Powder coating lifetime

[nelmo]

So how long can I expect my powder coated chassis to stay rust-free? 

I've read a few stories of people having to basically rebuild their cars because the powder coating started to flake off and rust set in. Is there anything I can do now to prolong its life? 

 

[brumster]

Early Zero's are pretty bad, the powder coating wasn't up to scratch. Mine is showing rust already (I bought it off ebay as an unstarted project, so it's an old chassis in that sense even though it was only put on the road 2 years ago, at which point it was all fine bar some blemishing on the roll-over hoop). I'm fine with it; GBS told me as much, they advised I got it stripped and re-powder-coated as the early cars were known to be bad. I chose not to, it defeated the point of getting the chassis cheap and would have made more sense to buy a brand new one!

[IanS]

Not powder coating I know but a lot of space frame failures are due to  rusting from the inside.

Water gets in and the rust starts and does not show until it is all the way through.

 

[nelmo]

5 hours ago, brumster said:

Early Zero's are pretty bad, the powder coating wasn't up to scratch. Mine is showing rust already (I bought it off ebay as an unstarted project, so it's an old chassis in that sense even though it was only put on the road 2 years ago, at which point it was all fine bar some blemishing on the roll-over hoop). I'm fine with it; GBS told me as much, they advised I got it stripped and re-powder-coated as the early cars were known to be bad. I chose not to, it defeated the point of getting the chassis cheap and would have made more sense to buy a brand new one!

Do you know what is meant by 'early' - bought mine from GBS in 2015...

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by nelmo

[brumster]

No, before that, I'm trying to remember when mine was but it was an early chassis before the arched rear wing chassis tubes and the supporting plate for the top rearward wishbone at the front (amongst many other things). Fairly sure it was 2010/2011.

[David S]

I bought my kit December 2010 and on the road 2012 and it seems to be holding up OK.  I may have been in at the start of the better powder coating process.

[MarkBzero]

I got mine in 2012 and it was starting to bubble before I finished building. A powder coating company said it was down to poor preparation.