Hi all,

I’ve got an old frame I’m refurbishing, and I need to know I few things before I get painting.
I was going to spray it myself, but every thread or article I’ve read advises against it, and recommends powder coating instead for ~£40 a frame and fork (sound about right?).
I will get it coated in Racing Green, however I want cream stripes on the downtube, seatube and headtube. Could I do this myself with a rattlecan, and if so would I need a particular paint?
The bike also has a nasty ding on the chainstay, which I’m going to fill with car body filler and sand down- would this survive being baked in a powder coater’s oven, and would the powder adhere to it?

A lot of questions, but any help would be great!

I do struggle to believe the ~£40 price, when looking at argos cycles pricing page……

Does the cost include removing the original powder coating…this can be a PITA. Sounds about right to me. You can paint over powder no problem. Mask up the area then give it a rub with some scotchbrite or similar to take top off. A Halfrauds spraycan would be fine ( wont be as durable as powder but will stick fine). 2 pack acrylic sticks best but you cant get this in a can. Filler wont stand heat in oven…its 200 degrees C. Powder wont stick cos its not metallic. You can use chemical metal. But even that might react. You’d be better having it filled with weld and grind it back down…all cost though.. If you need any more help drop me line (email in profile…I have owned a powder coaters for the last 23 years)

Did something similar myself last year. As above, just used Halfords spraycan plus lacquer to add a cream panel over the powdercoat on the downtube (plus additional details on headtube and seatpost).

Has lasted pretty well, and it’s always satisfying doing something like this yourself.

Okay thanks for the help!
Given that I can’t get it powder coated with body filler, I’ll have to spray it myself. Do you know the best paint to use? I’ll be using an acid etch primer. Apparently hammerite is good, but not sure on the type.

EDIT: zigzag, you have very good taste!

I assume its ali if you’re etch priming it. Do you have access to a spray gun and compressor cos a 2 pack primer and 2 pack acrylic top coat would give a good finish. Single pack acrylic as above will be ok but will chip/scratch easier.

Plastikote is quite good. Limited colour choice but it goes on nice & thick & stays quite flexy after drying.
I’ll post some pics of a rattle can Plastikote job I did, when I get home.

No it’s steel, can I use a regular metal primer?
Unfortunately I don’t, it’ll have to be a rattlecan job, it’s only for a SS commuter and the bike is worth nothing, so not too worried about durability.
Any ideas on good spray paints? Appaently halfords is not the way to go

If you have a reasonable plumbing blowtorch (ideally the yellow bottle mapp gas ones) you can fill the ding with silver solder. That is absolutely fine with powder coat and won’t melt or react in any way. 1 small rod of silver from ebay with a smidge of flux would do if you can find it cheap enough (high silver content around 55% is best but pricy).

I’d always do powder in preference to rattlecan.

Smoothrite / Hammerite is pretty useless – expensive, brittle and can end up flaking off.

Roughly where are you based?

I silvered the cable guides on this using mapp gas

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/kona-unit-resprayed-and-fettled-piccies