travelinman

I just got a set of used PP springs for my 99 4runner and I'm wondering if anyone knows the best product to use to paint them. I'm not crazy about the PP yellow and I'm going to go for the black coated look instead. Any ideas on paint products that can withstand the constant bending of springs? Thanks!

zebra1550

I would take them to a line-x dealer and have them srpayed with line-x. They'll never rust and it'll be tough as nails. I don't think that the coating would affect the installation of the springs.

travelinman

Do you know about how much that would cost? And, what is line-x? Thanks.

Chapman88SR5

its a spray on bed liner like rhino lining

GregStevens

From what I know about Line-X, this isn't an appropriate application of it. Line-X does NOT work well on anything that moves; that IMO, includes springs.

You'd be better off having them powdercoated. Line-X is thick and doesn't flex.

I could be wrong, but having looked into (and probably will do the rig soon), it wouldn't work on springs. Powdercoating would be your best bet, IMO.

rockota

The springs are likely already powdercoated yellow. If that's the case, you'll have to have the coating chemically removed, I believe, before you can recoat. You'll probably end up spending more money coloring the springs (esp. if they are coated already) than you would if you bought a set of springs from a manufacturer that used a color you like... Then sell these springs to help recover your costs...

travelinman

This may be a stupid question, but what if I just paint them with enamel spray paint?

rockota

Not a stupid question at all... Scuff them up very well before you spray, then put on a few coats and it should work okay.

I have been told by a body shop that painting over Powder Coating (assuming they are coated) will not last - that it would peal. I had installed a Rancho IFS kit on the first truck I built and wanted to change the color - after being told that the shop wouldn't warranty the paint beyond the paint boot unless the parts were first stripped, then primed - I gave up.

Anyway - give it a try!

bkg

travelinman

I think I will try to paint them. They are already powdercoated from the factory.

From what I have read about powder coating; it's just a dry paint process that is either electrically fuses or chemically fuses to the metal and to the other paint particles. So, my basic logic (although, not brilliant) would say that like painting over any paint, painting over powdercoating would basically do no harm and it just might work. From what I do know, it's all in the preparation anyway. So, I'll try cleaning them really well with acetate, priming them, sanding them, and then painting them. I'll see if I can find some kind of stretchy type paint from the local Sherwin Williams auto paint center here.

If it doesn't work, they'll just look like crap anyway...

Bob_98SR5

imho, not worth the effort

bob

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Rattle can them black, then drive through a mudhole and get a good layer of dirt on there, nobody will ever see what color they are after that.

callmej75

I powder coat...get em sandblasted then powder coated. shouldn't be over $100 for everything. Powder coat withstands the abuse and you will be satisfied with the end result....as long as the powder coater has a good pretreatment system setup. If you paint over the powder coat...will not stay on there for long and will have alot of what they call "outgassing" which is little bubbles in it...

travelinman

So, to complete this thread, I am getting them powder coated by a local powder coating company here in Denver. They are first stripping down the old (ugly yellow) color via sandblasting and then adding a new satin black powdercoat on the bare metal for about $15-20/each. Not bad to get rid of the color in my opinion. Plus, these are warrantied for a year for defects. So, thanks to callmej75 for the good information...

callmej75

Not bad....warrantied for a year is also the powder coating companies warranty. powder coaters sometimes have to be tested to meet certain standards before they will even let you order their powder and once everything tests good they give you a warranty to back your company up.

Vazz

Rustoleum has an industrial grade paint out there in multiple colors.
I used it to paint a set of coils and it worked great.

MTL_4runner

Here is a bit of info on powder coating:

Powder coating is a dry finishing process, using finely ground particles of pigment and resin that are generally electrostatically charged and sprayed onto electrically grounded parts. The charged powder particles adhere to the parts and are held there until melted and fused into a smooth coating in a curing oven. Before coating, the parts to be coated are first pretreated similarly to conventional liquid coated parts. The pretreatment process is normally conducted in series with the coating and curing operations.

There is essentially two common ways of applying powder coating: by electrostatic spray and by fluidized bed powder coating. There are several other processes that have been developed, but they are far less used. These include flame spraying, spraying with a plasma gun, airless hot spray, and coating by electophoretic deposition.

More on these:

Electrostatic Spray
Fluidized Bed
Electrostatic Fluidized Bed
Powder Curing