powder coat or paint subframe?

[steve g]

Any opinions on powder coating vs. painting my subframe? Is it worth the extra money to powder coat? I've heard that it can chip. I'm also wondering whether the powder will find its way to the inside of the frame well enough or whether I'm going to need to use a long wand to spray something like an undercoater.

[coolclassiccars]

first, what finish do you want.ie high gloss or semi-gloss,both have advantages,powder is more durable,it will scuff,scratch, it is a lot more durable. prep is easier blast and powder coat your color,paint will look better (imo) but will require alot more prep time, blast ,prime ,sand, paint clear if desired, scuffs easier chips alot easier. curently doing a 66 chevelle last week powdered the frame coverage was everywhere i could see inside the frame rails,excellent coverage,hope this helps.

[colt zantop]

powdercoating will last longer and not chip /scratch as easy. I had my subframe powdercoated when DSE had my front end apart. worth the extra money in my opinion.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

One benefit to painting your subframe is touch-ups and modifications are much "easier", relatively speaking. If you ever decided to (unless you've already done them) do the guldstrand mod, or add a rollcage, you wouldn't have to get the entire frame powdercoated again when you were finished, just touch up the areas of paint that you grinded off. Same goes for scratches and chips. My vote is for paint.

[awr68]

My vote is for powder coat...and I will be doing mine soon, I beleive the coverage is far better. I'm having my frame chemically stripped then coated, this way all the contaminates/rust from the past 30+ years will be no more and the p/c will deffinatly be easier to get proper coverage inside the frame rails than paint. I'm done with the DSE coilover conversion and have no plans on changing anything else on this frame so grinding p/c off areas to cut/weld isn't an issue...although most p/c is matched to a paint color so touchup might not really be an issue....

[Happyfunballs]

I have access to both paint and powder. I chose to paint my subframe simply because I can touch it up later. The powder does hold up better, but it will chip, eventually.

[steve g]

Thanks for the opinions guys.

[bleucamaro]

Powder, if prepped well, and applied well will not chip off. If you want to color match the subframe to the body, I'd recomend getting a good powder primer applied, and then painting to match. If you're doing a contrasting color then I'd have the whole thing powder coated.

I used to work at a powder coat shop, and we had sections of exhaust tubing that we would slam with a hammer to show the flexibility and durability of the powder. It scratches when you do that, but I've never had it crack or chip off.

[69protour]

I have mine powdercoated and Love it! Much more durable than paint. What I've done is buy the starter kit of POR15 Black ,and when I've had to grind a bit on the frame touch it up with the POR15. Looks awsome and can hardly tell the difference. On my UCA's from GW, they were a little tight on the side, so I ground off some of the upper ear where they bolt on, then POR15ed the bare metal and you can't even tell where I touched it up. Hope this helps. Trond

[DeepBlue68]

Just out of curiousity, can anyone give me a rough estimate of how much it would cost to get the front subframe powdercoated? I'm sure it varies from shop to shop, but just a ballpark would be great

[rockdogz]

I had my Alston front subframe, A-arms, and roll cage (don't ask) powdercoated, and it was about $500. So the bare frame would probably be 200-300 where I got it done in Southern CA.