Can you paint over powdercoating?

johnny Lagdon · May 22, 2018

I am building a bike out of bits I have accumulated and upgraded over the years. The original frame on my 850 Mk3 has been checked for straightness on a jig, and now I need to work out how to refinish it. It was powder-coated many years, and many miles, ago. Lots of worn away areas, chips and scratches, but it seems like the devils own work to get it off. Anyone had success with having it painted over? If so, what process? As always, all advice gratefully received.

concours · May 22, 2018

Reason [HASHTAG]#392[/HASHTAG] why I don't like powdercoating for mororcycle frames.

kommando · May 22, 2018

You can paint over it but better to take it to a powder coaters who will remove it before redoing it or take it off them after they have blasted it but before the powdercoat. If they do a phosphate dip get that done before you take it back.

Danno · May 22, 2018

Powder coat is thicker than paint, and quite a bit tougher. Sanding, scratch filling etc. to prep for a coat of paint over the powder (even thicker, now) sounds like a ton of handwork.

jimbo · May 22, 2018

IMHO if its stuck on that good, leave it,scuff it up real good, use a adhesive promoter, then a good sealer primer. Then fill in the defects as normal. If it don't work, strip it.

jaydee75 · May 22, 2018

I have had luck with a slow-drying, methylene chloride based paint remover paste. It will soften the pc and allow you to scrape it off. I think it was called "Kutzit" or something like that. But that was 10 years ago, it's probably outlawed by now.

Jaydee

DogT · May 22, 2018

I had one of my gas tank 'wings' break off and took it to a guy who welded it back on. I just used Rustolieum enamel to touch up the PC. Looked good to me, even if I can't see it under the tank.

Only issues I've had with PC is the rear wheel axle. The PC takes up a lot of space on both sides of the swing arm, brake cover and other parts. It added up to about 3/8" or more that I had to remove to get the single piece axle from MadAss to fit correctly for my early no cush bike.

wot · May 22, 2018

Used to have a lot of stuff powder coated, had it done by a really good guy that did show car work for Ford and GM. Now though, don't so much like it any more, prefer paint. Had a bunch of powder coated pieces I wanted to strip and paint, so tried chemical stripping. I like the strong paste stripper, the brand I've used a lot is Zip Strip. At first the stripper didn't seem to affect the powder coat, but tried soaking in a wallpaper paste steel tray. After an hour nothing, then after two or three hours the coating came off in sheets, looked like a rubber glove coming off. Required no scraping, just wiped with lacquer thinner. Then I epoxy primed and painted using acrylic urethane. Looks much better than the powder coat to me. Don't think I'll ever powder coat again.

Danno · May 23, 2018

I used urethane on the frame of the Titanic and on the tank of the SS clone. Will also use urethane on the Titanic's tins.

comnoz · May 23, 2018

I've used this before. Took PC off just like paint.
Of course it was years ago so it may have been "made safer" by now. Jim

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/cs/paintremovers/surestrip.php

eskasteve · May 23, 2018

johnny Lagdon said:
I am building a bike out of bits I have accumulated and upgraded over the years. The original frame on my 850 Mk3 has been checked for straightness on a jig, and now I need to work out how to refinish it. It was powder-coated many years, and many miles, ago. Lots of worn away areas, chips and scratches, but it seems like the devils own work to get it off. Anyone had success with having it painted over? If so, what process? As always, all advice gratefully received.

I painted over a powder coated frame with no issues. As Jimbo said scuff it up good then use a quality primer. I got my paint, primer, sand paper, and most of all advice from Wesco paints in Tacoma, WA. https://wescopbe.com It still looked good when I sold it three years later.

Onder · May 24, 2018

One of my bikes was painted over powder. So far no problems. Going forward Im going to paint only. Powder looks too "thick" and a lot of
painters today also seem to go for that look. Original paint is quite thin and looks better IMO.

marshg246 · May 24, 2018

I needed to remove powder coat from a bracket to do some brazing on it. Tried every stripper/chemical I have and nothing worked. Then the light came on. It would take a while on a frame, but a torch will burn it quickly so it can be wiped/scraped off. This is especially good if it will be media blasted before refinishing. It won't hurt the metal - you don't need it really hot, as soon as the coating bubbles, move on.