Question:

I have 2 stainless brush bumper guards, that I want to apply a black coating on. I need the finish to be thick and rubbery to deflect road stones, sand, normal road particles that put chips in urethane paint. It needs to be a similar to a basketball type rubber as in flexibility. I worked in the marine industry and always used 3m 5200 adhesive/sealant polyurethane caulk that cured usually in 10 hrs to a nice flexible semi-stiff product. They don’t make it in a spray on product. If they did I would already have ordered it.

I looked at your $109.00 black bedliner kit. I have an adjustable shutz gun and was going to user raptor liner, but i found out it was urethane, not a polyurethane rubber type liner. I did find a product: durabak but once the can is opened it has to be used within 3 to 5 hrs. before it activates. They don’t use any activator for curing it just thin with xylene and spray. I’m not paying line x their over price lining just to coat my guards. I didn’t pay as much for the guards as line x wants to spray them.

I have sprayed cars, boats, motorcycles, outdoor equip all my life. but i never needed to step into like a stone guard rubber paint chip protectant, so I’m researching my options and the best product that meets my requirements. I didn’t want polished stainless, but the company was out of black and on long back order, so i decided to give it a try doing my own method, and try to find a rubber type no abrasive coating. They don’t need any grit, just a protective coating in black. I have found plasti dip spray, and they sell a permanent primer spray that applies first so the plasti dip wont peel off, but it only comes in spray cans I believe. Hopefully you can assist me. Thanks.

Answer: 

Based on your observations, the products we would recommend would first of all be our Diamondback Ultra Liner. We could also put together a smaller kit, or save a bit of money by eliminating the Poly Powder since you would find it difficult to spray with a Shutz type gun without thinning already. The Poly Powder allows you to thicken, and saves a bit of money normally by extending your volume at a lower cost than the liquids, but a texture hopper would really be needed for a thick consistency product such as this. This product is a 2 part 1:1 coating, and is more along the epoxy line, but very flexible and durable. It includes a number of additives along with Kevlar to provide not only excellent elasticity, but superb abrasion resistance. This product comes in black only.

The second product we would recommend is out DB-1081, which is a commercial market product and is not on our DIY store. We usually only market this to professionals, but could probably put together a small package for you. This is a 2 part, 4:1 polyurea product with 1000% elongation, so it is very rubbery. Typical uses include any surface which requires extreme flexibility with a tough and durable coating. It only markets in a medium shade of grey, but we could provide some additional black pigments to make it a darker shade of grey. By default, it is about the consistency of a thick latex paint, so you could thicken a bit with the Poly Powder for thicker individual coats.
Either product would self-level, so the texture if desired is done as a texture coat. You would first apply the thick overall coating. After the base coat is somewhat cured and thumbprint tacky or drier, you would spray a splatter coat only. The splatters are what cause the texture.

NOTE: Any coating is designed primarily to provide a durable coating on a paintable surface. While these coatings have good adhesion, challenging surfaces such as stainless should ALWAYS be properly prepared and primed first. The primary function of stainless is to resist being contaminated by the elements, and that includes any paint or coating not designed to work specifically on stainless.

If you have additional questions, feel free to get in touch directly by simply replying to this email. You can also enter extension 902 at any time from our main greeting on 855-545-4900.