The powder coating shouldn't matter TOO much... What kind of antenna did you get? Fiberglass? Whip?

2.0:1 will give you issues. For CB, you really want that below 1.5:1 in order to have much functionality.

It sounds like you have everything setup just fine... you are going to need to tune the antenna. You just need to figure out if it is 2:1 LONG or 2:1 Short.... usually most CB antennas will come LONG and they will need to be tuned shorter. The manufacturers do this so that they dont end up "short" once your system is setup. Because once they are short, there is not much you can do. Check the instructions that came with the antenna and see if they mention anything about "tuning" or "trimming" the antenna.

GOod luck! 

JohnDF said
Because my antenna is mounted so high, it won't allow me to pull the Jeep into the garage. I figured it was going to be a pain to break out the wrenches every time I got back home for a run. So, I ordered a quick release mount from Firestick. I installed it today, hooked up my meter again, and all my reading had spiked to way past red line. I immediately pulled it off. Why would a mount, made by a respectable company, cause such drastic spikes? Is there a fix for it?  

Essentially, everything the antenna is attached to, is your electrical circuit that, when pulsing at a certain frequency (in this case, 27.400mhz, and around there for the CB channels), creates RF which is the electrical carrier signal of your voice that travels through the air. 

In order for an antenna to work, it needs to measure a minimum of 1/4 of the wavelength of the frequency you are trying to transmit on, and in 1/4 wave increments, i.e. 1/4, 1/2, or 5/8, or full length (the 5/8 is the only one that breaks that rule). For CB, that magic number is roughly 102" (hence why people have 102" steel whip antennas for offroading). 

Firestick attains the 1/4 wavelength by adding in loading coils, and wrapping the transmission wire around a fiberglass pole to get more transmission line in a shorter length. This is fine doing it, but the more you "coil" the wire, the more narrow banded the antenna becomes. This is one of the major reasons i am against CB. Because it requires such a long antenna to work, it is much harder to get a shorter antenna to work and tends to cause headaches.

The entire antenna system that actually transmits the RF starts where you screw in your coax line into your antenna/mount. So, in your case, by changing the mount, you have changed how your antenna radiates your RF signal (aka changed the length of the antenna). My guess is that the new mount is bigger and heftier and more material than your original mount. So, you PROBABLY just made your antenna electrically longer by adding the mount. If you trim the antenna down again (following the instructions to shorten/trim your firestick), your SWR should come back down to reasonable levels. I dont think there is really any way you physically "shortened" your antenna by adding the mount, so trimming like you did before, SHOULD do the trick. If you have a full on SWR meter or antenna analyzer, you should be able to find out if your antenna is "too long" or "too short", and then modify the antenna accordingly.

Good luck! Lemme know how it turns out!

JohnDF said
Makes sense, I did not know about the 102" rule. So I guess in theory, if my new mount added 3" to the antenna, then I'd have to trim 3" off the antenna. Thank you.  

In theory, roughly, yes. Start at 1", then test it, do another 1", then test, etc... once you get down to 2:1, do .5" increments.

That should get you pretty close.