Toughest coating/lining/paint?

[jbanks]

I'm wondering what's the toughest coating I can put on my frame, undercarriage, engine bay, cab floor, bed floor, etc. I want something that will stand up to some abuse and not rust out.

I had originially thought of doing a bed liner like line-x or rhino liner are they the toughest?

I see where lots of people powder coat their frames, but I'm not sure if this is so much because it's tough as it is because it's pretty as well.

Or there's Por-15 or another paint over rust product.

Any thoughts on which is the roughest and the toughest? I want this truck to last another 40 or so years so I want to do it right.

[flyboy2610]

Por-15.

[Heavenlyfire]

My money is on POR-15, but that is just from reading about it not experience.

[lightning_msd]

por 15, then what i did, scuff the por with 180 or 240 grit and i then put on rocker guard which is a rubberized undercoating that stands up to anything. when i got the 460 bare block, i slid the block from the tailgate all the way to the cab where i had a wooden crate and not even a scratch

[FORDification]

Well, I've got a powder-coated frame, front suspension and radiator support on my '67, but virtually everything else is POR-15'ed. (new word?) I'd have to say that they're probably about the same in regards to toughness, but the POR-15 takes much less prep work...AND you can get that in all the little nooks and crannies, unlike the powdercoating. Here's a shot of my frame right after it came back from the powdercoaters. You can see where the powdercoating was getting blown out of the crevises, so I had to follow up with paint.

[foghorn]

very nice shot there keith. That kind of remndss me asking about some chrome work years ago when they said they wouldnt garuenty it in the cracks and corners.



Foggy

[jbanks]

Very interesting. I would have thought some of the bed liners like Rhino line or Line-X would get a nod or two.

I like the idea of POR-15. I can do that myself and not have to take it to someone. It will stand up to abuse like scratchs and scrapes and all? I guess if it does get scratched I can just apply some more.

[Big D's 69]

The only problem with any type of bedliner is it is so thick that you would have to spend a lot of time on bolts and holes to get a socket on or a bolt back through.

[Supermike]

I read in another thread you could apply the por 15 over light rust, so could you hypothetically just powerwash the underside and then lay on a crawler and slide up under there and apply the por 15? Or do you need to do a full body off restore?

[Big D's 69]

I read in another thread you could apply the por 15 over light rust, so could you hypothetically just powerwash the underside and then lay on a crawler and slide up under there and apply the por 15? Or do you need to do a full body off restore?

Yeah you can do that, but it is best to sand blast and then apply it.

[floyd67]

i used line-x the stuff is great with no problems it helps that i know the line-x dealer

[MadMaxetc]

POR-15 is great stuff and is as hard as a rock!

If you want to know more just do a forum search for it. I know it has come up more than once.

Also check out there site.

Don't use it on springs, it is not made to flex that much, a good coat of paint will work for them.

[averagef250]

POR15 is tough stuff, but I used it once and did not like it at all. You are not supposed to put it over sandblasted or correctly prepped steel. It likes to go over roughed up rusty steel. Its something to do with how it bonds to the metal. It is also difficult to clean up and very hard to scuff up and overcoat, you don't have to overcoat it, but the stuff is really glossy, I hate the gloss chassis look myself.

Powdercoat is pretty brittle. Everything chips and when powdercoat chips you can't very easily touch it up. Also, as kieth experienced, there are nook and cranny issues with it.

Myself, I prefer urathane equipment enamel. The best stuff I've found is cloverdale's clovathane. I've had it on my tilt deck car trailer for 8 years, it's taken some serious abuse. The trailer's easily hauled 400K pounds of cars, trucks, scrap, machinery, new steel and lumber since painted and it still looks great. I've burned out on the paint to the point of tires melting and the paint's still there.

I use cummins low gloss black clovathane for chassis paint over thier epoxy primer/sealer. It really looks sharp and holds up excellent.

[FORDification]

Actually, POR-15 is extremely flexible! A while back I poured some into a Tupperware dish when brushing it on, and when I was done I just set the dish aside to dry. Once it was dry, I could peel the leftover out of the dish, since it wouldn't stick to the plastic...and I could wad it up into a ball, twist it, etc....and it didn't break or crack. The tiny bit of flexing the springs will subject it to is nothing.

My front springs are powdercoated, but my rear leafs are coated with POR-15.

[Jake11]

Epoxy

You can spray it with a gun.