Stiff-up your brush: paint porn

Great! Is it halfords? I don't want to mix brands as thats never a good start when it comes to cheap resprays ha

I bought it from Halfords but its 'PlastiKote'. Also just realised its matt not satin. Either way free if you want it :)

Anyone in here know the RAL for the gray Ritchey Logic Road? I have a paint chip on it that I want to fill in. @privatepatterson @hoops, do you know?

Edit* Found that it's TC-7542 which is a the Taiwanese paint code. Not sure if that helps at all?

I have a paint question, what's the sickest RAL for that 80s MTB vibe, muted not neon? Was thinking a kind of emerald.

I’ve got a RAL chart in SE8 if you want to take a look and borrow it for a few days.

It’s quite old so there might be some special finishes missing.

Ral 6008 pine green looks great in a deep gloss or may i suggest a nice burgundy Ral 3005 🤔

Any tips on what primer to use for bike frames? I started off using etch primer I'd bought for spraying GRP car panels, which seemed to work OK, then tried using some MaxMayer high build primer, which I found very difficult to get a smooth finish with. I suspect I should have been using a larger nozzle on the spray gun.

I've got another frame to spray soon, so if anyone has any recommendations on the best primer to use, let me know. I'll be using basecoats, effects coats and clearcoat from Specialist Paints if that's relevant.

Thanks for those suggestions...
I’m going to go with a rich red, not too deep, 3003 Ruby

And thanks @moog, missed your reply! All good though.

In another stupid question I will probably answer myself in the end ... are painted matchy steel stems cool or fool? Tandem so I have one mahoosive stoker stem, and one chunky steel mtb quill, both black, I’m not too keen on black parts (though bother the bars will be, meh). I just can’t decide if matchy stems really are that nice.

I'm sure the Ruby red will look lovely i used to have a Principia sx ltd in a very similar colour but closer to a 3004 and it was one of nicest looking bikes I've ever owned. Colour matched stems i can take or leave. I always like silver on older bikes shiny but not full chrome. Never should have sold that frame.

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Mine had a silver thomson x2 on it

Nice^ @Retro_bastard, yep the regret of selling some things is a bitch.

I plumped for 3003 in the end. Stems as well as F&F. Hope I don’t hate it!

Question for @hoops really, and any other paint sniffers. If I was to get flouro on a frame (another thing), probably powder just cos it lasts so well, would UV clearcoat be a must? I remember Rob you mentioning this on here years back. I mean, the bike only goes out Sundays really, lives out of direct sunlight otherwise. Presumably UV clear means the paint looks ok in bright light but doesn’t ping so much in low light, since we won’t get UV coverted into visible light reflecting off it? True? Or negligable, and if you don’t it’ll fade like buggery wherever you store the bike? I’m hankering after RAL 3026 Luminous Bright Red, specifically.

Fluorescent paint: never, ever a good idea.

Still mulling over what primer I should be buying for future use. Anyone with any strong views on epoxy primer vs etch primer? I've mostly been using etch primer so far, but I've been reading Vehement Internet Opinions that on bare steel epoxy is the way to go. Anyone got any views on which would be better for future use?

I come here to relax. Genuinely. But something’s bugging me. I just can’t accept stems and seat posts that are part of the paint job. It just doesn’t look right to me. Keep it to the frame. Feels like covering the skirting board with a paper.

Some people like that look. Others don't. Chill, dude.

Although I'm with you when it comes to seatposts. Seems a very silly idea, given the potential for scratches. Still, it'd be a boring old world if we were all the same. LALL.

Lots of good paint jobs on the Makino Cycle Factory instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/m.makinocyclefactory/

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Would anyone know what type of gun/nozzle is typical for spraying frames? I've found myself with access to a decent compressor/workshop so would like to have a go at doing it 'properly' but sorely lacking in the knowledge

Most people use automotive touch-up guns. At the moment I'm using a Sealey touch-up gun a bit like this:

I think it's got a 1mm nozzle at the moment. I keep getting tempted by the idea of a SATA miniJet to replace the Sealey, but I can't really justify it.

I've got a cheap draper one but it's cheap cheap. Do you have a regulator on the gun?

Twice you've popped up with the answers now!

I do have a regulator on the gun, yes. Big regulator/filter/water trap near the compressor, and then a smaller regulator on the gun for fine pressure control.

I would be down for buying a decent gun but it seems like decent can be stratospheric cost wise. Hard to tell the difference between the cheap ones for my untrained eye, they all look the same just rebranded.

You use 1mm for primer/paint/clear?

Yep. All done with the same gun. If I do get a Sata miniJet I'll relegate the existing one to primer only, and probably get a bigger nozzle - it struggles with one of the primers I've got.

You come to any conclusions about primer?

Think you’re doing it with a proper setup, compressor and gun right?

In at the other end of the spectrum with my paintjobs but still trying to do as good a job as I can.

I’ve painted four frames with a couple different zinc rich primers now and been pretty happy with the results. Used two different aerosol primers and most recently a brush on primer from Paragon. That’s on the frame I just built for my mate, hoping it lasts and protects as well as the aerosol ones because it was so much nicer to use. I have no spray booth etc so painting with aerosols generally means everything in the garage gets a coat of dry paint/primer dust all over it.

I went for zinc primer as I read on car forums about the anodic protection they give which certainly seems to be working on the first frame I painted with it which now has picked up a couple chips and a raw edge where I trimmed the hooded track ends after painting and there’s no rust developing on any of the exposed metal.

Any recommendations for a clear coat for a raw steel that I can you can apply at home?
Bike is 80% raw and coated and I want to make it 100%
thanks

Anyone know where i can repaint my roadbike cheap and budget thanks in advance.