A little bit odd question to ask, but I just recently bought Draw-Tite heavy duty hitch at my local dealer. Unfortunately it appear that they are not gentle at handling the stuff around there. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif My hitch has some pretty nice scratches, some are deep enough down to bare surface. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Angry.gif I did not feel like bother with my dealer about it so I decided to paint it by myself. First I primed all bare surfaces from the scratches, then applied two light coats of Rustoleum spray paint. It looks much better right now but I am not sure if Rustoleum is the best product to use for vehicle which will see all kind of weather and road condition (stones, road salt, etc.) After the paint dried in a few days, I swiped the surface with my fingers and I could see minor streaks on the surface of hitch. Also have just a few speckles of dried paint on my finger too. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Stern Smile.gifThis led me to wonder whether if I should look into getting a different kind/brand of spray paint that would be better designed for this vehicle condition.


Also, the Draw-Tite factory sprays their hitches with powder coat paint. Is it ok to spray a few coats of non-powder coat paint over the factory paint?


Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Powder coating isnt paint. The material gets this powder stuff sprayed on it dry and its attracted to the metal with an electric charge so it sticks(magnet like) then they stick it in the oven and it melts/bakes on.


I sprayed my hitch/recovery attachment thingy I made with some spray in bedliner stuff. It holds up ok but if it gets scratched I just spray it again. I dont worry about repriming, just hose her down again. It will get sractched again. The spray bedliner stuff is kinda bumpy textured and semigloss. It hides imperfections better and is a wee bit tougher than regular rattle can paint.


So either just keep hosing rattle can paint on as it gets scratched or go with method 2.


Take it off and have it repowder coated or get it sprayed with line-ex spray in bedliner.


Regular paint wont really hold up even if you were to strip it down and paint it with regular automotive paint. Actually, even powder coating will get scratched.....


IMO just keep blasting it and touching it up with the rattle can.

I love that spray on bed liner stuff for all kinds of things. It is pretty tuff stuff and for about $8 a can not a bad deal either.

Sounds like just the stuff to use, on my Superglide hitch, Great Hitch but it has a real wide base that is prone for all kinds of scratches.

If it is a big deal to you I would have it re powder coated. Its not real expensive. I had an item done of mine that was much larger and it was only $60.

You can even get them to match your truck color if it is a average color that is.