DIY respray

[MilkRace]

Hi folks....first post here and apologies if its been done already but am after advice and/or suggestions about do it yourself frame resprays.

Has anyone done it and just how good did it turn out, as good as hoped for, or better than expected?

Any advice, even "don't do it" appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Drago]

I've done several. All turned out excellently, but required a huge degree of effort and patience. I don't think I'd do it again.

For the sake of £50 or so it's a lot less stress just to get it powder coated.

 

[buzzy-beans]

It very much depends why you are wanting to respray your bike as far as I am concerned.

To explain, I am very fortunate to own and ride a lot, an utterly gorgeous vintage Shorter Rochford bike which is sprayed in their classic metallic pink, it has gained quite a few battle scars over the many years since it was built but overall it still manages to look balls achingly luscious, so should I rub down the frame and repaint it, should I hell as like, what and loose all of the patina of perfection!!

 

[davidphilips]

A few cans of paint and paint remover would set you back about £15? Unless you really like rubbing of all the paint and the work involved perhaps better to take Dragos advice.

Only dont try and get a bonded bike powder coated. A few years ago i had an old raleigh dynatech blasted all i had to do was spray the rear triangle and front may do that with my present dynatech but the thought of all the work and mess with paint stripper and sanding no thanks.

 

[Globalti]

To my mind there's nothing better than a well-used but well-maintained piece of equipment that bears the scars and wear and tear of years of good use so I wouldn't respray a venerable old bike.

 

[Drago]

The other issue is cost. Stripper, wet and dry, etch primer, paint(s), all adds up. It's almost essential to a use 2 pack lacquer such as SprayMax, or the finish will be fragile and will look a mess pretty quick. The SprayMax alone is about £22 for a can, so by the time you've bought all the materials you're in the same price range as a powder coat, so you're not even saving any money. The only circumstances I'd consider it now would be if trying to reproduce the original colour scheme.

 

[Illaveago]

Hi, what is it that you are attempting and do you have any experience at spraying ? I assume the frame is either steel or aluminium, but in either case it is best to start with a self etch primer if you are dealing with bare metal.
Some people have managed to get some really good finishes from just using aerosol cans so it can be done.
Cycle frames are awkward things to spray with bits that get in the way. One of the difficult places is where all of the bits meet, the top of the seat post / rear stay area, the other place is the bottom bracket area. These areas can be difficult for the paint to get into and a dry powdery texture will develop and need to have a good wet coat .
I am assuming that you would be using either cellulose or acrylic paint . In either case these are fast drying finishes and most people tend to be afraid of applying the paint and end up with a very dry finish, orange peel.
Runs, an excess of paint just where you don't want it . If they are not too bad and if caught at the right time they can be reduced by moving the frame to a different position so that they flow back. If you get to the stalactite situation a simple application of a thin paint brush or the back of your finger to draw the excess off. Once dry runs can either be flatted back and polished up or sprayed over again. If it got to a stage where it looked an absolute mess which I doubt it can always be washed off with thinners.
I hope I haven't frightened you off. If you could post a few more details of what you were thinking about may help in advising you of what to do?

 

[Alan O]

I did it some years ago with an old steel frame. I used Nitromors to get the old paint off, a solvent of some type (I forget which) to clean the frame, and primer and paint sprays from a car shop - 1 coat of primer, 2 thin coats of paint. I did it on a warm summer day outdoors, with the frame hanging up (can't remember how precisely).

If I'd had a more expensive frame I probably wouldn't have done it, but the result was fine and was still looking good when I parted company with the bike a few thousand miles later.

 

[gbb]

I did one in particular and found it lasted quite well.
Etching primer, then spray as normal then a lacquer coat. I didnt strip the frame back 100%, prior to painting, the BB area can be remarkably hard to get to so did the best i could and just smoothed the edges.

 

[derrick]

Get your paint from a proper car paint shop. they will advise on the different types of paint, they will also put it in a rattle can with a better nozzle than you get with the halfords rattle cans. I have done a few over the years, if you don't mind the work then have a go, it's all in the preparation

.

 

[C R]

I resprayed my frame last year. It is a 90's steel frame, which was quite chipped and battered, I am not sure of its origin, as I got it probably fifth hand when I was at Uni, and was covered in all sorts of stickers and stuff.

As pointed out by others, you will spend a fair bit of money on materials. I used the Spray.Bike cans from amazon, primer, matt black and lacquer, and you will also need wet and dry sand paper, as well as some kind of solvent for cleaning, I used nail varnish remover. There are a lot of videos on youtube showing how to do it.

Since there was a lot of crud I spent a lot of time cleaning up, probably a good 8 hours spread over a couple of days. I cleaned to the metal everywhere there was rusting or the paint was loose, but left the old paint on where it was sound. The Spray.Bike primer base is also a filler, so I used that to fill where I had taken out the paint, and then sand all to level, giving the paint I had left a good key, so that the new paint would bind. Spraying the filler base was a bit hit and miss in terms of coverage, but spraying the paint was quite easy, just don't lay it thick, do lots of thin layers instead, and if you get runs, either smooth them before they dry or sand lightly to smooth out. To do the painting I hung the frame from one of the cable stops using a cable tie, on to my bike stand, so that I could walk around spraying. Once the paint was on, then spray the lacquer. The lacquer was more difficult than the paint, and got a few runs. Also, give it a good few days for the lacquer to harden before you assemble everything again. The end result was reasonable for a first try, and much better than before, but it doesn't look professional by any means, and already have couple of scratches in the paint, which luckily haven't reached the metal.

It was lot of work, and it was fun to do it once, but I probably wouldn't do it again.

 

[Colin_P]

I've done quite a few along the years.

My latest was my old (1984) Peugeot I did last year in a satin black black finish.

Because of the relatively small areas involved rubbing down doesn't take too long. Price wise, it is worth every penny due to the satisfaction of doing the job. Paint wise, rattle cans are fine but make sure you use an etch primer as the base coat and build up from there.

On my Pug I used - etch primer - matt black base coat - clear satin laquer. And very pleased I was too with the result.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Make sure it's warm and dry when you spray or the paint will bloom and look awful, plus it will run more easily.

Have a go, tho powder coat is superb and cheap

 

[Globalti]

Wow, that satin black really does look good. How durable is it?

If you want an idea of the cost of a professional respray give Neil a call at Atlantic Boulevard in Bury. He can also reproduce the original transfers, he's a genius. I seem to recall the cost of respraying my pal's old Pinarello was about £200.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I spayed a frame many years ago now. It ended up an unholy fecking mess and I had to have it done properly by my LBS within a year.

You've either got it or you haven't.