Powder Coating Stupidity

[KNG SNKE]

Ok so I paid my local powder coater to coat a set of valve covers to me. Told him not to chemical dip them, least he got that right.

These valve covers had the DLM stamped in them so my buddy and I filled it in with JB weld and sanded it (recommendation from the powder coater). I go to pick up my valve covers and guess what I see, DLM. These idiots sand blasted it out and just keep going on with business as if it was done right. Beyond that there is a lot of bubbling and bumps all throughout the covers. I have to say I am highly disapointed and I am hoping R&J Distributing will accept these covers as a trade since I am sure their job is of higher quality. I paid 78 dollars for this to get done, guy gave me a discount because he felt bad that he muffed up on the DLM part. Hopefully I can get him to fully sand blast them again and just send them to R&J.

I had to rant, now I'm done.

 

[Mopar Boy]

Very sorry to hear that. That stinks.

What color ya paint them?

 

[QUICKSRT10/SRT8]

i got my valve covers done in candy blue on my viper truck by jmbperformance.com highly recamend!!

 

[KNG SNKE]

I did them in yellow. I wanted them in yellow with black letters but this shop wouldn't do it so I was going to have the letters done elsewhere. I wouldn't be as mad but I am way over budget on my project and tapped out.

PM'd you about pricing for your valve covers.

 

[QUICKSRT10/SRT8]

here you go KNG SNKE

 

[viperv10]

Thank-god I do my own powder coating.

 

[GTSnake]

It's not easy to powder coat magnesium. They off gas so you need to know what you are doing. I did mine a few years ago and it ran me $400. And mine still had some bubbles. There's a lot of history here if you look through the past posts.

 

[Joseph Dell]

Why magnesium is hard to coat:

You must be registered for see images

 

[viperv10]

Gees Mine came out flawless. But then again I only been powder coating since 1990. Only has a hobby. One thing I never done was fill in flaws with JB WELD I hope it had a heat rateing of 400 deg. I coat all my alum and mag. with ZInc. coating first. this traps all gases for which your final color will come out of oven perfect. My 2 cents.

 

[KenH]

I just had mine painted with the factory Viper yellow paint and they have held up fine for many years and they match the car perfectly. Sure powdercoating should be tougher in theory, but I'm not sure how true that is on these magnesium valve covers.

 

[KNG SNKE]

R&J emailed me and said they will call me tomorrow. Had good success with him so hopefully I can make up the 78 dollars by having the original company sand blast them and R&J hopefully will save that much on them when I ship them my donors.

 

[RobZilla]

I had no problems when mine were done. The shop originally did not want to grind off the powder coat on the raised letters but ended up doing so and then applying a clear coat. Fantastic job in the end. Slight bubbling around the corners but not noticeable once on the car.

 

[KNG SNKE]

I wouldn't mind slight bubbling. I do mind the fact that they blatantly disregarded the fact that I took the time to fill in the DLM stamp and they proceeded to powder coat it after they blasted it out.

 

[GTSnake]

. I coat all my alum and mag. with ZInc. coating first. this traps all gases for which your final color will come out of oven perfect. My 2 cents.

Hmmm, that's a good idea. Too bad my coater didn't know that trick. And he's supposed to be a professional......

You may have a future in coating Viper valve covers.....

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Gees Mine came out flawless. But then again I only been powder coating since 1990. Only has a hobby. One thing I never done was fill in flaws with JB WELD I hope it had a heat rateing of 400 deg. I coat all my alum and mag. with ZInc. coating first. this traps all gases for which your final color will come out of oven perfect. My 2 cents.

Ok, you sold me. How much and where do I send them?

 

[Ricketts]

I just had mine painted with the factory Viper yellow paint and they have held up fine for many years and they match the car perfectly. Sure powdercoating should be tougher in theory, but I'm not sure how true that is on these magnesium valve covers.

Man that looks great!!! Jealous man I am!

 

[TexasPettey]

Ok so I paid my local powder coater to coat a set of valve covers to me. Told him not to chemical dip them, least he got that right.

