Applied CORRECTLY, powder coat is extremely durable. Unfortunately, a lot of it gets a bad reputation because of the people trying to do it at home in their Easy Bake oven. Just like with paint, proper prep is critical. Every thing that I have sent for coating I dressed the sharp edges of brackets, chamfered bolt holes, and if possible SAND blasted (not bead blasted - too smooth) for good adhesion. (which is also needed for a proper coat of paint!) I have parts that are over 15 yrs old and with a quick wipe down look new. I also had the bottom of the box let loose on a freshly coated batch of pulleys, bkts, etc. hit the concrete floor - and NOT ONE CHIP. It's just like with paint - there are HVLP jobs and then there are rattle can jobs.

Well sounds like you may have some professional experience with this. I think the poster wants to know if the extra money is worth it to have parts powder coated. I know a couple guys quoted some prices, but around here powder coating is fairly expensive. I think a couple guys were wanting like $175-$250 to powder coat a single K frame. And on top of that they seemed to indicate getting other colors or finishes were extra costs and would be a time delay concern because they only ran color batches at a time. So even though the poster may not be doing the work himself if he went the powder coat route, there may be a long delay in getting it all done. So for the money is it really worth it. A guy at home to could a fairly nice job with quality paint and probably get a good hard finish in the color he wants.

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I can restore any powder just like you can any paint

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Talk is cheap! So much for the damage, let's see the repairs !!!

I paint for a living and still choose properly done powdercoating over paint, it's way more durable,as the post above proves it well.

in most cases it's actually cheaper to powdercoat than paint,I mean custom paint, not rattle-can paint

Geez, I just use Rustoleum's "Hammered" Paint in their various colors to do different suspension parts and it looks and works great I think. Alot cheaper too since I don't have the money for a full blown trailer queen resto. And if it starts chipping or anything, just clean it and re-spray, can't even tell.

For fabricated parts, powder-coating is cheaper, easier, and more rust resistant than most paint.

I touch up semi-gloss powder-coat on a fairly regular basis. I feather edge with a DA sander and spot with semi-gloss paint.

Just like paint, surface preparation is the key to good adhesion.

I think the one comment made and overlooked is about coating failure on the hard/sharp edge of 1/8" items. Almost all coatings will fail under those conditions. Paint, plating does not build on a sharp corner well. Deburring/fine grinding the edges helps a lot. Sandblasting helps a little bit. Once a base metal is open to moisture, every coating will begin to fail except maybe galvanizing. I like the deburring, then plating, then powder coating plan, but a 2 part urethane with a good primer is pretty durable.

Lots of good discussion here, but there are 3 or 4 basic issues that need to be understood. The edge failure mentioned early in the posting is typically due to one of two reasons: if the parts were stamped, the sharp edge remains and unless it's been blasted or otherwise leveled out, will only maintain a very light coating of powder. When the powder gets beyond the 'gel' state curing the cure cycle it starts to flow in order to create the desired finish and gloss. Flow agents are varied depending on how smooth/shiney the final product is designed to be. When the powder flows, it tends to leave the sharp edge and because you're left with such a thin coating, many times no coating there, you get an early rust failure.

The second reason is due to what's calle laser edge. If the laser shielding gas used to cut out parts is set up 'on the cheap' a carbon build up is left along the cut surface. The powder sticks to this laser edge just fine, but any impact causes the laser edge to break free from the parent metal. The result looks like a paint failure, but it's not.

Prep is vital. A good shop with use a multi stage pretreatment system even after sand blasting. The addition of an iron phosphate conversion coating adds to rust resistance and helps paint adhesion.
They used to use zinc phosphate which worked great but the EPA didn't like the heavy metals. Some locales have outlawed iron phosphates too because of sewage treatment plant concerns.

Chemical reistance can be greatly improved by using an epoxy powder coating. Other chemistries are optimized for UV resistance, ease of application, improved edge coverage, etc. Like everything in life, there are tradeoffs.

The cure cycle is very important. As mentioned elsewhere in this post the ramp up time and dwell time is important to create the desired end result. It also helps to have some air movement in the cure oven to remove any organics given off during the cure cycle.

You can touch up scratches and other damage in finished powder, but it isn't as straightforward as liquid on liquid because the touch up paint won't soak in to the powder. You need to rough up the surface some, usually with a scotbrite pad and may want to try using an adhesion promoter as well. The tough part is blending in the edges of the sprayed area.

We have a 50,000 sq foot powder coating facility but also cater to walk in business. Spend a fair amount of time with customers to make sure they know what their options and trade offs are. Even with that there's always one who apparently lost their common sense; like the Harley guy for whom we painted all his engine covers in a gray wrinkle and came back mad because they discolored when he sprayed oven cleaner on a hot engine.

I have powder coated my suspension parts in my garage with very good luck. I work in a tool and die shop, so I have access to a bead blaster and plenty of cleaning solvents. I'm not a pro, but trial and error have made me realize that prep is the key to it all. I had to rework some parts because I simply touched them with my bare hand after prepping them. Definitely must wear gloves and be careful of any type of contaminant. My car is driven regularly and I have not had any problems with any part that was powder coated. This includes almost everything from the K-frame to the rear end. I also used it to my steering column and some of the engine components.