropping off the hitch, and countless engine blocks being dropped and slammed around back there.... I doubt a pebble is going to be of much consequence.

 

Hey, we agreed to not talk about that night! We were both hammered and didn't realize those ladies were so "robust". Besides, it was a Monday night and we didn't have a lot of other options at the time

 

anyone with the 3m film on their powdercoat? i was hoping adding it would double the life of the powdercoat?

i realize i can always het it painted later but i'd like to get at least 5-7 years out of what i have

 

I don't think that will work on a powder coated bumper. First off the labor to cut all the tiny sheets necessary for all the small surfaces would be expensive, and secondly, it would still leave the 90degree corners exposed and my experience is that's where they fail. That stuff won't go around corners like that. It will lift over time if you try to make it.