Powdercoating the Frame on a 2011
 

Has anybody tried this yet? The paint on my frame is sad, its popping and peeling off pretty badly and i was going to look into powdercoat. Any ideas on how much it would cost?

Mine was $150.

I have just had my 05 frame and swingarm done. Go around all the holes (head stock etc) with a hobby knife, re tap all of the threads, grind down the inside of the frame where the swingarm fits and most importantly grind down for earth (ground).

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...rebuild015.jpg


http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...rebuild035.jpg

My 2011 looks like they painted over dirty, oily steel, and then sat it on a box while it was still wet. There is no paint left on the bottom of my frame at all. I've seen better paint jobs on Chinese toys.

Some '11s had issues with paint, poor prep it looks like from the one I saw. I've seen Chevys and Dodges like that too! I had my '03(nickel frame) powdercoated, turned out great. I went over the frame and cleaned off any weld spatter with a chisel. I wiped it down with solvent, washed it with Simple Green, and dried it off/out by placing it on my wood stove. VERY important to get all moisture and crap out of the frame tubing so it does not blow out when heated in their oven. Any threaded holes I used sacrificial bolts, and washers on the inside engine mounts. I plugged the steerring head with large high temp rubber stoppers. The powder coater chose to bead blast the nickel surface to remove anything that might peel later.

Thanks for the pointers gmp, using old bolts and washers is a great idea. What do you guys think semi gloss black on a 11??? I wish i could photoshop a pic of my bike w that color but i dont have a computer right now. Repowdercoating the swingarm is prob a good idea too while im at it.

I don't think I would coat the swingarm....just my .02....... if that gets dinged up then the shinny aluminum will be exposed, then it will look like black rims after a ride through a rock garden. I thought the newer bikes had a swingarm cover / protector on them?

FYI, my nickel coated frame is still holding up great! Very little rust after all the abuse!

Black would look sweet and you'd have the option to go with any color with graphics.

I did the same thing with sacrificial bolts and didn't have to do any thread clean-up. I used some big washers and a long bolt to block off the steering head bearings. I've got an older model that was originally gray which I changed to gloss black. I thought about going to the new red color but wanted to be able to do touch-ups with spray paint if I ever needed to do any repairs and didn't want to deal with finding paint to match whatever red it got powercoated. Good thing too, I broke a footpeg mount a few months back and was able to touch up the black with spray paint after welding it and it's not noticeable.

Yea i thought the black would look good too, the swingarm has silver showing through now so i bet powdercoat would hold up just as good as whatever they put on from the factory( i think its PC too). Would a piece of allthread w big washers be a good way to cap off the steering head? I heard aluminum foil being used but im not sure how it would keep PC off the races or surfaces the races sit in.