Bri-Mar Trailer Paint Falling Off

[troyandcarol]

I purchased a new Bri-Mar EH 20 Equipment Hauler trailer that the paint is falling of off and the tires will not stay aired up. It has less than 300 miles on it. The trailer sits inside a covered barn and is rusting where the paint has come off. I contacted the factory about this and they refuse to respond. The trailer was supposed to be 撤owder Coated? This was a selling point for me because I have seen so many trailers that were rusted out after only a few years. I guess my trailer will be one of those also. I could have bought a comparable trailer for $2000 less that wasn稚 powder coated. In retrospect I should have bought one of the other trailers and put the money I saved toward sandblasting and painting it in a couple of years.

Anyone else having this problem ?

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have been in the trailer business for 20 plus years as a hobby job. I have only dealt with 1 Bri-Mar trailer and was not overly impressed. I ordered it on price for my uncle. Its a 14' dump, bumper pull, with a 14,000# load rating. I got it about 5 years ago for him for around $3800 if I remember right.

Anyway the paint chipped in the first year and started to rust. I told him to keep on it with a wire brush and a can of black spray paint. It still looks relatively good because of this. He has had not tire issues, well kind of. I borrowed it when it was about 6 months old and nearly had the drives side rear tire come off. Ended up being no cotter pin in the castle nut that holds the wheel hub on. I would guess it had about 400 miles on it at that point. Luckily I caught it because at the time I had 11,000# of coal on it plus the weight of the trailer going 75mph for 3 hours down the highway on a 300 mile trip.

He also had issues with the pump/dump setup on it. I am not 100% sure what that was but he was able to fix it himself with the help of a family friend.

Good luck and welcome to the world of trailers.

Chris

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have a 2004 or 5 is it? Bri Mar. Given it's age and having been outside, I would say the paint is actually in pretty good shape. Sounds like yours had poor prep or something. I got it used at a good price else I would probably bought another brand that I was more familiar with.

The trailer is serving me just fine but if I was to buy new, it would be another brand. That Bri-Mar is not working with you is not uncommon these days.

I would remove the tires, pump them up and submerse them in water or have a tire shop do it for you. Maybe it is just something simple as bad valves.

IMHO, powder coating is a somewhat enviromentally cost effective painting process. I don't see it as being better at holding up than spraying properly prepared metal. It's been my experiance that touching it up is only a short term solution. The area where you stop sanding and then paint will continue to break down over time.

 

[Skyco]

IMHO, powder coating is a somewhat enviromentally cost effective painting process. I don't see it as being better at holding up than spraying properly prepared metal. It's been my experiance that touching it up is only a short term solution. The area where you stop sanding and then paint will continue to break down over time.

I agree...powder coating in outdoor applications does not hold up well in my experience. I have a small Snow Bear trailer that was powder coated, most of it fell off in sheets over the years.
I have a small ATV trailer that appears to be powder coated, everywhere it gets nicked or scratched the stuff starts peeling off.
My painted trailers, 6 of them right now, all hold up fine, sure they get knicked but that seems to be the end of it, the nick itself may rust but it doesn't spread like it does with powder coating.
Given a choice I'd go with painted every time.

 

[Reg]

Ahh,
The "Buy American made for QUALITY" topic.
Are any Chinese trailers available, say for 10 or 20% less ?
(-:

 

[psj12]

I think the issue with powder coating outdoor equipmet is that no primer is used. Think of it as melted plastic over metal. Once it is chipped corrosion creeps unde the sheet and breaks what little adhesion there is and large portions come off quickly. Additionally if unclean metal is used or the metal is stored outside prior to use the plastic will never really bond with the metal.

I don't think the trailer companys are putting a lot of money into metal prep or corrosion resistance. I have looked at the under side of trailers at a couple of dealers locally and could see unpainted and thinly painted areas. They didn't even turn the frames over to paint them. it is a very competitive nmarket.

 

[techwrtr2]

We've had a 10k Bri-Mar bumper pull dumper for 7 years now? I have seen the paint flaking, all at ponts where it either gets scratched or ends of panels. I tend to agree that the coating leave sooemthing to be desired.

I haven't noticed other quality control issues with it. Only time I've had problems with the pump system were my own fault (managed to cut the control lines once) and occasionally run the battery down. It trails very well and doesn't wince when filled to capacity.

Maybe I don't work it hard enough?

 

[jimmysisson]

Same problems with a Cam 12' dumper here, paint started going year 2. Looked like no primer. We'd have paid to have them make it better, honest!
Jim

 

[nuffer460]

I have a friend just down the road. His dump trailer has the same powder coat, not sicking issue. I have several years in automotive painting. So, this intrested me allot. Looking at the whole trailer. The powder coating is very smooth. Powder coating is still like paint. It needs a tooth to hold on to. It really looks like the trailer was mig welded with nothing to clean up. Slag, etc. So they just wiped it down, and sent it to powder coating. I have a freind that does powder coating. He tells me that blasting of the metal is a must for powder coating to adhere properly. My freinds trailer was clearly never blasted.:confused2: