There are a lot of opinions about powder coating.

Some people will tell you it's the toughest finish you can buy.

Others will tell you it always chips, peels, or fades.

After manufacturing powder-coated products for more than twenty years, I've learned that neither is completely true.

Like most things, the answer is somewhere in the middle.

If you understand what powder coating is designed to do, what causes it to fail, and how to maintain it, you'll have realistic expectations and get the most life out of your products.

Setting the Right Expectations
One of the biggest misconceptions we see is people expecting powder coating to perform like the paint on their truck.

It doesn't.

Automotive paint and powder coating are completely different finishing systems designed for completely different jobs.

The paint on your truck protects sheet metal that spends most of its life driving down paved roads. An off-road bumper, roof rack, or skid plate is expected to survive gravel roads, tree branches, road salt, rocks, mud, and whatever else you decide to throw at it.

Eventually it's going to get a chip or scratch.

That doesn't mean the finish failed.
It means you're using it, and like anything else on your vehicle, it needs a little maintenance.

Why We Powder Coat
People occasionally ask why we don't just paint everything.

The answer is pretty simple.

Powder coating gives us a finish that's durable, attractive, repairable, and affordable.

Could we offer automotive paint?

Sure.

But a quality automotive paint finish can easily add another thousand dollars or more to a bumper. I think most customers would rather spend that money on a winch, suspension, or fuel for their next trip than on a finish that's eventually going to get scratched anyway.

Powder coating also has a few benefits most people never see. It's a cleaner process than traditional liquid paint, uses little to no solvents, creates less waste, and provides a safer environment for the people applying it.

If powder coating isn't what you're after, there is another option.

Think of it like the secret menu at In-N-Out.

We don't advertise bare steel products on our website, but for many of our products we can supply them uncoated so your local body shop can prep and paint them to match your vehicle.

Just give us a call and ask. If it's available for the product you're looking at, we'll be happy to help.

What Makes a Good Powder Coat?
Not every powder-coated product is created the same.

In my opinion, there are three things that determine whether a finish lasts for years or starts having problems much sooner.

1. Surface Preparation
Everything starts with preparation.

If the steel isn't properly cleaned, the powder has nothing to bond to. Oil, dirt, rust, or mill scale left on the surface will eventually cause problems no matter how good the powder itself is.

There are two common ways to prepare steel.

One is mechanical preparation, like sandblasting.

The other is chemical preparation.

At Victory, every part goes through a three-step chemical pretreatment. We clean the steel, apply a phosphate treatment, and finish with a chemical sealer before it ever reaches the powder booth.

In my opinion, prep work is the most important step in the entire process.

A poor finish almost always starts with poor preparation.

2. Zinc-Rich Primer
Exterior products receive a zinc-rich primer before the final top coat.

The zinc acts as a sacrificial layer, helping protect the steel if the finish ever gets chipped or scratched. It also creates an excellent foundation for the powder top coat.

It's one of those things you'll never see, but it can make a big difference years down the road.

This is also one of the places manufacturers often save money. Many lower-cost imported products skip the zinc primer altogether and spray the top coat directly on the steel. That saves money, but it also removes an important layer of corrosion protection.

Every exterior product we powder coat receives a zinc-rich primer because we believe it's worth doing right.

3. Quality Powder
This is the part everyone actually sees.

Just like paint, there are different grades of powder. Better powders generally provide better UV resistance, better color retention, and a more consistent finish over time.

The company applying the powder matters too.

At Victory, every step of our powder coating process is done in-house. From pretreatment and primer to top coat, curing, and inspection, we control the entire process. That consistency allows us to continuously improve the process and gives us confidence in the products we ship every day.

What Should I Expect?
The answer depends on where your vehicle lives.

Interior powder-coated parts have a pretty easy life. They're protected from sunlight, road salt, rocks, and moisture. It's not uncommon for those parts to look great for many years.

Exterior products are a different story.

If you live in the Arizona desert, intense UV exposure is hard on any finish.

If you live near the coast, salt air becomes the biggest challenge.
If you live somewhere like we do in Michigan, where roads are covered in salt every winter, corrosion becomes the biggest concern.

No finish is immune to those environments. They simply age differently depending on where and how the vehicle is used.

With proper preparation, a zinc-rich primer, and a quality top coat, you should expect years of service. You may eventually notice some UV fading, especially on vehicles that spend their lives outdoors.

More often than not, though, rock chips become the biggest issue.
That's simply part of owning an off-road vehicle.

Maintaining Your Finish
The best thing you can do is touch up chips before they become rust.

Every once in a while, take a few minutes to walk around your vehicle. If you find a rock chip that's exposed bare steel, don't ignore it.

A small bottle of touch-up paint and a Q-tip work great.
You're not trying to repaint the bumper.

You're simply sealing the exposed steel before moisture has a chance to get underneath the surrounding powder coating.

If you live where roads are salted during the winter, washing the underside of your vehicle regularly also helps extend the life of the finish.

A few minutes of maintenance once or twice a year is a lot easier than stripping and recoating an entire bumper.

I've Seen Powder Coating Peel. Doesn't It All Eventually Peel?
I remember buying a set of nerf bars for my 1989 Jeep Wrangler from the old JC Whitney catalog. One day I noticed a chunk of powder coating about the size of my hand had peeled completely off.

At the time, I figured that's just what powder coating did.

Years later, after learning a lot more about the process, I realized that wasn't really a powder coating problem.

It was a preparation problem.
A properly applied powder coat shouldn't simply peel off.

When it does, it's usually because of one of two things.

The first is poor surface preparation. If the steel isn't cleaned properly before coating, the powder never gets a good bond.

The second is corrosion.

A rock chip or deep scratch exposes bare steel. If it's left alone, moisture works its way underneath the coating and rust begins to form. As rust expands, it pushes the powder coating away from the steel, making it look like the finish is peeling.

That's one of the reasons we use a zinc-rich primer. It gives the steel another layer of protection and helps slow that process if the finish is ever damaged.

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of what to expect from a quality powder-coated finish.

If you have any questions about our powder coating process, maintaining your finish, or you're trying to decide if powder coating is the right option for your build, give us a call. We'd be happy to help.