Re spray carbon road frame

Hi.

I’ve got a 2008/2009 Specialized Roubaix that is in brilliant condition, but I’ve never really liked the colour.

If it was steel I’d get it powder coated for next to no money, but not aware of how easy/cheap it is to do a carbon frame..

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Stu.

I’ve had estimates of £250-£300 for a single colour respray.

Wow, that’s much higher than I expected. Dislike the colour, but not sure I dislike it that much 😕

DIY? Mask it off and spray then get a car shop to lacquer

Is that the mostly red Roubaix with bare lacquer in the middle of the tubes? I’m interested to know whether you’ve spotted any witness cracks in the paint at tube junctions or on the fork crown or the BB. I recently sold my own 2006 Roubaix Comp complete with paint cracks, all clearly illustrated on Ebay with an explanation that they had been present for 5000 miles and everything completely open. Somebody bought it for £395 and is very happy with it.

If I was you I wouldn’t paint over the existing paint, for this very reason. The paint is very thick, hard, glossy and brittle and cracks easily.

No, mines the dark blue one. No cracks anywhere, I’d just prefer something a little different looking. Going on the potential cost, think I’ll leave it as it is.

The eternal dilemma for me is whether technology has moved on so much so that my frame is now past it, or whether a Specialized carbon frame from 2009 was ahead of it’s time.

I’m in the same dilemma. I think that I will be going with Enigma for my Trek Madone 6.5. All the paint has to come off by hand which is why the cost is so high. The only issue on mine is some bubbling around the holes on the brake bridge. The paint is really thick and peeling. Had wondered about asking them to just prep, mask a small area, but I think it might be better to do the whole job.

Squin, technology has moved on massively since 2009, I bought a 2013 Roubaix Comp and liked it but then I bought a 2014 Roubaix Sport SL4 and it is an absolutely fantastic ride in comparison. The difference in one year is clear.

On frame painting you need to talk with the chap at Atlantic Boulevard in Bury, Lancashire. His work is absolutely top-notch, he says he does a lot of re-finishing of carbon frames and they come out looking like new. He’s not quick though, expect a couple of months turnaround.

I resprayed my Giant Trinity recently. It was a massive ball ache. Getting the old clear coat off without damaging the underlying gelcoat took ages, with just pure sanding with about 5 different grades of paper. Then i had to use adhesion promoter as well as a decent primer to get a good base to paint on.

I hope the results are worth it

Before

During

After

Looks very good.

Thanks! Honestly the sanding was a killer. Took me a few weeks to get it to a state where i could shoot some primer onto it. The colour was the easy bit!

Have been tempted down this route. Me doing the sanding and an acquaintance who owns a car shop doing the spraying. Special paint?

Any issue with the plastic ports for the cables?

There’s no problem if you are an OCD freak like me and mask them up proper

As for paint, nothing special but the primer I used was an etch primer. About 4 coats with a sand between coats. Base coat about 4 coats and then 3 coats of matt clear.

Try these people for a quote. Not cheap but did a superb job on
a frame of mine.

http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.html

Thanks for input everyone..

No thanks to Globalti who pretty much confirmed my niggling thoughts, damn you, this could get expensive! 😉

Skinny boy, I wish that I had your patience or skill, that looks fantastic.