Paint vs. Powder coat

[RGSkid70]

I guess the experienced builders already know this, so this post is directed to the newbies just starting their builds. I'm regretting my decision to paint the frame instead of powder coating. DFKC's website budget estimator suggests you can save $500+ by painting vs. powder coat, although they do recommend powder. I can say from experience that when your workpiece is a 1.5" tube, and if you hold your spray gun 8" away to avoid drips & runs, you will waste 70-80% of your material. Unless you have a jig that can rotate the chassis while you paint, you'll end up with a lot of missed spots and poor coverage. Not to mention that the powder coat shop will also sand blast the frame for you, as opposed to prepping the whole thing yourself.
Lesson learned. I may have saved a few $, but it's NOT worth the hassle.

 

[Ross]

If you want the ability to add and subtract from your DF frame with welding and grinding, then paint makes sense.
It is also nice to do touchups, as seat belts chip the metal bars, and shoes going over the side bars scratch the finish.

 

[Mahkoi]

If you want the ability to add and subtract from your DF frame with welding and grinding, then paint makes sense.
It is also nice to do touchups, as seat belts chip the metal bars, and shoes going over the side bars scratch the finish.

If you do powdercoat. PPF is cheap protection for those areas. I have it on the bars where I get in, where I throw the belts over and that square tube on the floor that gets stepped on when you get it. Even if I have to replace it every couple of years the $11 is worth it

VViViD High Gloss Paint Protection Film (PPF) 6” x 120” inch Self Healing Wrap Guard https://a.co/d/cXvB7Vm

 

[Chubbs]

I guess the experienced builders already know this, so this post is directed to the newbies just starting their builds. I'm regretting my decision to paint the frame instead of powder coating. DFKC's website budget estimator suggests you can save $500+ by painting vs. powder coat, although they do recommend powder. I can say from experience that when your workpiece is a 1.5" tube, and if you hold your spray gun 8" away to avoid drips & runs, you will waste 70-80% of your material. Unless you have a jig that can rotate the chassis while you paint, you'll end up with a lot of missed spots and poor coverage. Not to mention that the powder coat shop will also sand blast the frame for you, as opposed to prepping the whole thing yourself.
Lesson learned. I may have saved a few $, but it's NOT worth the hassle.

Perfectly summed up my experience with painting. It's a real bear.

It saved money, mostly because I had the extra paint lying around from a past project. So my paint was "free". I can also touch it up whenever I need, and I was able to add a harness bar and paint that to match perfectly. I couldn't do that with powder coat.

But other than those two advantages, painting was miserable. There are runs. There are thin spots. I sprayed almost a gallon of yellow paint into the atmosphere and got maybe a pint on the actual frame. I'm not an expert painter but I'm not a novice either, having painted multiple motorcycles. Painting a bird's nest of tubes is just really, really hard.

I would powder coat it next time if I did it again, and then I'd buy paint that matched the powder coat as close as possible for touchups.