How do you tell if a crack on your paintwork is superficial or affects the underlying metal? Am I right in saying you spray some light oil on the area, wipe off the excess and if the area round the crack becomes damp after riding, its bad news?

it could just go under the paint and leak out without there being a crack in the underlying metal. So only way to tell is to strip the paint. In the meantime mark the crack and see if it grows under use.

It might not, lots of Alu frames are born with very small cracks – liquation cracking – which do not always grow.

It is creaking quite badly under pedalling too so I'm pretty sure its gone 😥

Probably worth rubbing the paint back, then.

Probably worth rubbing the paint back, then.

Indeed and then take a piccy! What bike?

Dont really want to have a go at the paint as the frame is not that old, maybe tomorrow if the crack grows after riding;

Pic now

Looks bad IMO. Creaking is not nec a frame crack.

Oh so nasty…
You may die on tomorrows ride.

The manufacturer has added a reinforcing gusset in this area on the 2010 frames so it must be a high stress point.

That is pretty comprehensively f**ked.

Does not look good, what frame is it?

DW 5 Spot

Thats defo a crack. Right on the HAZ of the weld.

Thats defo a crack. Right on the HAZ of the weld.

From the photo (which may be misleading) the crack is in the body of the weld, not the HAZ.

Rub it back, let's have a look.
5 Spots are ali right? You'll need a dye penetrant test.
But it looks borked.

If it is cracked, Turner will sort you out. I'd email them the pic and see what they say.

I would say its stuffed.

The fact that the new ones are reinforced in that area points to a good case for a new replacement.

My 06 Teocali had a similar failure and the 07 frame had a far bigger tube in the same area. 07 frame still going strong.

Dye penetrant NDT.

For god's sake don't rub it down as per some of the advice on here, that's a warranty issue and you don't want to threaten that by taking sandpaper to your frame. Take the frame back where you bought it from, and wait for the replacement.

You'll need a dye penetrant test.

I don't even think you would need a dye penetrant test, that's pretty obviously a crack, its on the weld and it probably started from a liquation crack, like others said go for warranty. I'd be super peeved to find that.

It has a 2 year warranty and I know how good Turner have been with other small issues in the past, so hopefully a spanky new frame will be had.

I can't make out what bit of the frame that even is! Where is it?

From the photo (which may be misleading) the crack is in the body of the weld, not the HAZ

You're bang on right! I only gave it 1/2 a glance and the shadow looked like the transition between the bead and the HAZ! 😳

Either way its Fubar'd 😆

Rickos see my thread on the other channel.

toasted fella. i really wouldnt ride that any more.

>For god's sake don't rub it down as per some of the advice on here, that's a warranty issue and you don't want to threaten that by taking sandpaper to your frame.

Take a scalpel to the edge of the paint and lift it off carefully – looks like there's enough gap to get some purchase.

I can't make out what bit of the frame that even is! Where is it?

Right at the bottom of the seat tube where it meets the BB/shock mount section.

The crack apeared to have extended right round the weld after a session at Innerliethen tonight. I cleaned it up with a bit of IPA and the paint came away revealing it is borked!

It's time to stop riding it dude. I cannot believe you rode it with the crack the size it was in the first pic!

How do you tell if a crack on your paintwork is superficial or affects the underlying metal?

It helps if there's no paintwork left in the affected area 😉

I had the misfortune of identifying this crack on my Inbred 853 yesterday whilst replacing a chainring 🙁

For a few weeks before I discovered it the steering had been a bit funny whilst pedaling on tarmac as if the headset was too tight or the front tyre was semi-deflated, which they weren't 😕 It must have been excessive flexing in the cracked chainstay that was the cause.