I bought some raw steel shackle parts for the Jeep and thought to go the extra mile and get them coated for rust prevention vs the normal rattle can job. I prepped them all nice and dropped them off at local zinc galvanizing place. Got them back today and look like shit! Bumpy, drippy, horrible uneven texture. They gave my parts a STD! So is this normal? I ground down the big drips and will paint them to hide the ugly.
Does galvanizing usually look like sh!t?
- Thread starter Jay5.9L
- Start date
- Location
- Draper, UT
It can look pretty chunky, but to my untrained eye it looks like the mass of the parts made the zinc cool really rapidly and not flow out much.
Can any of it be flaked off ?
Can any of it be flaked off ?
D
Deleted member 12904
Guest
I've had some pipe gone for satellite dishes. I was unimpressed also and went back to powder coating
Tonkaman
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Jordan
Most galvanized parts I get at work have to be filed down a little bit. They all have wrinkles and orange peel a bit too. Yours look a little extra rough, but they would never look pretty
Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
It's really hard to find a good plater here in Salt Lake. Galvanizing doesn't have to look like that, and shouldn't have been let out of the building. Grrr.
- Location
- Richfield, UT.
Should have have them chrome plated yo. Can you say bling bling. 
ID Bronco
Registered User
- Location
- Idaho Falls, ID
I have a swing set that's galvanized and it looks crappy too.
When I pick them up I was actually shocked how bad they looked. I asked if the big drips could be ground off. The guy was kinda grumpy and said sure. Took them and half ass ground off 3 of the drips (all 8 shackle plate and 2 of the 4 tubed had huge drips).
Some sanding and some paint and I will hide the ugly lol
Some sanding and some paint and I will hide the ugly lol
XJEEPER
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland Springs
If you wanted a smooth, rust-inhibiting non-paint finish, anodizing would have been a better option.
http://pilkingtonmetalfinishing.com/
http://pilkingtonmetalfinishing.com/
Tonkaman
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Jordan
After you file off the big runs you can always ‘cold galvanize’ them. It looks just like a rattle can of paint, but it’s galvanizing. It works really well, but the color will be a little bit off.
The_Lobbster
Well-Known Member
Galvanize always looks like crap. You should have got it zinc plated instead. Would last longer and look better.
Galvanizing will always be thicker/goopier than zinc plating. They're both zinc, just applied different ways. Sometimes galv can look pretty good. Plated zinc will not last anywhere near as long as galvanizing though, there just isn't the same amount of zinc applied.
Pilkington or Advance Metal Coatings (in North Salt Lake) used to both be pretty good quality when I worked for a defense contractor and mechanical engineering form were both good. There's another company Cache Valley Plating in Logan that used to do good quality with anodizing, zinc, black phosphate, chrome, and a few other coatings for different prices and good quality.