Question on Swing Arm

When the "blue flame" model came out the factory swingarm was listed as powder coated in white lightning color along with the frame and control arms. If you wanted to be extra careful you could go with a low temp powder coat, but they usually ended up looking textured.

The best results would be to strip the swing arm of all bearings, then burn the existing finish(powder coat) off. It is much easier and less expensive than to sandblasting. It is not recommended to powder coat over powder coat. Powder coat is superior to paint and really is not any more expensive, it really comes down to removing and installing the bearings, etc. plus would recommend new axle bearings.

Quote from TCB

Gonna do my warranty one.

You would still need to remove the bearings and even though they are new I would not reinstall the axle bearings, just cheap insurance.

Interested... Might do that to mine as well...

Very important that the bearings be removed as people have already stated. You do NOT want to have the bearings (really the seals on the bearings) go through the oven temps required when powder coating. Remove the bearings first and for piece of mind, install new ones once it's powdercoated and keep the old "NEW" ones as spares in case you need them in a bind and no parts are available

This is an interesting thread. I've painted 4 now and not one was Powder Coat from factory. (At least not like PC as I know it.) I have not seen a new one yet so maybe the new ones are PC.

However, maybe low temp PC has properties of paint so maybe they were a low temp PC.... just don't know....I don't Powder Coat here. But during the prep work on the OEM, the finish was easily sanded off which PC as I know it is not easily sanded off!

@mniron is absolutely right ... PC is much more durable than paint but temps needed to regular PC does funny things to aluminum. I would use DuraCoat over a low temp PC any day. Very durable and no heat needed to melt it. The structural integrity of the swing arm is pretty important!

@Painter this thread just got more interesting, I know you have painted swingarms and was interested on your take. I have done two swingarms in powder coat, both were OEM titanium gray and found the finish very tough to remove. When powder coating you need to get down to the clean metal and did not even think to sand it, but paint normally peels right off with blasting. The first one took forever to blast, so the second one we sent out to burn off the finish. Burning is normally use for clean removal of powder coat. If I do another swingarm I will try sanding first to see how it knocks down. I don't think I can get it clean enough for powder coating by sanding but curious now. Not sure what the OEM finish is, I assumed it to be powder coat.

Quote from mniron

@Painter this thread just got more interesting, I know you have painted swingarms and was interested on your take. I have done two swingarms in powder coat, both were OEM titanium gray and found the finish very tough to remove. When powder coating you need to get down to the clean metal and did not even think to sand it, but paint normally peels right off with blasting. The first one took forever to blast, so the second one we sent out to burn off the finish. Burning is normally use for clean removal of powder coat. If I do another swingarm I will try sanding first to see how it knocks down. I don't think I can get it clean enough for powder coating by sanding but curious now. Not sure what the OEM finish is, I assumed it to be powder coat.

I was under the assumption that the swing arm was PC on the first one.

To paint PC you have to scuff the PC, clean, apply epoxy primer and then paint. I used 220 wet and noticed I was getting down to the raw aluminum! Usually with PC, sanding will only dull the PC and getting it off is virtually impossible. So, I just scuffed, epoxied and used a single stage w/ hardener to paint.

Acetone will soften PC. But did not test with acetone. Enough acetone and it will start to remove the PC. Anyone tried this?

I would also be concerned with the baking temp for PC on the aluminum. I know aluminum is sensitive to heat and the structure of aluminum can be compromised through heat.... thus the roll hoops are not recommended to be PC.

A lot of interesting questions!

PC on aluminum will look good and be durable for sure but I'm concerned about the integrity afterwards.

Aren't the engine blocks aluminum or is it some sort of aluminum alloy?

@Painter brings up some very good concerns about heat on powder coating. I am your beta tester then, I have already logged many miles on a powder coated swingarm including the off road excursion returning from Maggie Valley last year. I have also powder coated my roll hoops and hope I never need to put them through any real life testing.

I heard the same concerns before I powder coated these items. I asked the same questions to professional powder coating businesses and they had little concern of loss of structural integrity of the metals. Is there some real documentation of these concerns or are they just a question mark?

Many other parts are and have been powder coated in SlingShots including the upper and lower control arms. The same concerns should be questioned for them.

Painting definitely removes these heating concerns and most will find that alone comforting. A big benefit to painting over powder coat is no need to remove the bearings as part of preparation or purchase new axle bearings for install. FYI the pivot bearings need to be removed also but I did reused them.

I really love the look of powder coat and it wears like armor. There is differences in powder coating and as in painting, preparation is key. A poor powder coat is not as good as quality paint IMO.

I have no paint knowledge or any understanding of the structural integrity of aluminum, however I would be very hesitant to heat the swing arm after the current recall. My guess is Polaris will be paying close attention to this if a future issue occurs

I too have powder coated my roll hoops. The way I see it is this. The hoops are forged and are subjected to much higher temps the the powder coating process. The powder I used was baked for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Although I hope I never put the hoops through the ultimate test, I feel that the powder coating process does not reach high enough temperature for a long enough duration to change the structure of the aluminum. That is just my opinion,and is not based on facts.

I wish I could give you a definitive answer to the swingarm question. But aside the fact the bearings would have to be removed/replaced, it would probably be a better idea to paint the swingarm from that point alone. I know for a fact that the needle bearings on the pulley side get pretty much destroyed in the removal process. I found that out when I put a grease zerk in the swingarm. I would think that a quality paint would work well. Even though the swingarm is where it is it's fairly protected. I've had my Slingshot for two years now and I live on a gravel road, I don't believe that there is a single stone chip in it.

A friend of mine just picked up his replacement swing arm so he could paint it before the dealer replaces it under warranty. I'm pretty sure the bearings are shipped to the dealer separately because the swingarm that was still in the box when he showed it to me Saturday was bearingless.