painting over some surface rust

hi,
i know there's already some info about this floating about lfgss, but i need a specific idea of what to do because i know nothing about painting metal -

i have a frame with some pretty extensive surface rust on the forks and frames. LBS said just put some hammerite straight to rust paint on, but i've read a lot of bad stuff about that on here. should i sand the rust away first? then paint over with normal plasti-kote colour spray - maybe with a primer?

if anyone has a good idea on how to go about this would be much appreciated.

thanks a lot, ben

Def sand the surface rust to bare metal first.

It depends on how good you want the finish to be - both aesthetically and in terms of protection against further rust.

The best way to do it would be strip the area of all loose paint, remove all rust with coarse wire wool, apply rust-converter, then etch-primer, then red-oxide primer, then normal primer, 2-pack acrylic colour to match your frame (or do the whole frame because you'll likely not find a match) and clearcoat (wetsanding between each layer) before a final cut-and-polish. Unless you already have the materials and paint laying around, this'll probably be more expensive than a cheap stove-enamel or powdercoat, and it'll take a lot of time and practise. It's possible to get a professional-quality finish with rattlecans, but you need to do a hell of a lot of wetsanding, and it'll be fragile. I wouldn't recommend using rattlecans (even Hammerite!) for that reason - if you try to do it on the cheap, it'll look crap and fall off; if you do it properly it'll look great but still be fragile.

Getting a cheap stove-enamel or powdercoat would cost £40-80 including sandblasting, and it'll remove all rust and you'll have a reasonably attractive finish. This is probably the best compromise between money/time/quality.

The cheapy option (but not necessarily the worst, depending on how much effort you put in) is to use some sort of direct-to-rust paint. Hammerite is an option, but it's not as tough or rustproof as it used to be. Professional products like POR-15 or Rustoleum are far better (I've used both for classic car/motorcycle parts, POR-15 is super-tough and Rustoleum comes in loads of colours - both can be difficult to find, though. Google 'Rustoleum paint job' to see how good it is!). You can remove the rust with coarse wire wool, apply a few coats of thinned paint (preferably with a high-density foam roller rather than a brush, as it gives a smoother finish), then leave for a week until it's really hard. It'll look okay, from a distance. If you want, after a couple of weeks of curing time, you can wetsand it with progressively fine sandpaper (say 600 to 2500) and polish it (T-Cut works tolerably well, everybody's dad has some in the garage) and it'll give as good a finish as a powdercoat (and just as tough).

The absolute cheapest option would be to simply give it a quick scrub with wire wool/a coarse kitchen scourer, and apply a few thin coats of linseed oil. It'll give you that rat look, and it dries to a hard finish and won't rub off on your clothes. You'll need to re-apply it every month or so, but it protects excellently against rust. You can pour it inside your frame tubes to protect against internal corrosion, too.

That's a long post, isn't it?

Another option is to get some Jenolite and treat the rust that way, then just touch up with some matching paint. It may discolor the paint around the ares, but it also might not.

It's useful stuff and fairly cheap so it won't be a waste of £s.

Pics might help as well.

You still need to use a primer over Jenolite, really, otherwise it'll flake off quite easily.

Note that primer is porous, so don't try to do it on the cheap by just spraying over it with black primer - it'll soak up water and get even rustier!

lae, hugo, thanks so much. ill let you know how it goes. thanks again

hey, lae. I am giving i think your third way a go - rustoleum. I am gonna attach a picture of the forks, which are the worst affected part:

If i get a can of rustoleum (Which seems to have more colours), and get a cream ish colour, i suppose 250 ml would be enough for the small areas affected. Obviously the paint will not match exactly but that really is not a concern. I want to get rid of the rust first and foremost because it seems dangerous to have so much. Is this the right stuff?

http://www.rustoleum.co.uk/colourselect/1/19

many thanks,
ben

Yeah that's the stuff. Google 'rustoleum paint job' and it'll give you all the details. I painted my girlfriend's bike using this method - with proper wetsanding and polishing it looked better (smoother and glossier) than a solid-colour powdercoat and it seemed to hold up just as well (until she decided she wanted it a different colour, then I got it powdercoated as I couldn't be bothered to do it again).

One thing I would say is that it'll take a while to dry (unless we have an Indian summer).

well i think the indian summer has just passed... i will get this done in the next few weeks as autumn set in - are we talking weeks and weeks of drying? - i need my bike!

a couple of rustoleum tutorials recommend this primer before the paint - is this necessary?

Well it takes about 24 hours until it's touch-dry, but it does take about a fortnight to fully harden before you can wetsand and polish it. It'll take considerably less time if you put it in the shed or garage next to a hot radiator.

Sorry to jump in here but this is exactly the sort of conundrum I have!

I have an old Viking frame (70s/80s I think) with quite a few rusty patches/chips. I quite like the sound of the Hammerite option with a wet sand and polish as I don't want to spend a huge amount of cash.

Is it worth sanding away all of the rust (to bare steel) or is it quite okay to get rid of the worst then apply the Hammerite straight onto it?

Hi all,

Im new to this and would like some information on a frame painter. I have been told that Maroi Vaz is a reputable frame painter in London.

Does anyone have a contact number for him or any other recommended people to approach.

May also need the crack sand blaster due to the patena.

Any assistance would be greatly appriciated ..

Kind regards,

Keith

Cutter01- try this thread. http://www.lfgss.com/thread1039-9.html#post3122114