Originally Posted by LóFarkas
I had my Al frame sandblasted and then powdercoated, both "not recommended" for aluminium. Sandblasting, if not done carefully enough, can remove a bit too much of the material, as Al is far softer than steel, and some say that the heat treatment of powdercoating can weaken the welds by cancelling out the factory post-weld heat tretment... Anyone has reliable info on this?
The frame is now fine, I will report back in two years...
Of course, if you want liquid paint on it, and dont mind ~100 grams of extra weight, you can leave the original paint on as a primer.
7000 series aluminum is essentially baked to heat treat it after weld, so any heat from powdercoating would be doing the same thing. 6000 series is heated up, then oil quenched. that is a much hotter process than 7000, so i think either way the 300ish degree powdercoat bake won't do a thing to it. i can ask my friend for specific details as he works at spectrum.