Topic: Powder Coating vs. painting frame

[quidger]

CB550 - I am trying to decide whether to paint or have my frame powder coated.

Last winter I restored a Honda S90 and I had the frame powder coated. The frame is used as a ground for the rear tail and brake lights. After the frame was powder coated the finish was too dense for the frame to act as a ground so I had to run a new ground for the tail and brake lights.

Do you think I will have an issue on the 550 frame with grounding after powder coating. I realize the S90 with the frame acting as the actual ground is a different animal than the CB550 but I would like to know if any one else has had an experience with powder coating and grounding issues.

Thanks.

[mystic_1]

Yes, you'll have to clean off any coating, paint or powdercoat, from all the frame ground points.  There's usually a main ground from the harness, the negative battery cable, a ground near the coils, and the engine mount points.

mystic_1

[greasy j]

Yes, you'll have to clean off any coating, paint or powdercoat, from all the frame ground points.  There's usually a main ground from the harness, the negative battery cable, a ground near the coils, and the engine mount points.

mystic_1

just wondering, do you usually mask these areas first, or use solvent to get a clean spot where you need after. and won't that clean spot start to rust? it seems like you should be able to clean it off then maybe sponge in a thin coat or rustoleum then ground? or would that prevent grounding?

[mcuozzo]

I would mask the grounding points off when powdercoating.  They make masking tapes in a bunch of different sized disks that would probably work well in this situation.  I just think grinding after the fact will be tougher to be so precise and will lead to the possibility of rust forming under the edges where you ground off the powdercoating.

[onesickrace]

or if you coat it, you could always use a flap disc on an angle grinder to knock it off... ive powder coated several frames and very much so prefer coat to paint.  paint will chip easily with stones from the freeway, uncleaned bug guts might have some effect as well... with the coat theres no clean up necessary... i mean your bike was meant to be ridden, right? 

[mystic_1]

You want bare metal-to-metal contact at all those points, nothing in between.  Smear on some dialetric grease after assembly to prevent corrosion, or maybe liquid electric tape or something similar if your environment is harsh (near ocean, etc)

mystic_1

[BobbyR]

Neither Powder Coat or Paint will allow a ground through them. If you want to save money and make touch ups easier, spray the frame with Rustoleum Enamel. Costs a lot less. If you remove whatever coating you use, you can shoot some clearcoat over it after you have made the connections.

[w1sa]

I recently bared a ground patch thru powder coat for the battery earth and applied di-electric grease to the bare metal before connecting the battery ground lead and a ground lead from the tail section.....................I havn't had a problem...

[mcuozzo]

Yes paint is easier to touch up.  But powder coating will hardly ever require touching up.  It's much harder to chip than paint.  All modern motorcycle frames are powder coated for a reason.

[greasy j]

You want bare metal-to-metal contact at all those points, nothing in between.  Smear on some dialetric grease after assembly to prevent corrosion, or maybe liquid electric tape or something similar if your environment is harsh (near ocean, etc)

mystic_1

ok, so the grease protects those areas.

I think if you do have to create a bare spot after the fact it would be a lot safer to do so with a q tip and solvent than a flap disc or whatnot. imho

[754]

Consider this,
  On 77/78 750 the ground strap location was changed to go on the moveable engine bracket.. actually between engine and bracket.
 Moving your ground strap location, may eliminate the need for messing up your frame coating/paint. Might look cleaner too.

[delay pedal]

my frame is painted and brake fluid and brake cleaner makes the paint come off

[XN]

Just mark the frame for the coater where the ground points are and they will tape them off for you, if not find a new coater  If they mess up you can also easily remove it with a dremel tool

[toycollector10]

I've never understood the craze for powdercoat.

It doesn't look right for a start. All the detail on the welds and joins is lost and the frame looks completely formless. Just too, too perfect for a mass-produced bike, built to a price with planned obsolescence in mind.

I couldn't care less about a few stone chips. A bike is never going to look 100 percent if it's riden, as it should be.

