Tow Hook/Front Bar Refinishing Question

Palum6o · Palum6o's Garage

The front tow hooks and bar protector are an eyesore (bent and rusted). I want to straighten the front bar and I was thinking of powder coating it as well as the tow hooks. Has anyone done this? The bar is extremely strong, is there an easy way to straighten it?

stormmaster · stormmaster's Garage

every now and then you can find a used unbent one....thats what I did...and repainted mine with rustoleum

SoCal70RSR · 12-05-2006, 09:48 AM

Powdercoating is the way to go... it gets sanblasted so all rust is removed (at least externally) and baked with the powder so it'll resist chipping a little better.

Hmmmm This reminds me, I have one from an '85 that I powedercoated and am not planning on using it. If anyone is interested make me an offer.

Here are some pictures.

lhoudyshell · lhoudyshell's Garage

will it fit an SC? Lynn

ZOA NOM · ZOA NOM's Garage

Palumbo, that is a spectacularly clean car!

steve911 · steve911's Garage

You can also rattle can the bar with Krylon (after wire brushing the rust away). Mine was like yours; I did it a few years ago and it still looks great.

Palum6o · Palum6o's Garage

Before painting it, I'd like to get it looking more straight. I think the left side needs to come down a little bit. I know this part was often scraped by the PO, I saw him do it when we took the car out.

steve911 · steve911's Garage

Once you get it off, my guess is that you can see what tweaking it needs. Could be as simple as putting it in a vise and giving it a couple of 'taps' with a hammer to straighten it.

jorian · 12-05-2006, 08:15 PM

Very clean car indeed. I plan on doing the same to mine.

Palum6o · Palum6o's Garage

Thanks, the camera was also 10 feet away! She has a coat of Black Magic. After reading about it on the board, I thought I'd give it a try and it seems to last pretty long, then again it sits in a garage.

Would there be harm if I tried straightening the bar while its still bolted on, ie, using my foot to press down on it, but that bar is so strong I don't think It will budge!

Palum6o · Palum6o's Garage

Took it off, prepped and painted the bar and hooks. Looks much better... I didn't straighten the bar while it was off the car, it would have been difficult to line up the holes and its a strong bar. Used a jack and some creativity to make it more straight across.