as the title is it any good , what to avoid , I assume the existing paint will be powder coat ( on one Fatty ) will the spray paint be compatible or do I need to strip it completely.
I want to change the color but spend as little as possible

I always used Hammerite Smoothrite when painting BMX frames which take a proper beating in skatepark / street environments

keyed existing paint with fine wet and dry paper, degreased to remove grease and fingerprints, several good coats and a decent finish which lasts a long time

only downside is quite limited range of colours, big advantage its designed specifically to be applied to existing paint

Make sure your workspace has a heater. Don’t even bother if it’s below 10c as the paint will take forever to dry and stay really soft.

Halfords rattle cans are fine. Warm them up in a bucket of warm water first. The finish will be much smoother. If you get any runs there’s nothing you can do, wait for it to dry then sand it off.

I’ve had a couple of frames stripped and powder coated for about £30 at the local paint shop. For that price its silly not to, I’d suggest having a look near you! Better finish and more robust than any home job.

Resprayed a steel roadbike years ago. Took ages to prep / clean up the lugged frame, needed a few coats, the paint ran and the lacquer was uneven. Got it redone professionally once I had the funds.

Unless you are time rich and money poor, just get it powdercoated.

Got a frame done for £40, fantast quality, much much better and harder finish than I could ever do.

@£7 a tin, you will need two tins of paint,(4-5 layers) a tin of primer and tin of lacquer. A tenner for that much Labour? Bargain.

Yeah, what’s the actual goal? If you want a project, or if you just want a quick and ugly colour change and you don’t care much about how it lasts, then aerosol DIY can work. The main problem is clearcoat though, aerosol clears just aren’t very tough.

Considering the price of paint, and the time involved, it always makes more sense to get it powdercoated tbh.

Ok rattle cans now history .
been browsing and saw Hydrodipping anyone had this done to a frame
or done it themselves

if you talk nicely to the paint shop, they can sometimes do you deal on the next job they’ve got in, as long as you’re not too fussy about the colour. You’ll have to part with readies though.

I got an Inbred repainted in proper Ferrari red for £30!

I did a few frames as a student with rattle cans. It’s pretty cheap but takes ages. On the ones where I fully prepped and took my time, the finish was rather good, but it was probably 5-6 hours of labour to achieve that. For the £30 or so to get it powder coated I’d just do that these days. On the other hand it was quite satisfying.

Get it chemically stripped and re powder coated. I pay £10 for the strip and £10 for the powder coat. You will barely be able to buy the sand paper, primer and lacquer to paint it yourself for that.
I used to spray mine myself when I was a kid and would spend hours sanding then priming, painting and lacquering. Never again when I can get a hard wearing professional finish for so cheap.

I did a few when I was younger, with mixed results. But like the others say, I’ve looked into it in more recent years, and when you add up the price of paint, sandpaper, and all the rest of it, you can pretty much have someone do it for you, and with a much better finish.

I used to spray mine myself when I was a kid and would spend hours sanding then priming, painting and…

Me too. Long before I knew anything about paint stripper. Many hours were spent sanding.