pathfinder

I've acquired a Warn rockcrawler bumper that has a few scratches and scuffs so I've been thinking of powder coating it. My only issue is that by the time they sand blast and spray it might get awfully expensive and the bank, like most people, is a little tight these days. I'm not sure if the expense is worth it. I could paint it gloss or flat black. Is there anything out there paint wise with added durability? Comments welcome!

abecedarian

Call the powder coaters and ask them how much. Shouldn't be too expensive though, likely < 100. If you can prep it you may save even more, and if the bumper was painted and not powdered to begin with it's not that difficult.
If you decide to paint it yourself, fill in any scratches with primer and sand it down so the primer in the scratch is level with the surrounding areas... maybe scuff up what's around the scratch with 400 then knock down the primer with 800, then prime the whole thing, repeatedly sanding with 800 until you get a uniform coat of primer.
If you have access to a booth, you can get an epoxy primer in black (and other colors like regular primer) and spray the part then sand it smooth, then clear coat it for gloss.
Otherwise, I've had good luck with Rustoleum's "Hammerd" paints which dry with a slight orange-peel look similar to a powder coat on a peened surface.
Here's the Hammerd black on my 91's valve cover and intake, then sanded down to aluminum for the lettering:


When replacing that engine a few months ago, I dropped several wrenches on the valve cover and didn't chip it.

881stGenRunner

while powdercoating looks great and is fairly durable, it is not strong enough to withstand sharp objects if you tend to get around rocks and will start to scratch.

Spray paint is very easy to touch up if you want to go that route and is fairly inexpensive relative to powdercoating

fastkevman

Here's the problem......that bumper is powdercoated from the factory so sandblasting and/or any other method of paint removal will be real tough.
I have the same bumper and I have some scratches also (bought mine new, no scratches) so I can personally say its not the best powdercoat job for sure.
I believe that powdercoating is much stronger and more durable than paint but, the initial surface preparation is just as critical, if not more so, since you can't really touch up powdercoat.
Also, my scratches are more like chipping in a line, which would be more of what you would have with powdercoat.
My best suggestion is to touch up the bad spots with paint until you have more money to spend.
I have very little experience with powdercoated off-road abused parts, I do have a custom rear bumper being powdercoated this weekend and I intend that if it holds up real well that I will have my Warn bumper re-done eventually.
As a side note the guy thats doing my rear bumper is doing it in two stages, he did a minor sandblasting (it was new metal, no scale or rust) and has already done one coat and bake, he is putting another coat on this weekend and he says he will bake it longer to "set" both coats in. He has been doing powdercoating for over 10 years, has lots of industrial business, and came highly recommended so I can only assume he knows his stuff.
.....and yes I did ask if he could just "coat over" my front bumper and the answer was NO, it would need to be stripped completely down to bare metal.
Good luck, I sympathize with you but, they are beefy strong bumpers so its not all bad!

fastkevman

Although I agree with your answer, that is not the only issue here.
Warn does a real crappy job with their powdercoating and thats the real issue with what he has going on now.
It is real good advice for him to rethink possibly having it powdercoated again if he is going to do some heavy duty rock crawling.
I have issues with my Warn bumper and the worst spot is where the shackle mounts are, they are chipped bare on the inside and according to guys that I have talked to that powdercoat parts for a living that should not happen no matter how much pressure is on the shackles or they swing around while driving, it seems to be real thin or just plain bad prep work.
I am dealing with it by just touching it up with spray paint right on the bare spots only.

ironroad9c1

yea sand blasting is pretty much the only way to remove powdercoating. I use to work in a powdercoating shop.