boon4376

Hey everyone,

I have my rock sliders in and want to give them a nice looking coat of paint. They are VKS weld-on sliders.

I think they would look pretty sick with the factory dune color with a clear coat on top.

Can you give me an idea of what I can do to order a good supply of Dune color paint, clearcoat, primer, and spray equipment to use to apply it? I've seen $30-$50 electric paint sprayers at Home Depot that I figured I could use with automotive paint to do a pretty decent job. Not looking to buy a bunch of aerosol spray paint cans, unless it would really be more practical.

Thanks for any advice.

DunnyBunny

In interested in these sliders. How do they look? Quality?

suprablaski

Pretty sure the paint gun you have in mind isn't gonna cut it, very different viscosities of paint between home and automotive. To get out the cheapest with automotive supplies I would point you to a $150 harbor freight air compressor and a HVLP spray gun available around $16 for a cheap one. As for paint I couldn't say


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all4wheels

I would powder coat them

whitejeepjk

I would also recommend power coat as well in hindsight. I tried the rustoleum bedliner way with these sliders. Did not realize a primer was required (dumb on my part I know as I missed that part in directions some how), now I got rust I need to remove as soon as weather heats up enough to paint. If done properly I would have avoided this but my reason for suggesting power coat is that because they are weld on, I would want the best protection from start because once they are on, they are on and it becomes a bit more of a nuisance to touch up. For the quality, they are thick DOM steel that protects rockers and provide some body protection, no fear of rocks with them. Only thing I am not a huge fan of is the VKS symbol hole, although it is angled and most water does not go inside, but when you live with snow, slush builds up and water and salt will go in

towel33

For what you'd spend on the paint equipment it'd be cheaper to powder coat them, not to mention more durable and better in every imaginable way. If you're dead set on painting them, I'd say just go the rattle can route. With some decent prep and the patience to lay down lots of light layers you can come out with a decent looking product. You are almost certainly going to do a less than stellar job with the paint so better to only be out $15 instead of $200+.

DunnyBunny

I'm interested in good painting techniques also. These products already cost so much shipped raw that it's hard to pay $150-$200 each time to get something powder coated. By peices I mean bumpers and sliders. For some it's hard to come with the cash just to get the products.

boon4376

These things are beasts, I don't have them on yet, but I dead lift a bit at the gym, and these things made be check my form before lifting - they are heavy and very well made. I will not be afraid to drop the whole jeep on them (and I'm told David Vick who makes them does that on a regular occurrence). A buddy of mine has a JK with bolt on sliders from Smitty that bend up and damage his rocker panels when he hits rocks. There's no way these VKS sliders are going to bend unless I'm t-boned by a schoolbus.

They were also only $479 shipped so a great deal as well.



Were can I get powdercoating done? At a local auto-paint shop? How much does that typically cost?


I do have a 5 gallon, 150 psi air compressor and I could buy an air-paint gun, but I guess I'd have to find one for automotive quality paint.

If I do not go the powdercoating route - since it probably will need to be touched up a lot I'll heed everyone's advice and do many light coats of primer, and then probably just a high-quality back - maybe even something thicker and more protective. It will need to be touched up a lot after trail rides, because these will see rocks... and I guess it doesn't make sense to go the "pretty" route with Dune paint.

suprablaski

Powder coat is the most durable but you can only touch it up with normal paint, can't truly match it after the fact since it's a dry powder that is applied electrostaticly then baked on in a special oven. Other paints may be less durable but you can touch them up with the real paint at a moments notice just tape up well and repaint on the vehicle


For something like sliders I would prolly go with a bed liner spray, but based on the original post I thought you might be trying to paint them a specific color which is why I pointed you to automotive paint. And if you already have a compressor yeah you can get a cheap gun for under $20

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catahoula

I highly recommend powder coat. Years ago purchased Superlift extended radius arm lift for my Bronco. Came in yellow and knew their coating at the time would flake off and rust. I went to local powdercoating company and had them burn off SL coating and apply a red coating to it. I was very impressed with the results. Never had anything flake off or rust. Had Bronco for years and suspension parts always looked good. I would not bc/cc sliders. I would just single stage in a urethane myself. Powdercoating is pricey but worth it. It it was small parts I would probably paint.