Thread: Powder coating vs paint??????

Tweet

I am learning to appreciate my location near the Hanover Air Park/Airstrip since there is a lot of high tech light industry there. I bought a solid aluminum flat dish racing steering wheel (Speedway) so I can get in and out of the tight '29 cockpit and it came with a "brushed satin" finish. It looked good but picked up finger prints and a few little dings right away so I got estimates to coat it. Result: $85 for epoxy paint OR $85 for powder coating but the paint guy told me the PC would be much tougher than any paint he could apply so I went with CLEAR PC and it is beautiful! The shop in the Air Park seems to make their living on PC treatment of relatively small parts but they did my wheel. I am surprised IC2 found a shop that could do a whole frame. At that shop I saw several bicycle frames which looked smooth as silk and in fact on my steering wheel and all the parts I looked at there was no sign of orange peel. If/when I finally get my steering column set up I will show a picture of the wheel in the car on another thread, but so far the mockup of the clear-coat silvery aluminum against the maroon dash dazzles your eyes!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder