[Healeys] chassis painting: electro coating vs. powder coating

[Tadeusz Malkiewicz]

Curt, Kees, and all,

I have been powdercoating for quite a few years, and had both experiences
Kees talk about and Curt. I do powdercoat all parts on the car that need
paint (suspension, brackets, etc) I also powdercoated floor of my Beetle.

Few observations I made:
- for sensitive parts, where paint thickness is not important, I do paint it
first with zinc powder paint and then color
- paints that are mat were porous - my bumpers painted just black mat on my
Range Rover begun showing signs of rust after few years.
- I observed paint coming off in large spots (what Kees talks about) on my
Beetle fenders - I believe the problem was poor preparation, where the
pieces were not sandblasted sufficiently (the shop was afraid to ruin the
fenders by heavy blasting)
- yes, I always protect all threads...

The electrocoating process is new to me though, and I kind of like the idea,
as, as I imagine it will protect also the inner side of the chassis members.
I also read you can in fact powdercoat it later on.

Anyone has more experience with electro coating?


Best, Tadek