Black Powder Coating?

[Kyle]

I'm looking at getting a DepHep rack off of Xterra Performance. The rack is already absurdly over my budget and I can hardly afford it. However I want one. I notice the Black Powder Coating is $155 added on....so I wonder what is Black Powder Coating and do I really need it for any reason? Is it a cosmetic thing? Rustproof? Why is everyone so upbeat about it?

I see the rack comes bare steel if I don't get the power coat (which I ultimately cannot afford no matter what I want) so is there a good way to say...paint it?

 

[drbandkgb]

Powder is a nice hard coating. It's like paint x200

It seals the metal well too

Paint it fine but it may need to be touched up once a year. Be sure to prime it before paint

 

[Jack Stilts]

I have experience with both that I can share:

I got my DepHep bare, and I bedlined it (spray kind), which was the first time I'd ever used bedliner. It dried weird and I have a ton of spots that need touching up due to the rooftop tent, firewood, bikes, etc. Anything I put up there chips the bedliner off. Not saying anything bad about bedliner; it was mostly user error being inexperienced with it.

That being said, I got my sliders and both bumpers professionally powdercoated. It's super tough and looks great & smooth. It's also easy to touch up the very few spots where the sliders have landed on rocks with some flat black spray paint.

One of the items on my (very extensive) to-do list is to strip the DepHep back down to bare metal and take it to get powdercoated.

If your DepHep rack is going to be used like it's designed, I'd definitely recommend the powdercoat solely because it holds up better against things moving around on it. It doesn't come off easily.

 

[TheFauxFox]

2x Jack

Bed lining is fine for moderate to heavy use and I'd recommend using a proper brand name if it's DIY. Powder coating is slightly more expensive because of the process and final result. It is similar in texture (in some cases) to a finer bedliner, but because of the procedure, is slightly more durable and more likely to be UV resistant. As Jack said, powder costing is pretty easy to touch up with some flat black paint. Bed lining can be too so long as it isn't super abrasive.

 

[Silver dude]

Think of powder coat as a hard plastic coating. Extreme duty like what is used on snow plows. Anything lesser will need to be resprayed occasionally as the years pass. My front bumper and sliders are powder coated, my rear is not. I repaint my rear bumper every spring do to UV fading and rust. A roof rack may be fine though as its out of the salt spray and especially if it doesn't have rigorous use. I repainted my stock rack and no problems with many years, that may be because its aluminum though.

 

[metzican]

I would agree with everyone here. But since you are under such budget restraints. I would get it bare metal clean off the natural oils with a solvent. Then prime and paint. If you ever do come across extra money it is not hard to remove and clean to get it powder coated later locally. I sprayed mine with bed liner and it turned out alright. I have not had heavy use of it so I don't have the chipping issue everyone else has.

 

[Prime]

Powder coating is a great way to finish bare metal. Super durable but it is costly. On the dephep specifically, I'd recommend against getting the powder coating directly from him. He told me he's had issues shipping powder coated racks and shipping damage. Imo, order it bare steel and have the powder coating done locally. There's a place in Norfolk that does top quality work. I've had them do several pieces for me.

 

[Silver dude]

Problem with local powder coating shops is it can be major coin. They wanted $750 to sand blast and powder coat my stock rack. The places that are cheap may not have the large ovens required for such a task. Its something to consider, if you paint it then the powder coating shop has to bring it back to 100% bare metal and they charge by the hour. Even if you do remove it then they still have to sand blast it anyways to etch and prep the metal. Most places that sell aftermarket parts like bumpers get a quantity discount as they run them though the shop in a large lot thereby cutting the overall cost.

I'd consider a high quality paint like Por15 then top coating it with a high quality spray enamel. The paint will likely run you close to $50. But, Por15 is almost a pretend powder coat really hard surface paint and it seals rust very well. Only issue is its not a very UV stable paint so it requires a top coat to seal it from the sun. With spray paint, touch ups are a breeze. Should you scratch the rack a couple minutes with a spray can and it would look new again. I've never been a fan of bed liner coating as they gouge when scratched and seem to hold road salt.

 

[Macland]

I agree with Metz. Get it bare metal and paint it yourself. If you run across the extra money later and still want to powder coat it you can. The rust isn't going to cause it to crumble over your head so you'll have plenty of time to decide.

 

[akinc]

My DepHep looks awful. I need to respray it. I blame myself, as I did not prep, prep and prep. I only prepped. Get it? That's the key. Just clean really well with a nice strong solvent, sand it down, the n solvent again. Primer it, then paint it with a name brand bed liner paint or a high quality paint for steel. Powder coating is nice. My sliders are powder coated, but I paid almost nothing for them so I didn't have the added expense. You might appreciate the job better if you do it yourself.

Just my 2 cents. When and if you buy the rack, be sure to post up some pics so we can ooh and ahh over it like we love to do.......

 

[P&P]

This may or may not help depending on your POV. Hep and I use the same powdercoater. And his work is stellar.

 

[Mr Bills]

I had my DepHep rack powdercoated locally for $150, which included sandblasting, primer and textured semi-flat black coating. Tony's powdercoater does good work, but it's near impossible to keep pristine during shipping.