A few months back I decided to see what all the fuss was about and sent off one of my daughters rifles to be cerakoted. I'm normally a diyer and usually just duracoat anything that needs painting, mainly because I live about a mile away from Lauer and like to support the local business. Well, I am not impressed, to say the least. I had to remove some of the coating to install a tight fitting gas block and without applying any pressure to the sanding block the stuff sanded off very easily. Oh, and I somehow gouged to paint putting on the barrel nut even though I thought I was being gentle with nut wrench. There is also wear marks on the upper where the charging handle latches on and some chipping on a few sharp angles. I realize that cerakote is just paint and that wear is inevitable but I just didn't think it would be this delicate. Just wanted to know if this was normal or did the applicator do a shitty job?

Is it raw underneath the cerakote?

Can you tell if the metal was sand blasted, and degreased properly?

how would I tell that? I sent it off to what I assumed was a reputable applicator, so yes?

Cerakote should hold up to abrasion and should never chip. It will 100% wear over time, however, if not applied properly or mixed with enough hardener, it will wear and fade prematurely. Here’s a few things we’ve seen, and things that caused it.

Premature wear - low hardener/ poor adhesion due to not degreasing or gassing out/ not sandblasting enough

Chipping- more common with satin finish bright colors (whites, bright pink [prison pink is the worst], zombie green, hunter orange etc)/ not sandblasting enough causing weak adhesion/ too much hardener making it brittle

I recommend to send it to another applicator for a proper diagnosis. I’ve seen all kinds of cornet cutting when redoing peoples cerakote jobs.

I would take it in to someone local but I'm not sure they are the most skilled/professional/honest applicators to make any determination. Here are a few pics of some wear areas that I would expect to show distress over time but they looked chipped, this is after maybe a dozen times working the bolt. Also, don't laugh at the color choices....it is my daughters gun after all.

For the mentioned above, does duracoat do any better? Cerakote is still paint as you said and that is all normal imho. You would want hardchrome if you never want to deal with it again. Cerakote is not a magic application, it is just paint that has an amazing resistance to chems. Applied correctly it is really thin and holds up really well to normal wear. A sharp latch from a charge handle will wear any sprayed on paint. Sanding on it with sand paper or block will wear any paint. Gouging from tooling will scratch any paint. The knife edge angles will wear fast because that is very thin so in answer to your inquiries: I think yes, that is normal but I did not see it so I could be wrong. Shoot some pics to be sure.

Ive got two cera-coated weapons, Both have held up better than that.

Ima gonna say this about that.  First of all, any spray coating is gonna wear, one way or another.  That being said, your app might have been a little flawed.  Or you might have been a little heavy-handed in the re-assembly.  Hard to diagnose form the internet, although we sure do try.

While I believe that Cerakote is usually a superior product, as far as durability goes, I use Duracoat simply because it doesn't require "professional grade" application to get the most out of it.  And for me, in a home workshop setting, it makes the best coating when you consider the ease of application, good durability, and ease of touch-up.  

So if I lived within spittin' distance of 'ol Steve, I'd be over there on Fridays, with a case of beer, and buying up more Duracoat.  Just cuz.

Maybe you're feeling a little under-whelmed here because of all the hype that can surround a subject; I didn't think any of that stuff surpassed what I'd call normal wear n tear.  Looks like a bang-up good job to me.  Although I get it; you paid a lot of bucks for it, and you're like WTF when you see some wear.   And polymer can be tough row to hoe, that's why Steve has an additive for it.  That's the largest wear area I saw, and is prone to doing that.  I use a lot of lube to re-assemble things, and the additive helps make the coating more flexible on plastics.

I see wear on sharp edges. It could be a result of poor metal finishing by the component manufacturers, or poor prep work by the refinisher. Both sides could easily point the finger at each other.

Update: The applicator agreed to refinish the items. I get that tight fitting areas will mar and friction areas will eventually wear but I never expected the finish to just chip off shortly after assembly. So, we will see if this is just an indicator of bad prep or  just picking the weakest color in the cerakote line. Looking forward, I will probably stick to finishing the work myself rather then sending it out.

Agree that Cerakote is more durable.  I use Cerakote mostly, but find it harder to perfect the best spray.  Others think it is is easy.  I use Druscoat on Polymer.  I think it does better and does not need heat.  Fir me, it goes on better.  I use Gunkote ona particular barrel that had used it it historically and it is easier to apply for me that Cerakote, although requires higher oven temp.

I have tried Norells Molycoat and actually like it if if I have to recreate a M16 gray, but didn’t want to sent out to anodize.

I’ve had several items that I Cerakote in the early days of Cerakote years back.  I rigidly followed the protocols. They do not chip at all.  They wear very slowly over long periods of time and only in mechanical wear spots.