These valve covers had the DLM stamped in them so my buddy and I filled it in with JB weld and sanded it (recommendation from the powder coater). I go to pick up my valve covers and guess what I see, DLM. These idiots sand blasted it out and just keep going on with business as if it was done right. Beyond that there is a lot of bubbling and bumps all throughout the covers. I have to say I am highly disapointed and I am hoping R&J Distributing will accept these covers as a trade since I am sure their job is of higher quality. I paid 78 dollars for this to get done, guy gave me a discount because he felt bad that he muffed up on the DLM part. Hopefully I can get him to fully sand blast them again and just send them to R&J.

I had to rant, now I'm done.

Did they sand blast or bead blast? When I had mine done, I had to take them to the only shop in town that would do small jobs with plastic bead material. Apparantly the magnesium covers pit very badly with sandblasting. I was also told by the shop that did them that they bake them after blasting to get some of the embedded oil vapor out of the covers. Because magnesium is porous, there is oil in there that needs to get out or else it can mess up the new powder coating.

 

[VIPER BAZ UK]

All powder coated....

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[RobZilla]

 

[KNG SNKE]

Talked to R&J Today and I think all is going to turn out well. Have to go back Monday to original powder coater and have him sand blast all the coating off and then ship to R&J. Details later.

 

[Catwood]

I am partial owner of a powdercoat shop. If you need something done send me a PM for a quote. We do alot of racing and hot rod parts.

 

[KNG SNKE]

I am interested but after dealing with one messing up I have to go with a company I am familiar with, even if their cost is higher. Get what you pay for and it got me.

I am not doubting your work and might have something for you to do one day. I am all about finding the best work and getting these valve covers done for good.
Can only sand blast these covers maybe twice more before the Viper logo is gone so taking a chance.

 

[viperv10]

No need to sand blast them, let them soak in acetone for a few hrs the powder coating will eventually come off. And glass beading will not remove the coating. O it will but like it takes forever. Good luck, with these so called professional powder coaters, they probally bought there system at Eastwood company. I use a Pro system Gema-Voltstatic.

 

[KNG SNKE]

I don't have hours unfortunately. I can only get out to this company very rarely because of my working hours so I am off tomorrow. I will see if they have this acetone bath but not sure that it is recommended to strip the magnesium. Not really looking to dip them in anything, especially looking at the previous photos.

 

[viperv10]

I think I told people this before, For a good job I did mine in a ultra-sonic cleaning tank, cooking at 200 degrees this will help losen up the previous coating I then soak them in acetone for few hrs previous checking, once coating is off You should preheat the subtrate which in this case Valve covers, to 350 degrees Faren. once the out gasing is removed you should coat with ZINC first then your choice of color. If your doing custom job the lettering should be taped off using heat resisten tape. Once coated to color you may remove tape and coat with clear powder and presto you will enjoy a enhancing valve cover. Please by no means use your cooking oven to bake your valve covers Its gonna spoil your thanksgiving dinner. I hope this helps everyone out, in there quest to have there covers done. Any question, Please feel free to ask me, Joe

 

[KNG SNKE]

finally got the covers back today. not too much left for the letters. it is also not smooth anymore. the sandblasting really did a number on them.

 

[GTSnake]

I think I told people this before, For a good job I did mine in a ultra-sonic cleaning tank, cooking at 200 degrees this will help losen up the previous coating I then soak them in acetone for few hrs previous checking, once coating is off You should preheat the subtrate which in this case Valve covers, to 350 degrees Faren. once the out gasing is removed you should coat with ZINC first then your choice of color. If your doing custom job the lettering should be taped off using heat resisten tape. Once coated to color you may remove tape and coat with clear powder and presto you will enjoy a enhancing valve cover. Please by no means use your cooking oven to bake your valve covers Its gonna spoil your thanksgiving dinner. I hope this helps everyone out, in there quest to have there covers done. Any question, Please feel free to ask me, Joe

Just have one question. How much do you charge for one pair done in red?

 

[KNG SNKE]

Got a chance to smooth out the rough sandblasting job. Got them very smooth. No more logos. R&J is going to use vinyl baked on, same thing as they do with the calipers they use. Here are the photos of the valve covers. They can be smooth out to a mirror finish if I wanted to, but wouldn't suit my car.

 

[GTSnake]

It's too bad you lost the raised logos. Those make the valve covers unique.

 

[KNG SNKE]

It is what it is. Better to lose the raised lettering then the entire valve cover