It was brought up in another thread that the TJM bumpers rust quickly. Well I've had my Slee rear bumper and sliders for about a year now, and rust is popping up everywhere....Meanwhile my ARB still looks new....Anyone else having rust issues?
Rust Rant
- Thread starter ckkone
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I just went outside to check and didn't see any rust except a 2" bead of weld by the spindle. However, I did notice my 100 was hit recently by something painted green and yellow. Hmm, a John Deer tractor? Albeit minor, chalk up another save for the Slee bumper.
Oh, it's not a mix, it's straight salt. Hell, we've got a dry lake bed full of it. Chris, if you've scratched them wheeling then the bare metal is going to rust easily and quickly. I've had to stay on top of things like that with Rustoleum touch ups after wheeling.
I love Slee's products, service and inovations, so I hate to complain. But...
Less than 6 months old, California, no salt, no rain until last month. These step sliders use the no slip textured powder coating, but there should have been better coverage, especially at the joints. My rear bumber looks fine.
Less than 6 months old, California, no salt, no rain until last month. These step sliders use the no slip textured powder coating, but there should have been better coverage, especially at the joints. My rear bumber looks fine.
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My Slee sliders seem to be holding up good, then again, it's their first winter here.
Smooth. I bought 'em used from a Mudder in San Jose so they've been spared Northeast salt.
The TJM I had on the rear of my 80 was the same way, rusted really quickly and not anywhere that there were scrapes or rock rash. Just poor powdercoating.
Speaking with 20 years in the powder coating industry....The rust you see happening is in areas where the charged powder will not cover evenly. In some cases not at all. Like the flat sheet tack welded to a round slider/ tube, you see rust forming along the sheet line, besides that it traps water to in-hance rust development. As powder is charges (-) the particles carried by air go into a corner or recessed area and are deposited on the sides but not in the corner. Two things are working against you. 1. All particles are the same charge and the will repell each other. Secondly the air is rebounding out not allowing the powder to settle.
Powder equipment suppliers make special nozzles and extension to help with this problem. Also they male a tribo unit which also has application. Plus the quality and chemistry of the powder makes a huge
difference. Operator error is quite common, in most cases the kids working in this type environment are under trained.
Now lets talk about washing / prepping. Many ways to do this correctly. But in the end, if you do not use a good wash chemical designed for the desired performance result you open the door for coating failure. If you do not dry it completely you will have flash rusting which you may not see but comes through the coating after a few months in the environment.
Curring (time and temperature) becomes a problem when using different thickness of metal. It cures differently and may cause adhesion and color failure.
Now as a business man you have in your head what you will pay to have this piece coated. I doubt that many of the after-market bumper folks have coating lines. So you shop it around. Sometimes the price you pay is a mirror of what you get. Lots of options, but you as a buyer of the product may not pay the extra $100-250.00 to get a top quality paint job. Maybe that should be an option
So when you say the paint is rusting there is much more to investigate before you can figure out what the heck happened. You can always find a top knotch coater and have them repainted.
Powder equipment suppliers make special nozzles and extension to help with this problem. Also they male a tribo unit which also has application. Plus the quality and chemistry of the powder makes a huge
difference. Operator error is quite common, in most cases the kids working in this type environment are under trained.
Now lets talk about washing / prepping. Many ways to do this correctly. But in the end, if you do not use a good wash chemical designed for the desired performance result you open the door for coating failure. If you do not dry it completely you will have flash rusting which you may not see but comes through the coating after a few months in the environment.
Curring (time and temperature) becomes a problem when using different thickness of metal. It cures differently and may cause adhesion and color failure.
Now as a business man you have in your head what you will pay to have this piece coated. I doubt that many of the after-market bumper folks have coating lines. So you shop it around. Sometimes the price you pay is a mirror of what you get. Lots of options, but you as a buyer of the product may not pay the extra $100-250.00 to get a top quality paint job. Maybe that should be an option
So when you say the paint is rusting there is much more to investigate before you can figure out what the heck happened. You can always find a top knotch coater and have them repainted.
Heck, I've always built my own protection and rattle canned it. I've just come to expect very high quality products from Slee and I assumed that they farm out their coating work. I'm not usually too picky since I tend to USE my trucks, but the 100 is a little diferent. Its just so nice and new.
DRSALES - Any reason I cant hit the weak spots with rustolium or POR 15? I have no intention to re-powder coat.
EDIT: Hoser was 2 steps ahead of me... typical.
DRSALES - Any reason I cant hit the weak spots with rustolium or POR 15? I have no intention to re-powder coat.
EDIT: Hoser was 2 steps ahead of me... typical.
My lug nuts are rusting plus the inside of my receiver hitch. Hitch I understand, but the lug nuts have always bothered me.
OK, we are looking into this. The textured coating is something new we started to use on the SliderSteps. That coupled with the design of the sliders might be an issue here. As drsales pointed out, those spots are really difficult to get good coverage on. We are looking at what we change to not have locations like this on the products that are difficult to coat.
We use a professional powder coat company that does sand blasting in-house. All products are completely blasted and then washed before coating. So I am pretty confident in the prep and the coating, but I think we might be fighting a design issue that we did not anticipate in the beginning.
