Hey guys. I bought some JCR Classic sliders to go on my '98.

It's white with black flares and bumpers, so I want the sliders to be black as well. I trying to decide between just rattle-canning them myself, or taking them to Line-X to have them sprayed. Acid-etch primer and black spray paint will be cheap. Line-X is $125, which I don't mind paying.

I'm curious what your experiences have been with paint vs. liner on sliders. I don't rock crawl, so these will are mainly being used to stiffen things up a bit, and act as steps to help get in and out once I put the 4.5 inch lift on. I don't want to use any of the DIY bedliner products, as they get chalky and dull after awhile. This is my daily driver, and it's really clean looking and I want whatever I do to look right, not like it was done by some hillbilly in the back 40. I work in the IT field and occasionally have to haul client around in the XJ.

thoughts on durability and ease of touch-up on one over the other? Known issues with either approach? Will the Line-X interfere with mounting them in any way?

Black Powder Coat them mine came that way and have held up very well "I'm not a rock crawler either". I have had only 2 small places on mine in 2 yrs. now and used "Rustoleum" to fix those you can hardly tell where they were.

The Powder Coat is a tough coating and has good looks to boot not like a bed liner. Here is a photo of mine.

I say go with paint over bedliner, can easily be touched up if you scuff them up.

I wanted to be different and did mine in the body color....

Rattle can scratches way to easy if you got the coin and don't mind spending it powdercoat.I've never tried any type of bedliner so idk about it.

The powder coating is a good idea I hadn't considered, but I'll have to research and see if there are any places close to me that will do it, and what it will cost. What I really wish is that I could replicate the light wrinkle black finish that came on my Or-Fab winch bumper. It looks nice, has been pretty durable so far, has a bit of texture (for non-slip), and when I washing the Jeep just wiping a bit of Black Magic on there makes it look new.

I'm just trying to figure out the better balance of durability vs, ease of touch up. I also like the idea of doing body color in some situations, but as these stick out and will be used as steps, I don't think white sliders would be a good idea.

powder...definitely powder

I couldn't afford powder coat after building my bumpers so I painted them rustoleum black hammered finish and turned out more of a charcoal color.I love the way they look against my black jeep but scratches easy

if you live in the rust belt, i wouldn't powdercoat. i had my rear bumper on the tj powdercoated and after a few years the rust bubbled most of the powdercoat off and looked horrible. and for the coating left on was a real pita to grind off so i can paint with tremclad.

tremclad scratches, but is so easy to touch up with a quick respray.

Powder coating done right will last forever and take a beating.

If you're actually going to slam rocks with your sliders you're going to cringe every time you hear them smack that expensive powder coat. When I installed my dirtbound sliders I put some self etching primer and Bed liner over that it's pretty durable and when you snack something all it takes is a quick spray of some Bed liner.

Might just be the pic but, your shackle angle looks awful!

Yes it is I have to do some work so the shackles can be turned around where they belong, good eye

Here's some pics. Primered then duplicolor bed liner.

^ Looks great!

I've been dealing with server crash issues and the fact that some A-hole stole a computer right out of our office a couple days ago. so I've been tied up (I'm the lone IT guy for my boss's two companies). I'm still going to see if any place near me does powder coating, and compare that to Line-X. Thanks for all the suggestions!

I had my bumper powder coated with a fine texture. Love the way it came out, and it's pretty tough.