Stripping paint and refinishing/repainting/powdercoating a bike

I nitro'ed some paint off chrome forks recently and it worked a treat.

I think there are a couple of 'grades' of chroming, where they do like 1 dip for protection purposes and about 3 for a nice finish, so you could well have chrome under the whole thing, but it might not be the nice finish chrome.

i just got an old gt racer conversion but the paint is pretty horrible, scratched and rusty. how should i remove the old paint before respraying it (wire brush or paint stripper)?
if paint stripper then can someone recommend a good brand?
or should i even bother or should i just lightly sand it down then go over the top?

Use the search button - there's been loads of threads on this.

kk cheers, another question

roughly how much would it cost to have a frame stripped and powder coated? obviously it depends on where you go but does anyone have any experience

i searched but couldn't find an answer to this

40-60 "amourtex"

Can I just jump in and ask something...

I found a powdercoat place near mine (Newcastle). In the past I have been quoted around £60 for painting my frame, but these guys said they can do it for £10-£15.

http://www.indfinspec.demon.co.uk/index.htm.

Appart from that horrific website they seem OK to me. Reckon I should be wary?

i stripped mine with nitromors, i recommend the stuff in the can, you can layer it on real thick and have it all off in in hour. the spray version will require you try buy 3 or 4 cans and you cant get the thick coating to get it all off in one go.

i didnt use a wire brush, but i did you use a fine wire bit in my dremel for the lugs, and 240 sanding paper to get rid of rust on the tubes

Can I just jump in and ask something...

I found a powdercoat place near mine (Newcastle). In the past I have been quoted around £60 for painting my frame, but these guys said they can do it for £10-£15.

http://www.indfinspec.demon.co.uk/index.htm.

Appart from that horrific website they seem OK to me. Reckon I should be wary?

Mine charges £15 and do any excellent job, also very friendly.

They workshop type places are just charging for their time, the kind of places that quote you silly high prices arent used to doing bikes frames OR are used mugging people with bike frames!

Armoutex have a different system, they prefer group orders of the same colour for best value.

Where as mine wouldnt mind if I got a 72 spokes painted in 72 shades of tutti frutti.

I did the same with my bike - matt black - cool as fuck is was, past tense there as it was stolen on Bonfire Night.

This is what I did;

Stripped the frame with paint stripper (Warning very acidic) Use gloves, eye-protection, and face-mask.

Fill in bumps and what-not with bondo, and sand it down so it's smooth with about 200 grit sandpaper.

Tape everything you don't want sprayed with blue-painters tape. Now spray the bike with primer in a well aired area, sand down after each layer with very fine sandpaper, I sprayed 2 layers of primer before the color.

Then spray very thin layers of paint and sand gently between each layer, I sprayed 4 layers of color.

Then spray with clear-coat 3 layers aprox.

For a cheap ish job spraying is the job, its less expensive but will cost you more time.
I did what Johnp did (just a couple more coats of primer) and it is wearing fine for a rattle can job, it does chip quite easily compared to powdercoating but with the extra coats of primer it hasnt even started to rust yet. I only have a couple of chips on the top tube and I have been riding the bike for ages in all weather for about three months.[URL="http://www.londonfgss.com/member3994.html"][/URL]

rattle can paint jobs if done correctly can come out real nice. johnp3004 is basically wright the only thing i would add is if you put a layer of clear coat in between the top coat and before you put the finale layers of top coat on it gives the paint more strength and durability.
also Montana spray paint is a good covering paint and come in loads of nice colors.

Just finished mine with rattle cans. Heres a breakdown of what it cost me.

nitromors can £4.90
wire cup (drill mounted) £4
Two cans primer £8
Two cans colour £10
One can clearcoat £5

I got 3 primer coats out of those cans, laid on pretty heavy (no runs though!) Then i got about the same in colour coats. Then two top coats laid up pretty heavy as well. I got pleasently good results.

My spray pattern was the bottom bracket first, then rear stays and seat stays. Then up to the lugs at the top of the seat post, and at the head tube, then just the top tube, seat tube and the down tube.

Rattle cans do get a rep for being soft, but you really need to leave the paint/top coat for at least two weeks to go fully hard, before building up again. If your gonna polish with a compound, definatley let it set up nice and hard in a warm room, or you'll 'crease' it.

Also don't try to get every last bit of paint out of the can on the colour coats because the air pressure is dropping in those cans all the time you are spraying, and you'll start to get spattering towards the end, which on your last coat, can really bodge things up.

I definately dont claim to be a good sprayer, but i have done a fair bit, and know a bit about the processes. Like anything, if you take your time, be methodical, and plan the job in hand, you should get a pretty sweet result.

No comparison to powercoat though...

the problem with rattlecan painting is that it always ends up being pretty expensive. i did a good job with the traditional method, but i went through two cans of primer, 6 color and 2 clear coat. luckily they were all stolen from uni so the cost wasnt a problem. but i dont think i would be prepared to pay that much for a substandard paint job with my own money.

it looked good but wasnt very tough.

i now get my dad to paint my frame every couple of months at work, but the colors are limited. luckily i like my frame in black.

i have a mate that did his bike in the standard matt black from halfords, with no primer. cant remeber how many coats he did but its tough as nails, and he only has to give it a little spray to cover chips.

yeh rattle cans are expensive!!

Montana €4 a can. 400 ml. didnt use it but I do very often doing graff, good shizz.

I'm not going to do it but was wondering out of curiousity, what would happen if you sprayed straight over a frames existing paint job and clear coated it? Would the paint just flake off in no time at all?

I'm not going to do it but was wondering out of curiousity, what would happen if you sprayed straight over a frames existing paint job and clear coated it? Would the paint just flake off in no time at all?

You are right it would chip and fall off REALLY easily (we're talking fingernail here) so you'll have to key the frame for the new paint or it won't stick ie. wire wool. If you clear coated a new paint job without keying it in properly it would just BLISTER up where it looses adhesion to the orignal paint. Ergo it will look shit and be a waste of your time!

I'm melting, I'm melting... Sunday was the day the bananas died!

go bananas...

.... and so did my grandslam in a day shirt. You will not be missed!

fausto coppi leper

DAMN YOU LAZY!
I can't believe you didn't take the forks out.

I spent all day friday stripping an old frame with Nitromors, ended up rubbing it down with more Nitromors and wirewool. never wore gloves or goggles. that shits alright.

What did you use there Ray? mine never reacted like that!

glad to see you're using build's clothes as rags!

DAMN YOU LAZY!
I can't believe you didn't take the forks out.

I spent all day friday stripping an old frame with Nitromors, ended up rubbing it down with more Nitromors and wirewool. never wore gloves or goggles. that shits alright.

What did you use there Ray? mine never reacted like that!

forks....pah!

did what it exactly what it said on the tin... keyed it with one layer brushed on, and stippled the next coat... left it... then hey presto, the paint literally fell off.
I had one rubber glove (take a piss hand) and no goggles worked out alright.

I dont know what the stuff is called but it looks a bit like molasses.

Mmm i am going to have to get another bike to practice on, mine was a painfull process that took about 3 layers. maybe mine is out of date?!

Good move on the piss hand

when i get back to base station i will check the stripper (not build) cos i've used it before...its way good!