Leaf Springs - Painted?

[Shakey]

I bought a set of leaf springs from Eaton.

They look great as they are - should they be painted?   

[ck1]

if there unpainted I would just put a protective clear coat of something just to keep them from rusting, they look great, I know mine on my 68 when i pulled them off my car were neutral in color like that but surface rust, but also herd could have been semi black, but I think neutral is more correct if thats what your looking for, with that green car i would hold up under the car kinda of to see what they look like from close up and a distance, black might be better and not clash, up to u they look great the way they are.  i bought 440/hemi springs and they came black and just cleaned um up better and put a better coat of black on them,  I'm at that point were I'm so slow with my car good enough is close enough........

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Could be gotten either way.  natural/rust or semi gloss black.  I painted mine semi gloss

[dspaulding70]

Shaky,

Just curious what those ran.  They right side of my car is almost 1/2 inch shorter than the left and I am trying to determine if they can be repaired or just replace them.

[Chryco Psycho]

try adjusting the T bars , it may level the rear suspension

[Shakey]

Chris - when you painted yours, did you disassemble them prior to painting?  Did you use primer first?

I do like the new metal look and realize it will rust quickly, my concern with clear coating them is having a shine or worse yet, if you get a bubble or a chip in the clear coat the rust will form and work its way under the clear coat, making them look worse.

My thoughts when it comes to painting them is I know they will flex so I won't be laying it on too thick and also the springs have slabs of rubber/plastic between each leaf and I am not sure how they will look / react to being coated in paint.

BTW, they cost $400.00 USD for the pair and another $85.00 USD for the mounting kit.  A bit pricey but I was told they were a good solid product.

[Ghoste]

When they painted them at the factory, they just stood back and shot them.  I wouldn't get too hung up on it unless that's the look you want.  Certainly disassembly and careful painting will look better.  I did mine from Eaton semi gloss black and I just laid them on the ground, rattle-canned them, turned them over, repeated and threw them on.
But my car's a rat.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I actually used brush on rustoleum semi gloss oil based paint with no problems of cracking etc.    I didnt disassemble them either.
I got mine fron ESPO

[resq302]

I painted mine gray and have had little to no problems with them rusting.  I did however have to go back and clean the paint off of the rubber insulators and paint the steel band that holds them together the correct color.  The gray does offset the color of the underside of the car though since it was undercoated at the dealership.