I'm planning to discover the dark side of my St.Bob, but I dont know the difference between powdercoating & normal painting!! My dealer says powder coating for alum. parts & painting for steel, is that true??

 

Wow, no that is not true. You can put powder on anything that can withstand the temp of the coating. Think of it this was paint drys hard and powder stays somewhat flexible. Therefore powder is more restance to chips and so on. Powder should last longer and hold up to more abuse.

 

REBEL78,
To be honest there have been countless conversations about this topic here, if you do a search you would find all kinds of info on this.
But to make it a bit easier on you, here is what I know. I have several parts that are powdercoated, from the lower forks (aluminium) to the AC which was crome plated steel, to the rims and spokes. Powdercoating is a strong plastic like coating that can take (in my opinion) alot more abuse than just painting. It is more costly to powdercoat then just say rattle can it, but the overall outcome is much better, typ. again in my opinion. I am sure others willtell you just about the same. I will have parts powdercoated anyday over painting.
This is just whatI know.Do some searching and you will get alot more infoon this.
Good luck and if you do go powdercoat, make sure you are able to get a good one, check some references if you can.

 

WAY WRONG! tell him he is an idiot! and find another dealer... powder coat is tough! that is why i use it all over... it is much better than just paint and you can really do some cool stuff with it... depending on what you want to do... if you are trying to do fades and stuff like that you will need paint (I think, powdercoater woudl know for sure) I have not been able to do it at least, but i can do muli color items and taping for effects... it would amaze you what powdercoat can stand up to... paint steel... come on what an idiot... ask him what he does of the nightster wheels then... those are steel and powder coated... dealerships amaze me sometimes... the good ones are few and far but they are out there... i have a local dealer with honest good old bike lovers... that is where i go if i ever need to... Honesty is something that Harley looks to be loosing in the dealerships lately...

 

So Powder coating is what i should go for, even for the tank & fenders?

 

I WOULD SAY YOU THERE ISMORE TECHNIQUES IN PAINTING THAT WOULD MAKE THE OVERALL FINISHED PRODUCT MORE UNIQUE. LIKE GHOSTING FOR EXAMPLE, I DONT THINK THAT COULD BE DUPLICATED WITH POWDER, BUT I AM NOT A POWDERCOATER. AND YOU CAN DO A LOT OF INTERESTING STUFF WITH AIR BRUSHING AND WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO BE DONE WITH POWDER COATING. PCOTING MAY MAKE A GOOD BASE COAT, THEN AIR BRUSH IT AND WHAT NOT. BUT AGAIN I AM NOT A POWDER COATED SO TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH...

 

OH... ALMOST FORGOT. TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING DAILY SO KEEP UP WITH IT. LAST WEEK ON ONE OF THOSE POWERBLOCK SHOWS ON SPIKE I SAW A COMPANY PUTTING CHROME ON PLASTIC AND IT LOOKS JUST LIKE CHROMED METAL. SO YOU NEVER KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!

 

I would powder coat everything but

 

+1 not your tins. Also look around this forum to see if there are any coaters on here close to you.

 

yep you can do your tins as well... in fact i recomend it if you are doing a solid color... it is so much more durrable... i have done tins that where used as a base coat for some custom airbrush work... i plan on clearing mine next winter... i am so sick of this cheap clear harley uses... if you take your time you can really do ALOT with powder... just fine a good coaterthat is willing to try out new stuff... there are alot out there!

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