Trailer Paint

[Quickdraw]

Why does every new trailer I look at look like it has just enough paint to cover the steel? Many are already rusting on the lot. Is this common everywhere else? I am looking at trailers that cost in the $6000 to $7000 range here in KY.

It very frustrating.

 

[DirtHauler]

Don't know but when I went shopping for my trailer, one of the first things I did was to look underneth to see if it was all painted or just the visable stuff. Most where not painted under and was bare steel!

The trailer I bought, about 3 1/2 years ago, is just now getting rust spots but only where I've chipped the paint. I only paid $3,000 for this one.

 

[wushaw]

My Bigtex has a pretty decent paint job, only rust where it has chipped...it is 4.5 yrs old.

 

[bigdad]

I'm dealing with that problem with my trailer right now. I won't mention the brand.......... YET(!) because I have a complaint submitted to the manufactuer through my dealer. My dealer is fifty miles a way and I have a feeling that IF they make the rusting problem right, I'm gonna spend some serious doe on gas just for transport. The frame is black and it might be just cheaper to buy a qt of rustoleum and forget it.

Mine rusted in several places (no chips) and the only time I had it on the road was when I drug it home in December of 07!!

If you're looking at a new trailer, I would recomend that you look real close at the paint and bring it up to the salesman with $$$$$ in his eyes.

Stay tuned. Big Dad

 

[QRTRHRS]

The trailer market is pretty competitive. Two places where manufacturers cut corners is in the paint and wireing.

I picked up a used 05' Bri-Mar dually tandem dump a couple of months ago. The paint on the frame looks pretty good. Having been used commercially, the dump body shows some rust in areas that have been dinged. I would consider it normal wear under use.

While I have no problems with the wireing, I do see things that I would have done "better" had I built the trailer myself.

I also have an 05' Sundowner 4 horse trailer with full height swing doors and a ramp that I picked up used but like new. The frame is coated with some kind of bed liner like material. Yet, there is a piece of steel box tubing under the rear ramp that has the coating peeling off and is rusty.

Sundowner has a warrenty covering such things but I have not looked into if it covers a used trailer or not.

 

[ray66v]

Why does every new trailer I look at look like it has just enough paint to cover the steel? Many are already rusting on the lot. Is this common everywhere else? I am looking at trailers that cost in the $6000 to $7000 range here in KY.

It very frustrating.

I spent my life in the auto body business and I can tell you why, the answer is very simple, doing it right, is very expensive. The one guy who does it right, will always be much more expensive than everyone else, and he won't sell much as a result.

Last year I gave my simple 4x8 flatbed trailer an overhaul. The material bill when I finished, not including the deck because thats wood, was over $600 , and was not for the top of the line paint. But, it was one notch down from the top.

4x8's usually sell for $800-$1200 dollars, see where there is no room to price that in.

Even on a $7000 trailer, the margin is the same.

We used to buy our boat trailers in the raw, and paint them our self's and even using Rustoleum as the top coat, it still was hundreds for all the stuff underneath.

They use the cheapest stuff they can get, usually a direct to metal, (thats right no etch, and no primer), so the prep, and the layer of protection is inadequate, and it corrodes very soon after completion.

 

[Quickdraw]

Has anyone ever bought one and had additional paint applied? I have considered doing this but I'm concerened that initial coating won't provide a good surface for new paint to stick to.

 

[ray66v]

There is nothing you can put on top of the "cheap" paint that will correct what is not done under it.

It would all have to come off, and you start from the beginning.

 

[Dallas_Lilly]

I bought a PJ trailer just over a year ago and it was powder coated. It has not rusted. I bent a piece of angle iron that hold the ramps in place and had to grind some of the coating off the frame to weld a new one in and that coating is tough! I would highly recommend getting a trailer that is powder coated.
The poster that made the comment about where they cut corners is correct, I have purchased several trailers for the place I work and I have yet to see a factory trailer that did not have at least one scotch lock. Yuck!!

 

[ray66v]

Powder coating has its advantages. It holds up very well to chipping. However, up here where we get winter, powder coated metal still rusts and the coating peels off. You only have to check commercial vans and pick ups with racks, to see examples of this. These items have been powder coated for many years, and it has not added up to a complete solution.