Thread: Galvanising an ARB bullbar. Is it possible to get a decent finish?

Originally Posted by scarry

Sorry,but the paint on my colour matched ARB bar on the D4,after 8 yrs is still in fantastic condition,as good as new.Maybe i was lucky,i did know a guy at ARB at the time,and got it at a well discounted price.

But being white it does show every bug mark,and is a PITA to keep clean.I won't get a white one again.

But the ARB bar on the Deefer in my sig,was not colour matched to the vehicle,and both it,the tow bar and roof rack,all ARB,were very poorly powder coated and we had them redone by Ben,i think his name is, at APT.That was quite a few years ago,and the coating is still perfect.

The son has recently had an Ironman bar fitted to his LC 76,and it seems reasonable well coated,i suppose time will tell.

Oh,and the galvanising on the Series1 bumper is great,after 60 plus yrs,including quite a few on Fraser island.......

There are two main commercial ways that galvanising is applied to steel in Australia.
hot dipping ...where you sink the article into a molten bath of the plating and then "drip cool" it by removing it to get the coverage you will pay for ...usually it's costed by weight.
the finish is ALWAYS described as rough.

Otherwise there is electroplating ( as on the series Landrover trim etc) roadside posts etc that finishes very smooth ( and often thinner in coating).

if you are painting the dipping process it's no problem to get a smooth finish just proceed as you would painting a body panel and use fillers and smoothing ( sanding ) technology etc.
cheers

Originally Posted by Bigpete

Otherwise there is electroplating ( as on the series Landrover trim etc) roadside posts etc that finishes very smooth ( and often thinner in coating).

I'm sure the original Series trim was hot dipped hence many parts are still good after 60+ years.



Colin