The top plate on the sliderstep is welded from the bottom and made to sit flush with the outside tube. The reason for this is so that you do not fillet your bare feet when stepping onto the slider. This method is creating the areas where the coating does not want to adhere easily. We might have to change the design of the plate to minimize these areas.
If anyone else has these issues, please email photo's directly to us so that we can see what can be done to remedy the situation. Or more to Denver where things don't rust so easily
We use a professional powder coat company that does sand blasting in-house. All products are completely blasted and then washed before coating. So I am pretty confident in the prep and the coating, but I think we might be fighting a design issue that we did not anticipate in the beginning.
The top plate on the sliderstep is welded from the bottom and made to sit flush with the outside tube. The reason for this is so that you do not fillet your bare feet when stepping onto the slider. This method is creating the areas where the coating does not want to adhere easily. We might have to change the design of the plate to minimize these areas.
If anyone else has these issues, please email photo's directly to us so that we can see what can be done to remedy the situation. Or more to Denver where things don't rust so easily
OK, we are looking into this. The textured coating is something new we started to use on the SliderSteps. That coupled with the design of the sliders might be an issue here. As drsales pointed out, those spots are really difficult to get good coverage on. We are looking at what we change to not have locations like this on the products that are difficult to coat.
We use a professional powder coat company that does sand blasting in-house. All products are completely blasted and then washed before coating. So I am pretty confident in the prep and the coating, but I think we might be fighting a design issue that we did not anticipate in the beginning.
The top plate on the sliderstep is welded from the bottom and made to sit flush with the outside tube. The reason for this is so that you do not fillet your bare feet when stepping onto the slider. This method is creating the areas where the coating does not want to adhere easily. We might have to change the design of the plate to minimize these areas.
If anyone else has these issues, please email photo's directly to us so that we can see what can be done to remedy the situation. Or more to Denver where things don't rust so easily
Thank you Mr. Slee... My feet are holding up pretty well.
Maybe you can do something about the rain gutter on my FJ40!
You can try any type of rust inhibiting coating. But you must sand, metal brush or shot blast to get out the rust. I would then wipe with a acetone solvent. Paint asap. If you do not I would think that you might be chasing something you can not catch.
But give it a try, what do you have to loose.
Mr Slee. Congrats on your efforts to further investigate your situation. Very few designers ever hit the nail on the head the first time. Now I might suggest that they paint the bumpers or sliders hot. This will allow the powder to gel on contact and possibly fill in areas that were void of coating. However it is a give or take proposition. You will have more orange peal and greater thickness, unless the coating has been engineered to have flow properties for this type of application. Also may want to look at a 2 coat process. A tribo gun would also help greatly!
I doubt if you will ever overcome the flat stock welded on the circular tube problem. Maybe grating would work better.
However the other area I see the powder failing on the welds. This is normally do to improper pretreatment. It may require a more aggressive chemical program to etch the welds so powder will attach. I am guessing here but I would thing your coater is using a three stage iron phosphate washer. If not maybe a heated power washer? If air drying, rust will always be apparent.
I would suggest a 5 stage washer with forced air dry to insure all water is off the part. Or a 3 stage with an pre-prep for the welds. But as a designer you must understand what it takes to get a good paint job (wet or dry) keep tweaking you will get there.
Sorry to armchair quarterback here but the creative juices are flowing.
But give it a try, what do you have to loose.
Mr Slee. Congrats on your efforts to further investigate your situation. Very few designers ever hit the nail on the head the first time. Now I might suggest that they paint the bumpers or sliders hot. This will allow the powder to gel on contact and possibly fill in areas that were void of coating. However it is a give or take proposition. You will have more orange peal and greater thickness, unless the coating has been engineered to have flow properties for this type of application. Also may want to look at a 2 coat process. A tribo gun would also help greatly!
I doubt if you will ever overcome the flat stock welded on the circular tube problem. Maybe grating would work better.
However the other area I see the powder failing on the welds. This is normally do to improper pretreatment. It may require a more aggressive chemical program to etch the welds so powder will attach. I am guessing here but I would thing your coater is using a three stage iron phosphate washer. If not maybe a heated power washer? If air drying, rust will always be apparent.
I would suggest a 5 stage washer with forced air dry to insure all water is off the part. Or a 3 stage with an pre-prep for the welds. But as a designer you must understand what it takes to get a good paint job (wet or dry) keep tweaking you will get there.
Sorry to armchair quarterback here but the creative juices are flowing.
Just wanted to add a comment about lug nuts. It is very difficult to have a performance and decorative coating adhere to something so small with all the sharp edges. Unless you dip the lug or coat it with maybe nylon I doubt you will ever have no rust over a long periods of wear. Coating something with very sharp edges is a painters nightmare. Plus when the nuts are installed the air tools will mare the coating and allow an area where rust can propagate and creep.
Maybe a plated product would work better. Chrome or black anodized come to mind.
Maybe a plated product would work better. Chrome or black anodized come to mind.
Both my ARB and Kaymar bumpers rust. In order to keep the truck tidy I spray it with Waxoil every sixth month. I live in an area where they salt, but still think that it should be possible for ARB/Kaymar to make a coating that held up better. The Cruiser itself has no rust whatsoever.
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