Powder Coating Cost Variation????
Discussion
I am now at the point where I am ready to send my beloved Chimaera Chassis away for shot blasting and powder coating.
Looking through the internet, I have found several companies who will all undertake the work. Prices so for have been between £200 - £600.
My chassis wasn't bad once I lifted the body and could probably have got away without replacing any metal but as I had gone this far I decided to cut the outriggers away and replace myself rather than buy pre made outriggers. To my surprise, the 1 1/2" tube cost me a whopping £22 for 6 meters from my local steel stockists. I have trial fitted the body back to the chassis and everything looks Hunky Dory.
Today, I had an interesting conversation with the powder coater that will charge £600. His first question was "has it still got any old powder coating on". "Yes" I replied, "In that case it needs to go away for heat burning to remove the coating but be careful who you take it to as you could distort the chassis, alternatively, I can use a chemical called Tetramorse that is similar to Nitromorse but specially for the removal of powder coating. Whoever tells you they can remove powder coating by simply shot blasting doesnt know what they are doing".
He seams very honest and a nice guy with a good reputation and I want a good job doing as after 200 hours work I dont want to be doing this again in 3 years time!
After saving money on my outriggers I dont mind spending a bit more on the powder coating but would like your opinion on what he is telling me. Is this true? I am in the Yorkshire area if anyone can recommend anyone.
Mark
Looking through the internet, I have found several companies who will all undertake the work. Prices so for have been between £200 - £600.
My chassis wasn't bad once I lifted the body and could probably have got away without replacing any metal but as I had gone this far I decided to cut the outriggers away and replace myself rather than buy pre made outriggers. To my surprise, the 1 1/2" tube cost me a whopping £22 for 6 meters from my local steel stockists. I have trial fitted the body back to the chassis and everything looks Hunky Dory.
Today, I had an interesting conversation with the powder coater that will charge £600. His first question was "has it still got any old powder coating on". "Yes" I replied, "In that case it needs to go away for heat burning to remove the coating but be careful who you take it to as you could distort the chassis, alternatively, I can use a chemical called Tetramorse that is similar to Nitromorse but specially for the removal of powder coating. Whoever tells you they can remove powder coating by simply shot blasting doesnt know what they are doing".
He seams very honest and a nice guy with a good reputation and I want a good job doing as after 200 hours work I dont want to be doing this again in 3 years time!
After saving money on my outriggers I dont mind spending a bit more on the powder coating but would like your opinion on what he is telling me. Is this true? I am in the Yorkshire area if anyone can recommend anyone.
Mark
Never heard of tetramors so googled it and he hasn't heard of it either, i got my chassis shot blasted for £100 then did all the repairs, i contacted conquerer powderdercoaters
who charged £600 inc to powder coat my galvanised chassis, did a great job that also included all the wishbones and anti roll bars
who charged £600 inc to powder coat my galvanised chassis, did a great job that also included all the wishbones and anti roll bars
I can only speak from experience of having all my suspension components blasted including wishbones, ARB's, shock springs and a few other sundrie items that came off the underside of the car.
The local company I used cleaned off every last flake off powder coating using blasting and most of it
was in pretty good nick before the blasting.
It sounds like a load of bull to me to be honest.
Might be worth giving someone like RT racing in Sheffield a call to discuss as they are pretty renowned for their chassis work on these cars.
The local company I used cleaned off every last flake off powder coating using blasting and most of it
was in pretty good nick before the blasting.
It sounds like a load of bull to me to be honest.
Might be worth giving someone like RT racing in Sheffield a call to discuss as they are pretty renowned for their chassis work on these cars.
mark-tda4s said:
... Whoever tells you they can remove powder coating by simply shot blasting doesn't know what they are doing
The company I work for has a professional shot blaster and I shot-blasted my chassis myself. It took of all of the old powder coating, no problem. The chassis was perfectly clean after blasting. I'm convinced that this is better than a chemical removal. The force of the blast medium will also reveal any weak areas in the steel, which may need repairing.
It takes max. 3 hrs. to blast a complete chassis, so about £100 for the blasting seems like a good deal.
TVRees said:
The company I work for has a professional shot blaster and I shot-blasted my chassis myself. It took of all of the old powder coating, no problem. The chassis was perfectly clean after blasting.
I'm convinced that this is better than a chemical removal. The force of the blast medium will also reveal any weak areas in the steel, which may need repairing.
It takes max. 3 hrs. to blast a complete chassis, so about £100 for the blasting seems like a good deal.
Agree fully I'm convinced that this is better than a chemical removal. The force of the blast medium will also reveal any weak areas in the steel, which may need repairing.
