Mark Doiron

Shrockworks. You'll pay. You'll wait. But mine are eight years old, used off-road a lot (check out DigitalByDoiron on YouTube), and still in fine shape. I did semi-gloss black, not a textured finish that is popular, but a dirt magnet. Though I wash when dirty, I never wax my Jeep. And it is always parked outside.

Canvas

After reading this entire thread one thing stands out and that is what is your plan for preventive maintenance? In my past life I was a helicopter mechanic in the US Navy. One thing we did to keep corrosion, AKA rust, down to a minimum. One thing we did was use a preventive maintenance cycle with a wash cycle. One preventive product used can be picked up at any Lowe's for about $10 and it is called Fluid Film which is a lanolin based water displacing and protective coating. Fluid film will allow for easy of washing and removing the brine mixture from any surface. Once the area has been washed a new application of Fluid Film will need to be applied. Yes it does take some time to perform preventative maintenance but it will allow for your Jeep or any vehicle last longer.

R/
Will

bigbootysuperduty

Poor 15

munir

I've had some pretty annoying fights with rusting out my bumpers in the past.

1st go: Self etching primer + bed liner
Was fine until I decided to run the truck through the car wash in the winter. Had completely rusted out from the inside 24 hours later. I'm guessing the pressure washer + extreme cold temp + salt combination figured it's way through the coats of bed liner.

Did not want to do this every year, so I stripped it to bare metal to start over.

2nd go:
Self etch the dealer uses
Rocker guard x2 (rubbery stuff, in the hopes that this will self heal)
Bed liner x3 - for outer strength
Clear coat x3 - makes it easier to clean and is definitely more waterproof.

So far so good. Not much stands up to the salting they do in some parts of Canada but this has held up beautifully.

Now to redo my sliders...

Since yours is already powder coated, I'd throw in some more bedliner and some clear and that should hold. Just make sure the prep is good!

Hope that helps!

mkrx5

all helpful information - thank you. yes, the preventative is what i was interested in, I have read plenty about what do after it happens but was trying to reach out if anyone has had success in a pre-mounting process that really helped in the long run.

appreciate all of the feedback. The nicer options may be worth the money, but if I need to consistently maintain these I am not sure I can justify the extra spend. Snow and salt every winter, and beaches every summer where we live.

tribulation138

I live in NE. And fluid film is the best thing in my opinion. I spray about two cans a winter on frame and inside frame holes and all steering components. By the time spring is here. The film can be wipe off or scrubbed off. Everything underneath is perfect.

Canvas

Poor 15 is good after the corrosion starts but to prevent it use a soft film product that will help protect the metal from corroding.

101gargoyles

In my opinion buy the parts unpainted. Let them rust a bit or sandblast for mechanical bond. Use metal etch primer for chemical bond. Then any epoxy paint and f the environment. Last time you'll even think about them.
Powder coat is a scam if anyone says better than regular paint. They just save on solvent containment and disposal. When it starts to flake at a stone damage point you'll agree.
Be a cold day in hell before I put anymore money into powdercoat.

karls10jk

Yeah, buy it bare if it's an option then do your own coating. Any coating will see abuse but if you've got the surface properly prepped then the rust can't get through. I'm going to check into the fluid film for the underside after my ospho coating. Ospho isn't your prep for bare bumpers though, it's better for your driveshaft and axles.

Invest2m4

Look into better technology. The issue with paint and powder coat is that they can't get every little area and end up rusting. They also can't stop rust that may have already begun to form.

Auto manufacturers e-coat most everything. That's a terrific base coat. Completely seals the metal. Then top coat it.

If you don't want to mess around, have it dipped in something like zinc phosphate or chromium. The gold metalcloak arms are actually a gold colored zinc phosphate. Cadmium is even better, which is what I dip my metal parts in. It's pretty cool stuff. If rust attempts to form, the coating creates a chemical reaction that eliminates the rust. I live in MI and have bare metal exposed on my control arms. There's no rust. I never even bothered to coat them with paint or powder coat.