RCI Slider - Another Rust Question

RCI made a post in the other forum mentioning changing their production process around 03/2022 for their rock sliders to robotic in order to improve quality control. I know in the past there have been threads/posts mentioning rust problems with the RCI sliders.

I was hoping to get input from people who have gotten RCI sliders since this change to see if there are still rust problems. Their website mentions powder coating warranty for the first 6 months. Thanks

 

I don't know the specific answer to your question, I will just say that if you live in an area that uses road salt, no matter what you get, no matter how they treat it, it WILL eventually rust.

It's a pain when you first get them, but I think going with bare steel and just painting them your yourself might be the way to go if you live in that kind of environment. You have the extra hassle before you install them, but they're easier to touch up properly than powder coat is.

 

Rust issues probably depend on where your located. I could run bare metal and not have rust here in the desert, but if you’re in the rust belt you might consider having them powder coated.

edit, Trail Runnah makes a good point regarding the paint method. My main concern would be where the mounts attach to the frame.

 

POR 15 (Paint on Rust) is the ticket. It is a coating, not a paint. Comes in 2 colors, black and silver. It seals the metal and is good protection against the salt blast. Like any other product out there, it doesn't hold up very well to the rocks. I did my sliders and skids with POR 15 and am satisfied with the results. It works a lot better than paint. At first I painted my sliders and they didn't last 3 snow storms before the rust started. 2 full winters with the POR 15 and all is good. You can also paint over the POR in any color you like.
If it will be exposed to UV rays, the coating needs to be painted or it will chalk. (Develop a powdery residue.) Before I installed my sliders and skids, I drowned the "metal on metal" places and the 4R frame with Fluid Film.

 

I got my RCI sliders in June/July of 2022. I primed and painted mine with pretty standard rustoleum from Home Depot. I probably did 2 coats primer and 4-5 coats paint. I'm right along the Colorado front range between Ft. Collins and Pueblo and rust hasn't been an issue for me. The paint and primer has chipped off (in the shape of rock chips as you'd get on the front of your hood) only on the small front faces of the short support cross members. Some of the small chips have developed the lightest bit of rust but that would be expected. If I have to sand and repaint those small sections before every other winter that is fine. I couldn't expect these to be maintenance free and rust definitely hasn't been an issue. I haven't used mine in a rock garden yet either. I don't have top plates and am glad I dont.

 

I can't talk about the RCI sliders but…

If you do not off-road with your truck, I guess any quality powder paint will do.

If you off-road, you will scrape them to bare metal on rocks. There is no paint that will resist that, lineX is a bit tougher, but it still gets scraped off. I'm always re-touching with paint my sliders.

 

Plan on touching up rock scars on the sliders each year so don't worry about the factory powder coat quality.

If you spray some cosmoline on the frame plates prior to installation, rust will be prevented at that interface for many years.

 

Thank you everyone for your responses!

 

I helped my buddy put RCI sliders on his taco. The only issue was that their paint/paint prep was garbage.

Dust and dirt kicking up took all the paint off large sections.

That's just terrible.

 

when were the sliders made? Before or after their change in 2022?

 

Ordered on June 3, 2021

 

Seems like that came before they made their manufacturing change.

 

What was the mfg change?

 

From a post on the other 4R forum titled "RCI Offroad Slider Poll" on 3/21/2022:

Hi guys, just wanted to run a poll here on the our rock sliders since we are gearing up to make some subtle but important improvements.

Key reason for improvements:

All new rock sliders are going to fully robotically welded as of next month - requires absolute precision of and repeatability of all components.

All new rock sliders will be painted on state of art OEM quality robotic paint line. In order to do this we need to paint tread plates independently to guarantee this level of finish

Reducing lead time to 0-2 weeks by making products more configurable


Updates to sliders:

-Bolt on tread plates using OEM quality process
-Option for full length or partial tread plates (as seen here) or no tread plates using the same slider frame. Tread plates are also replaceable and guarantee full paint coverage on the rock slider frame.

*Pictures are prototype part, I will add some better images shortly

 

The issue was the paint prep. They clearly didn't prep the metal for painting. They can have the best painting robots in the world but if they don't do good prep it's going to be crap.

RCI has been around a while. More than long enough not to sell be a product with a near worthless paint job due to total lack of prep.

I get it. I've prepped plenty of metal. It's the most boring laborsom part of the job. But if you don't want to do it, don't be in the business of selling it. Maybe just sell bare metal. I should have known though due to the price but thought they might be professionals.

Maybe they've fixed it but nothing in their description of the new process indicates it. Sounds like they are using automation to cut costs and putting marketing spin on it.

They have lost me as a customer for life.

 

My cali raised sliders were the same. Poor prep led to poor adhesion. After one year of gravel impact pin holes, water gets between the steel and powder coat. The powder coat stays on because it’s hard, but you can tell from the bubbles underneath. Easy to peel off in sections with a screw driver blade.

 

It's very common because its a lot of labor to do it right. I used to own a gym and bought a lot of Rogue equipment. A lot of their stuff would come already with rust from total lack of paint prep. I fixed a LOT of Roque equipment's paint.

2 months of dirt/dust impact took all the paint of RCI in some places off the ones I bought.

My BAMF sliders are amazing. best coating ever. Super high quality.