It takes max. 3 hrs. to blast a complete chassis, so about £100 for the blasting seems like a good deal.
the company i use use once used shot on chassis work as it is not to aggressive you then get a better finish then hot zinc spray then high build primer then powder or paint i always use paint so much easier to repair and with the zinc protection the odd blemish during the year doesent matter the paint is a high solids product from movac most colours available plus you dont tend to knock chunks off when reassembling the chassis powder coat was the undoing of these cars due to water lying between the powder and the tube over long periods paint may occasionally come off but water dosent get under it and is easily touched up.
john
john
I agree with 1949. One the chassis has been shot blasted and hot zinc coated straight after, you can just paint it. The paint is just a cosmetic finish. Even if the paint is chipped off, it won't rust for a very long time underneath due to the zinc process.
I painted mine in hammerite, purely so I can touch it up whenever I want, easily.
I painted mine in hammerite, purely so I can touch it up whenever I want, easily.
Agree with all on here. Also with paint, rather than powder coat for all the reasons stated. Mine was shot blasted, hot zinc sprayed and polyurethaned with primer and top coats. Perfect.
The other point of interest is Mr Potatoe's remark, pointing out that a google search throws up nothing about a product called Tetramors, or anything like it. Very true. Go figure...
The other point of interest is Mr Potatoe's remark, pointing out that a google search throws up nothing about a product called Tetramors, or anything like it. Very true. Go figure...
Maybe its just that the original TVR powder coating was so crap it blasts off easily and my potential powder coater is talking about getting his own back off???
Anyway, I have arranged for the chassis to go to his spot tomorrow and he will do a trial blast on the backbone to see if it comes off easily before using the chemical. If it does, the price will come down significantly.
I will keep you posted!
Anyway, I have arranged for the chassis to go to his spot tomorrow and he will do a trial blast on the backbone to see if it comes off easily before using the chemical. If it does, the price will come down significantly.
I will keep you posted!
Well I took the Chimaera to the powder coaters today and when the guy came out to look at the chassis he took a pen knife out and scratched the tubing and burst out laughing! "In all my time in powder coating I have never seen such poor coating". He is confident it will just blow off with media blasting.
The new price for the chassis, 8 suspension arms and 10 brackets, Blasted, cleaned, modified epoxy primer and polyester top coat is £500. This is more than some quotes but this guy comes on recommendation and he is fanatical on finish and knows what he is talking about so happy to pay it knowing I am getting a good job.
The new price for the chassis, 8 suspension arms and 10 brackets, Blasted, cleaned, modified epoxy primer and polyester top coat is £500. This is more than some quotes but this guy comes on recommendation and he is fanatical on finish and knows what he is talking about so happy to pay it knowing I am getting a good job.
Paulprior said:
the quality of the original powder coating seems a bit erratic, on mine the parts that havent rusted are stuck to the frame very well and can only be abraded off, you certainly cant scrape it, just a pity its not all like that
Yes your correct chassis powder coating in the old factory days does seem to be very hit and miss, as all years of Chimaera's suffering from a rusty chassis , whether it has been parked out side or not all its life?My new chassis powdercoat needed an air pistal grinder to take it down to the ZINC primer for assembly parts on the wishbones
When i lifted the body off,the powder coating had failed in all the usual places.
Outriggers and anywhere else where the british weather / salt / etc. had attacked it.
Much more significant was all the surface rust on basically every weld on the chassis.
I dont know for sure, but this to me would suggest that there was no attempt to "clean" any of the welds prior to powder coating [ if you can call it that ! ]
Full body lift is the only way to go. I had the chassis shot blasted first, to inspect for any damage, then completed all the repairs, then finally a quick blast over again, especially on the new tubing on the outriggers.
This gives the perfect key for the epoxy primer which is applied straight after the final blasting.
Then its as many coats of two pack base coat as you can manage, and a final two pack coat of gloss to the colour of your choice.
Outriggers and anywhere else where the british weather / salt / etc. had attacked it.
Much more significant was all the surface rust on basically every weld on the chassis.
I dont know for sure, but this to me would suggest that there was no attempt to "clean" any of the welds prior to powder coating [ if you can call it that ! ]
Full body lift is the only way to go. I had the chassis shot blasted first, to inspect for any damage, then completed all the repairs, then finally a quick blast over again, especially on the new tubing on the outriggers.
This gives the perfect key for the epoxy primer which is applied straight after the final blasting.
Then its as many coats of two pack base coat as you can manage, and a final two pack coat of gloss to the colour of your choice.
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