E-coated aftermarket replacement panels

[Bob Hollinshead]

I had some aftermarket wheelhouses to prep yesterday, first glance the E-coating looked OK, did a solvent test and found no affect, then I just touched the surface with a wire wheel- the stuff came off like nothing. I always strip the E-coat off of aftermarket parts when doing resto work but these parts were for my beater yard truck so I thought maybe I'd just scuff and shoot-that would have been a big mistake. There was rust found in numerous areas under the E-coat, the coating was barely holding on in a couple of tighter places where it hadn't been cleaned properly. A wire wheel made quick work of this and allowed me to see just how weak the coating was and where the rust was coated over, I'll sandblast and epoxy prime them today-job done right. I know a lot of people just scuff and shoot these replacement parts but not me, trusting Taiwan to do the job right isn't worth the chance IMO.

 

[Chad.S]

On production work i've never striped the E-Coat. but this makes me wonder.. That being said they don't pay enough to strip on the general production job.. Sounds like another task to add to the no charge list. ughh.

 

[Barry]

Bob, over the last ten years, in an effort to save money, it has gotten worse as far as quality.
I was called in to a plant about 4 years ago for a high quality manufacturer and this plant did the cradles and other suspension parts.
Every 500 parts they check a salt spray test for quality control at a 13% salt rate and hoped for 250 hours.
Let see we use 33% and shoot for thousand++. Could not help them, price wise for sure.

Hardest call I get is on a new e coated panel, "Do I sand and re-coat or do I strip?"

 

[Bob Hollinshead]

Hardest call I get is on a new e coated panel, "Do I sand and re-coat or do I strip?"

Tough to answer for sure, sometimes the coating looks good but isn't. With the offshore sheetmetal I think it's always been a problem, I never remember seeing issues with oem replacement parts.

 

[Hotbo]

i was and am reluctant to jump into this thread,lol!
we use Aftermarket sheet metal and parts all the time.have to in our collision work.

we have used them since early 90s.

we have never ever stripped the e-coat off of any of the product.

we scuff seal and shoot all parts and let them ride.does not mean its the best but(i am knocking on wood,lol!)since my dad opened these doors where we live in 81 we have had maybe 6 vehicles ever peel or to some extent paint fail.
in those cases it was the clear that let loose after a 5-6 year period(Dupont) and they were years ago(10 or more).

that is not to say that on down the road something did not take place?we live in a small location where i would say 75 percent of the vehicles we work on are customers that keep there vehicles for some time and have collision repairs done by us over and over.so we get to see our work and i generally keep a record of what parts where used.

i don't see much happening with the repairs we do other than the obvious shrinkage in Body repair,ect.

the most thing i have had problems with is aftermarket bumper covers not holding there paint well due to Rock chips,dirt roads ect.(most problems were when we used PPG Deltron and i wasn't using Activator in it(for a 8 year period)plus i personally think there High end Sealer was junk.

none of this means much other than i will continue to do repairs the way we always have and the way it has worked for us.

does this mean the e-coat is junk? Probably but we cant sand everything Bare and Epoxy and go this route as time is money and we dont get paid to do this.

we use mainly Capa certified parts,but in the instances where its low end work we get what they call Value line parts and i can tell u that the E-coat on these Parts is Different every time!it gums up and acts way Weird?

do i wish we could use OEM components 100 percent of the time Hell Yes!.

just my thoughts

Travis.

 

[Barry]

Travis,
I think you are doing what 99% of the normal bodyshops do daily throughout the country, it just would not be piratical to strip a new replacement fender when the insurance company is barley paying you enough to R&R. Even if one did come back, you would be further ahead labor wise to fix and grin and bare it, then the labor it would take to strip every new panel that comes in.

Where the tough decision comes in, is on restorations, if I had to guess, I would say from the shops I talk to, probably 80-90% start from bare metal.