Rejuvenating Paintwork

[Bristolian]

Hi folks,

The paintwork on my 16 year old Specialized Allez is looking rather tired so I'm thinking of bringing it back to life again. I have spoken to Specialized customer services here in the UK about replacement graphics but they don't have any from that far back and even suggested eBay as a possible source. I've looked on there but don't see anything that matches what's on the bike so I'd rather not go down the full repaint route.

This leaves rejuvenation of the existing paintwork somehow. As you can see from the photos below the frame is predominantly white (or should be) with red and black graphics which I assume are under a layer of clear lacquer. In the third photo you can, I hope, see one problem of what looks like ingrained grime; on the head tube the paint has been worn by contact with the brake and gear cables and in other places paint has been chipped off either by stones or other means.

My question to the collective then is how best to rejuvenate the paintwork whilst retaining the existing graphics?

 

[biggs682]

That's patina
I would be tempted to try a good quality car polish first and see what it looks like afterwards

 

[midlife]

Maybe some G3 to get rid of the grime and very top surface of the clear coat ?

 

[fossyant]

Good polish/G3 and a touch up pen. White is a bugger for looking scruffy, but you'll be surprised how it comes up. Black is almost as bad. Say's someone with a pearl white bike - nightmare, and two black/white bikes. The two black and white bikes came second hand and looked a bit scruffy. Nothing a good polish/t-cut/G3 and touchup couldn't sort.

 

[All uphill]

Have you considered having the bike powder-coated in a different colour and skipping the graphics?

Then instead of having just another old Specialized you'd have something unique.

I recommend custard yellow. Or purple.

Or orange.

Or lime green.

Or kingfisher.

Just not black.

 

[KuroSan]

As others have suggested, I'd try a basic t-cut or something and see how that works out, if it doesn't really do anything, it's worth investing in a polishing kit that you can use with a drill and try a slightly more coarse polishing compound before polishing to a shine again.
How are those decals attached? Are they on top of the clearcoat or underneath it? Because that's an entire new level of work needed if you want to replace them and they've been cleared over!

 

[fossyant]

The graphics will be under thick clearcoat - they will be painted on and not stickers (including the logos).

 

[Anthony-C]

I reserve T-cut for basket cases, it's that aggressive. I'd start with a 'polish' like AutoGlym that has a bit of bite and maybe progress to polishing compounds like G3 or Autoglym's pre-cleaner, that one seems to dissolve grime with little if any abrasion needed. A power mop's best with a light touch as the small contact area concentrates the force.

 

[fossyant]

Autoglym is superb, but both of the bikes I bought second hand, needed some t-cut in places to take scratches down - you don't need any machinery on a bike. And you do a bit, see how it looks, then maybe do a bit more. Don't go all in.

 

[rogerzilla]

Meguiar's ScratchX is a super-mild cutting compound that has got me out of all sorts of trouble.

 

[MontyVeda]

I didn't get any decent before and after photos of the my Brommie. That had loads of scratches on the tube so i got some matching green touch-up paint from halfords and used it as a filler, applying it with my thumb so it went into the scratches and got rubbed off the frame, then a few layers of some T-cut type stuff and good buff with a drill attachment worked better than expected. The scratches are still there but aren't noticeable unless you're looking for them.

 

[midlife]

If you want to clean without abrasives I used to use this on my pampered Impreza

https://swissvax.co.uk/products/cle...CD0OawVlx-LQ5qmuyzbP0Ipny5Y_q3UmJp6yg7dsitbFM

 

[Bristolian]

Have you considered having the bike powder-coated in a different colour and skipping the graphics?

Then instead of having just another old Specialized you'd have something unique.

I recommend custard yellow. Or purple.

Or orange.

Or lime green.

Or kingfisher.

Just not black.

I have thought about a complete repaint with a custom colourway but that would probably cost me more than the bikes worth, not that matters too much. Maybe some time in the future but right now I'd just like to make it look better than it does.

 

[Bristolian]

As others have suggested, I'd try a basic t-cut or something and see how that works out, if it doesn't really do anything, it's worth investing in a polishing kit that you can use with a drill and try a slightly more coarse polishing compound before polishing to a shine again.
How are those decals attached? Are they on top of the clearcoat or underneath it? Because that's an entire new level of work needed if you want to replace them and they've been cleared over!

Definitely under the clear coat.

 

[Bristolian]

The graphics will be under thick clearcoat - they will be painted on and not stickers (including the logos).

Interesting, I assumed they were stickers and Spcialized customer services certainly didn't say anything about them being painted. Maybe they didn't know - the bike is probably older than the guy I was talking to