Ok I have an old ahem…roady frame I would like to paint myself.

Anyone know of any good guides on the best ways to strip/prep the frame and then paint using some old but reliable paint guns I have yet to borrow 🙂

Thanks

Best way? Take it to a local place that does alloy wheel refurbishment, get it powder coated. Will cost you around forty quid, instead of begging and borrowing stuff from people. And it’ll look a million times better.

As above, but if your keen I’d rub it down tbh. Stripping is messy & never gets it all off unless its dipped. Unless you have a decent compressor & somewhere to do it, spraying is not something you can really do in the garage or on the drive. It goes everywhere. The paint & thinners will set you back £50 easily.

There’s always the rattle can method…

Rub it down smooth, so the glossy finish is matt. Any bare bits can be primed, just let it dry then rub down the primer too. Use 800 grade paper. For top coat. I always recomend Plastikote, as it goes on nice & thick, & seems to resist chipping better. Car sprays are ok but very thin & you use loads. The results will depend on how much effort you put in, but if you take your time it can look good. Folk tend to start it, get impatient then rush it & spoil it. You can apply decals then lacquer over them if really keen. Thin coats, let it dry between is the key to spraying.

Me…I’d drop it round a powder coaters.

As above either accept a rattlecan finish or dip and powdercoat

Bit late, but found a few pics of my last rattle can special…CLICK

02012010143 by pten2106, on Flickr

02012010144 by pten2106, on Flickr

02012010141 by pten2106, on Flickr

Shot blast and Powdercoat for a quick,cheap,good finish.
Otherwise in regard to stripping it I would always bare metal it for the best finish, your options there are to do it by hand with nitromors a scraper and wire wool.
It is time consuming but it is possible to get it fully stripped this way,remember to give it a good rinse with clean water once done.
The next option it to either get it dipped or blasted at a powdercoaters, I had a old giant frame blasted recently for £15.

Once stripped give it a coat of primer as soon as possible to protect it from corrosion, etch primer is ideal,you can then go over with a high build primer if there’s any pitting you need to fill.
Couple of coats of your final colour leave to dry for a day or two, flat it off with some 1500 wet n dry,then a final top coat.

Leave it to harden off for a week ,then give it a good buff.