Best coating for roof rack

What is the best rattle can coating for a cheap roof rack? Plastic dip, rust o leom, $1.00 per can paint, should I prime it? It is new and will see limited use. thanks in advance.

If its new, why do you need to paint it?

Rustoleum, plasti-dip is too fragile for that kind of use.

ProDarwin wrote: If its new, why do you need to paint it?

This.

If you are afraid of stone chips, rattle can bed-liner would be a good way to protect the paint under.

Rattle-can or brush, the hammered finish is the easiest to make look good, and it is tough as nails. Anything outside that is metal, I trust this stuff.

If its new, why do you need to paint it?

All the reviews recommend painting it before it starts rusting and you have it own your car, like i it said it is one of the cheaper ones, thanks, jr

^Based on what I've seen happen to most aftermarket roof racks, that's solid advice.

My Thule rack is old. Not sure how old, but I'd say at least 10 years. When I got it, the paint had just started to flake. I hit it in just those spots with whatever was on my shelf and its been fine since.

I honestly wouldn't worry about it until the factory paint becomes an issue. When it does, its only a few mins to pop it off the car, touch it up, and reinstall.

I second the bed liner idea, that stuff has become my go-to for anything on the exterior of my cars that requires a durable finish.

I fabbed my own safari rack out of mild steel. I hit it with 2 coats of brush on Rustoleum and it's held up reasonable well. I just recently built a bike related cross bar for the new old truck and used a different type of spray paint, the Rustoleum 2X Ultra Cover. I don't know how it will hold up, but man it covered and layed down better than any spray I've ever used. I won't buy anything else from now on unless this just falls off or something. I suspect it will perform really well though, it seemed like a strong coating going on.

I set out to use BBQ grill paint, but the SOB stopped up on me. I think I ended up using engine paint or something.

pinchvalve wrote: Rattle-can or brush, the hammered finish is the easiest to make look good, and it is tough as nails. Anything outside that is metal, I trust this stuff.

Good stuff! I rattle caned some aluminum patio furniture 5 years ago and it still looks good. And it sits outside all year.