Old Soichiro Honda would be cracking the top off another one if he was alive today. I don't think he would have ever imagined people would still be riding around on his 1960's and 1970's bikes nearly 50 years down the track. And valuing them the way we do. The whole scene is a credit to him and his philosophy regarding the perfect motorcycle.

So the short answer is: I suggest you paint the frame if it's a restoration. And if its a chop, cafe, bobber project or other, do whatever you like.

[754]

+1, I dont even see how you can call it restoration if you use a major process, that was not even used on the original.. where do you draw the line?

 now if you are calling it a mildly customized resto or a modernized resto, then  at least you are calling it what it is..
 ..not like any shortage of paint in the world..

 In the long run, on a high end resto, I think it is not even worth it.. Some buyers wont have it, or will pull it off the final price.. lets see, strip & repaint 400.00 & up.. Re & Re ing the frame.. ooohh, now that is going to hurt...and cost..

 I think the time is coming where it will majorly hurt the value of a resto..

[BobbyR]

The car restorers around here have walked away from powdercoat afdter their clients complained about peeling and chip repair. They are using a two part POR which is expensive, or Black Rustoleum ENAMEL which is inexpensive, chemical resistant, and easy to repair. You could probably do a frame with Rustoleum for $20.

[Blackhorse]

Permatex Gasket Remover works great on removing powdercoat. Used it all the time during BMW restorations. Just apply a little to a Q-tip and dab where you want to soften and remove the powdercoat . It rarely requires more than one application. However, I do agree that if you can mask off the area before powdercoating that would be the bestway to go.

[lone*X]

The factory paint on my 1975 held up dang well for 33 years before the full tear down.  Does anyone know what the original frame enamel was?  Can we duplicate the original paint?

[BobbyR]

The factory paint on my 1975 held up dang well for 33 years before the full tear down.  Does anyone know what the original frame enamel was?  Can we duplicate the original paint?

You can't use the original paint, it had lead in it. What people are doing is using Rustoluem Enamel which is deep black and glossy and cheap. Or the two part POR paints which are deep black glossy and expensive. The POR is more chip resistant for the undersides and wheelwells of cars. Both can be touched up easily.

[Simpson]

I've got two powder coated vintage bikes in the garage.
To have it properly grounded, the original areas of where grounded had to be stripped.
I stripped it with carb cleaner. To me there was no difference in grounding between paint or powder coat.

I'll try not to engage in the pro/cons of each because you didn't ask that question.
I'd say you already know that a 10 dollar paint job will most certainly look like a 10 dollar paint job.

[BobbyR]

Consider this,
  On 77/78 750 the ground strap location was changed to go on the moveable engine bracket.. actually between engine and bracket.
 Moving your ground strap location, may eliminate the need for messing up your frame coating/paint. Might look cleaner too.

Whatever you use to coat the frame, you may want to follw this advice.

[754]

FWIW, powder often comes off with a wire wheel, I would not use chemicals to clean off an are that I could buff off, or blocksand, or do with a file..

[mystic_1]

Consider this,
  On 77/78 750 the ground strap location was changed to go on the moveable engine bracket.. actually between engine and bracket.
 Moving your ground strap location, may eliminate the need for messing up your frame coating/paint. Might look cleaner too.

Whatever you use to coat the frame, you may want to follw this advice.

So, we're talking about the upper rear right motor mount, with the acute triangular mounting plate?  Wouldn't putting the ground strap between the plate and the motor throw off the alignment of the plate?  Were the later mount plates changed to accommodate this?  I certainly like the idea of tucking the negative battery cable more out of the way.

mystic_1

[ColinMc]

I like paint...because i'm a painter so labor is free, and paint is heavily discounted lol. Although I did break down and have my wheel spokes powerdercoated because I was too lazy to paint them and a local powdercoater gave me a killer deal.

[754]

Yes ground strap goes against engine, then the mount fits on, externally on the 77/78.

 On a custom bike, it would look cleaner to not have ground strap sticking out over the sprocket cover, JMO..