Painting Torsion Bars?

[ChallengerHK]

I've been painting (with POR-15) everything that goes back on the Challenger's suspension. Any reason to not paint the t-bars? Obviously I don't want to paint the hex ends, but everything else?

[Topcat]

Yes paint em. The originals were dipped in paint and had drippys hanging.

[farmboy70]

No problem doing them that way.
They should be dipped if you are going OEM, with drips and runs. Don't forget the identifier stripes also.
Dave

[ksierens]

POR-15 is very hard, I wonder if it will crack when you put a load on the bars?   

[ChallengerHK]

Yes paint em. The originals were dipped in paint and had drippys hanging.

Good; they'll fit with my sway bars 

POR-15 is very hard, I wonder if it will crack when you put a load on the bars?  

That's one of the things I was wondering about. Worse comes to worse, I'll redo them later. On the other hand, I noticed that, at least with the grey POR-15, it has a lot of flex to it, so maybe it'll be OK.

[Chryco Psycho]

could powder coat them also , you can paint the hex ends as well the factory did

[Topcat]

could powder coat them also , you can paint the hex ends as well the factory did

Thats what I did so mine. They look like they were dipped in a dark purple liquid mercury.

[duodec]

Ever since I had a torsion bar snap on my '71 I've wondered if there was a good quality more protective coating; I don't know if it would have saved mine (I think it got gouged by a piece of cinderblock I couldn't avoid because it broke a few minutes later, thankfully in a parking lot!).  I wonder if the spiral plastic wrap, or the longitudinally slit corrugated tube made for wiring could be used to cover the exposed section of the bar to protect it from road hazards.  Neither should interfere with the twisting motion needed.

It sounded like a rifle shot; most impressive!

[Kapteenikosmos]

POR-15 is very hard, I wonder if it will crack when you put a load on the bars?   

Actually por 15 is far from hard eventhough the website says it is. There is no way that it would break on torquebars because of the stretching. The structure of the paint is more like latex than anything else. I had some adhesion problems on new sheet metal I had welded to the floor and I literally pulled out the paint with my fingers from a large area.

So I would say that por 15 would be an excellent choice for seasoned torquebars because it likes to adhere to surfaces like that and It can definately handle some serious stretching.

[troutstreamnm]

POR-15 works great on torsion bars as well as the rest of the suspension.  It is a great protective paint, yet flexible.  I've had in on my Charger for several years now with now cracking or flaking.     The entire suspension on my Challenger is now coated in POR-15

[ChallengerHK]

Thanks for the info, guys.

[cudagirl4406pk]

I am having the new ones i am installing in my car powedercoated. They will never have a problem then.

[Topcat]

When you get them done, tell the powder coating guy to leave them over night to cool down slowly in the oven. Sometimes they pull stuff out hot. I don't think that would be good for them. Not sure. Thats just a pre caution I did with mine just in case.