Powder coating or paint for a frame?
For frames, suspension, and hardware, powder coating is usually the better choice. It is applied as a dry electrostatic film and cured into a thick, uniform layer that resists chipping from road debris and stands up to fasteners being torqued against it. Paint is the right answer for body panels, where color matching, blending, metallic and pearl effects, and repairability matter more than impact resistance. Many builds use both: powder on the structure, paint on the body.
Can powder coating be applied over old finish?
No. Parts have to be stripped to clean, sound metal. Coating over existing paint, rust, or oil residue causes adhesion failure and bubbling during cure.
What can't be powder coated?
Anything that cannot tolerate oven cure temperatures — assemblies with rubber bushings, seals, bearings, wiring, or plastics have to be disassembled first. Very large assemblies are limited by oven capacity.
Is powder coating repairable?
Damaged areas are typically repaired by stripping and recoating the part rather than spot-touching, because a cured powder film does not blend the way paint does.
