I’ve got a white inbred frame that I’m thinking would be nice to respray. If I peel off the stickers, rub it down and mask it up, will a good can of car spray paint be OK to get it looking half decent?

Any tips gratefully received!

Cheers.

Will it look half deacent?

Probably not.

Say 2x cans @ £8 each

1 can of primer

1 can of nitromors

wire wool

sandpaper

masking tape

face mask

some kind of spray booth

May as well get it powdercoated as it’ll cost ~£50 for a good job, probably be better quality too, the only thing that’ll be better would be a proper respray at somewhere like argos costing ~£120.

depends on the colour a bit. matt / black colour will look fine. white silver very hard to get right. it’s all in the prep so where there area any scratches you will need to try and get lots of primer in there/ bit of filler etc.

I have sprayed a couple of bikes and i would prob go powder coating in the future. the time and effort is really not worth the (minimal) saving.

by the time you buy primer, top coat and laquer and a few sheets of wet and dry you are looking at about £25. powder coating can be found for £30-40.

So if I do the prep where can I get it powdercoated? A car respray place?

If you get it powdercoated, get them to prep it! If you’ve got some old headset and BB cups (no grease) pop them in to preserve the surfaces / threads. Also pop some old bolts in the bottle cage bosses and brake mount (without grease!).

Would have to agree, powdercoat is the way to go… Did an old Rockhopper frame with car paint – took my time, stripped it back to bare metal, lots of coats of primer and paint and rub downs between each new coat. Finished off with lacquer and new decals… Looked pretty good when done, but it is hellishly fragile, so easy to scratch.

I enjoyed the process, but when you add up how much it costs and then think about how durable it isn’t…

Yellow pages. Most places will strip the paint for you as well (chemical dip or blast it off if its a more ‘industrial’ powder coating place).

Whereabouts are you? If you’re in West Yorkshire I can reccommend a very good place (~£70 for a superb job) or a rubbish/cheap place (~£35 for my old Soul).

What frame is it?

If it’s aluminium then go with somewhere thats recomended as shot blasting will errode the frame, seen a few that came back looking like swiss cheese, even if it doesnt hole it’s going to be weeker! Steel is generaly fine as it’ll be harder than whatever they’re blasting with.

Most places IME prefer it if you nitromors/wire brush 99% of the old paint off and it’ll give you a chance to give the frame a once over to check for cracks you may have missed otherwise.

Think my local powder coat place is £70 minimum?

http://www.mikrisfinishers.com/

Yeah its an Inbred, steel frame. Perhaps a Nitromors strip would be best first off. Or maybe I should just leave with the Rat look!

When you say “prep”, powder coating will require it stripping back to bare metal & then ideally a light shotblast for a nice key for the new paint. New powder wont stick very well to old paint, if at all. And if the old stuff bubbles up underneath it will look a right mess.
If your anywhwere near me I could get it powdered black for nowt, but you would need to completely strip it.
Failing that Plastikote from Wilkos. Goes on nice & thick & glossy. Give it 3 weeks to harden off. If you dont want to lash out loads it will look ok.

Half of what TINAS said – no stripping or primer needed, prob one can paint and 1 lacquer.

If you are careful the finish can be good – but I’ve never got it as hard as a commercial job or powdercoat.

I’ve had it done for £30 in car/bike sprayers…