Seeing as my car is likely to be coming apart in the next few weeks for repaint (and roof repairs - see thread in Body and Paint ), I am putting some thought into tidying up the suspension and drivetrain (I'm also going to switch over to poly bushings all round).

As far as refinishing the suspension and brake assemblies and shafts is concerned, my thinking at the moment is to either go down the POR-15 or Hammerite routes (for those of you in the US, Hammerite is the main UK brand of anti-rust metal paints and is widely used for coating car undercarriages, chassis etc.). However, my question is about refinishing the springs themselves. What approaches have people used? Obviously the finish has to be hard-wearing and also flexible. Is powder-coating the best route or has anybody used paint effectively?

Hi RichieP,

Perhaps Nissan used paint effectively depending on how you look at it. If you clean your parts back down to bare metal, powder coating seems to be the prefered finish for ease of cleaning and durability. I personally do not like POR types of encapsulate products. I'm not planning for a daily driver and expect to paint all my components - simple, easy, cheap.

I am going to use por15 on my suspension parts its surprisingly flexible stuff yet very hard, remember you have to tap all the threaded holes that get paint in them.

I like the hammer tone finish the best, because it hides minor imperfections.

I have been looking for a supplier that carries Hammerite in Canada for a very long time. A paint retailer told me that all the Hammerite products where pulled from Canada. It had something to do with a toxic/controlled chemical in the paint. She had one can left but it was that old Avocado colour that everything had back in the 60's. :sick: Doe's anybody know about this chemical?

I tried the Krylon hammertone paint on my engine stand adaptor plate.

It looked awsome when I sprayed it, but when I went to take it down the next day the paint had started to flow before it dried so there was a runny texture on the plate. No I didn't over spray it.