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Re: powdercoat floorpans?

To: "triumphs@autox.team.net" <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: powdercoat floorpans?
From: Doug Hamilton <douglasehamilton@shaw.ca>
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 11:04:57 -0700
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01
>Andy, I beg to differ with you, as long as something is painted/sealed
>completely it will not rust, bare metal will rust, painted metal will not,
>and yes you can get a deeper clearer depth of color with powder than you
>can with paint, within the next 10 years "ALL" autos will be powder-coated,
>why, not only cost and enviros but non-rusting and rust is the biggest
>problems auto makers have always faced, why do you think John Deer went to
>P/C, why is 95% of outdoor furniture P/Ced, why are all of your applianes
>P/Ced, and the list of products that are P/Ced goers on and on, and lastly
>it is the cheapest way to go, one gal of =red enamel paint= (not 2 stage) is
>$180.00, 2 lbs of  "Powder' is $5.00, now if you want to call that expensive
>I'm lost and nothing is "irrreversible, especially PC, Better inform BMW
>that powder-coating does not hold up, they 're into full swing.  "FT"
>
I'll start my comments out with this caveat " I know powder coating has 
improved a great deal in the past few years". Now from my experiences, 
for 15 years I worked on SAAB Electronic Training Systems for the 
British Army  about 7 or 8 years into the job this equipment started 
coming from the factory powder coated. Initially powder coating holds up 
better than paint it will tolerate about a year in the hands of a 
soldier instead of a few minutes. But once the powder coating has seen 
some abuse it develops cracks and even the smallest cracks let moisture 
get to the metal and it seems moisture can wick a very long way under 
the powder coating. I've gone to pick up a piece of equipment that 
looked very presentable only to have a piece of powder coating pull off 
the part like the shell of a chocolate easter bunny exposing a 
completely rusted piece of metal.
Do I think powder coating is better than paint in most applications it 
probably is but from what I've seen minor damage to the powder coat if 
undetected can lead to major rust that will go undetected until it is 
far to late to salvage.
Personally I have used polyurethane truck bed coating on my floor pans 
and inner fenders etc.  It is easily color matched to your paint, a good 
applicator can put it on with a minimum of orange peel to the surface, 
and very little will damage it plus it is more flexible than PC so it 
shouldn't crack and let in moisture. Most auto parts shops can supply 
you with color matched truck bed coating kits for DIY that require no 
ovens or special tools but you might want to practice on some scrap to 
get you technique down before doing your car and don't use it on 
cosmetic surfaces.
I wonder how much extra insurance is going to be on PCed BMWs until it 
becomes an industry standard.

Doug Hamilton
1960 Triumph TR3A
1963 Fiat Cabriolet( all the aluminium engine parts are polished and PCed )
1967 Chev C/10




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