Powder coating vs painting a frame

A friend of mine (again, of vintage persuassion) and I were discussing this recently. I told him that I was going to get my vintage frame powder coated and I asked him what he thought. He said, he's done a PC b/c he believes that if these old vintage bike suffers a cracked frame or metal fatigue, you'd have hard time knowing that with a PC finish. Any bike I've ever resurrected, has alway received paint (professional or rattle can). So how many of you are PC believers, and how many of you stick with good ol' paint? Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

He is correct, nobody powder coats roll cages or race frame for the reason of detecting a failure. But Powder coat sure looks nice!

Money is not a problem...I just wanted to know you're thoughts...Now I know a couple of guys whose Maico frames had weld and metal fatigue issues and needed a lil' weld/reinforcement love -- luckily none of them were mine.

For race bikes I always paint. With PC you won't see any stress cracks until it's too late but after you've welded it up it'll look crappy. This is true especially for the 500s.

I have PC'd mine.... As I know where my bike has been.. I don't think it's had a hard life compared to other 500s.

One other problem with PC is that it's more likely to chip and therefore is more difficult to repair but it does look good though

good stuff guys...now what about when you have to re-powdercoat? What's the PC removal procedure?

Remove the old powder coating with "paint stripper" before a normal cleaning procedure to clean the object from grease, oil and regular dirt before re-coating.
Best result is achieved if you get it blasted after the paint is removed.

Or, you can sand the surface of the old powder coating and re-coat it if the objects surface is free from grease, oil, silicone.........
Make sure the surface isn't damaged so water, dirt, oil, grease got stuck between the object and the old powder coat layer.

Every bike I own is used for racing...Now I'd probably powdercoat my 08 KTM, but I think I've made up my mind and will go with paint on the vintage iron...The bike I'm working on resurrecting is 84.5./85 Husky WR 400 that I purchased a coupled of months ago...Solid mount, but the frame is blue -- not workin' for me. Actually going to go clean and degrease it today to get it ready for a good sandblasting...Now it's funny, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do this with bike when it's done, but I'll be sure to post it when it's done.

Back when I raced atvs I would powdercoat the frames, but learned not have them coated in exotic colors because it is tough to find matching paint when you had to touch up after fixing. Notice I didn't say "if"...

In a similar vein, what do you think is the best for painting cases, wet paint or powder coat ?

I must admit I am not a big fan of powder coat, whilst I must admit it doesn't wear or scuff as easy, when it gets chipped it looks a right mess, and as my bike get used for racing it has plenty of battle scars.

Has anyone else used anything with success ?

I was going to wet paint, but after reading the above I am now not sure.

All good fun

Rathers

I always paint my engines and exhaust with PJ1 case/engine/iexhaust paint.

Anybody tried POR-15 paint? Painted the floors in my old Scout with it, seems very tough. For engines/cases, I would treat a air cooled engine the same as a radiator, very light coat of paint to expell heat not keep it in.

Has any one who has PC'd there frame been advised to grind away the PC where mounting faces are?

I have been told that bolting up a mounting face directly onto PC can cause the PC to crack and as it's thicker than normal paint could wear/flake leaving the joint prone to movement and wear....

As I am about to bolt some bits back on I would appreciate some advise.

Stu

You do not want to put anything together with paint or powder coating in between the two. The film strength of either will not hold and cause the two to become loose. Other side of this is also electrical grounding issues with paint or powder coating causing poor grounds. Make sure your coil/CDI unit is mounted to the bare frame as with your engine. I always run a redundant ground wire from the engine, stator mounting bolt to the coil mounting bolt.

Husqfleet,
Great idea with the redundant ground wire from engine stator bolt to coil. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm going to add that to the work sheet...

Especially if you're using a PVL ignition.

Skoalman you added one too many words to that-ignition!! I have had more problems with my PVL than any ignition in last 35yrs. I heard Maico quit using them and went to a UK brand.