I have an old steel frame that I want to rebuild for my little sister to ride around town, and I’d ideally like to strip off the old paintjob and repaint it myself. Anyone ever done this? What did you use to strip the old paint, and what kind of paint/coating did you use to repaint it?
Thanks!
I used some kind of commercial paint stripper on an old steel bike recovered from a dumpster than I built into a fixie commuter years ago. I can’t recall the brand, but it was nasty toxic noxious shit, required thick protective gloves. I started out with a rattle can paint job, but it wasn’t very durable, so at some point I found a place that would powder coat it for around 40 bucks as I recall. Powder coat is a great finish if you don’t want anything fancy, but more durable than wet paint.
There’s an aerosol product called “aircraft paint stripper”, available in auto repair stores. I’m sure you’ll get cancer with just a whiff of it, but it makes paint slide right off anything you spray.
I like to use a simple rattle-can primer on first. I’ve followed this step with a few different finishes:
Spray a few coats of rattle-can stuff on, and finish with a few coats of clear-coat spray. Depending on the level of abuse, you might need to put on new clear coat each year. This could probably be avoided by using higher-quality automotive paints.
Put a second priming layer on with a textured spray. Again, check your auto supply store. If you follow this coat with a color, you end up with a faux-powdercoated look.
I sanded mine down by hand and used a power drill with some sandpaper for the lugs. I rattle canned it with some black “chalkboard” paint. It turned out pretty slick. Since the chalkboard paint was flat black, it hid the imperfections from the sanding/painting. It was also fun to write on it with chalk. For a couple of weeks I had a Cervelo. Then it was a Madone. Then my daughters drew flowers and stuff on it. That wasn’t cool.
Brad
I stripped and repainted an old bike years ago. Seemed simple enough. I tried paint strippers, wire wheels, brake fluid (that stuff will take off just about anything!) and nothing worked very well. BECAUSE it was already powder coated. Eventually after many hours with a wire wheel on a drill, I got it done.
I sprayed it with a rattle can and got a good finish. To make it more durable than plain paint, I clear coated it as well.
A plain paint job can look a little like a stolen bike, so I added a few lines here and there, of automotive pin striping in a different colour. I put it on directly over the paint, then did the clear coat.
Mine ended up looking surprisingly good IMHO.
I’m about to make a single speed out of an old steel frame, but will be getting a local hotshot car painter to do it, as I want it “candy apple” finish, and turquoise colour, with some nice white hand painted white pinstripe accents, with tiny gold accents over the white pinstriping, then clear coat of course.
You are a good brother. I’d want the bike if I went to all the trouble of stripping and painting it!
I’ve seen powdercoat quotes for bike frames as low as $75-100(ballpark) including paint stripping.
I just had it done. It looks great. It was about $130 for sandblasting the old paint and a new powder coat for a steel frame and fork in Portland, OR.
From what I read, I wouldn’t recommend stripping paint yourself. I also get the impression that you won’t get much if any of a discount on powdercoating the frame if you strip it yourself.
I would recommend wiping everything down with acetone prior to priming or painting. The paint sticks better.
You could spend under $100 to powdercoat and it’ll last longer. DYI- stripper from home depot and wet sand with 320 grit, wipe with acetone, 2 coats of primer, 2 coats base color, decals and clear coat. You can get the paint from Home Depot or your local auto shop. Good Luck…
Media blast and powdercoat.
Maybe you can find somewhere local who can ´add it on´ to another job if you´re not fussy about the colour, might save a few bob.
I wouldn´t muck around doing it myself - it either requires colossal amounts of time (elbow grease method) or lots of nasty chemicals which I wouldn´t want near my skin or lungs.
Does anyone know if you can powder coat a carbon fiber frame? the curing process is done in an oven around 450-475 degrees. do you think this type of temp is dangerous to the carbon?
Does anyone know if you can powder coat a carbon fiber frame?
No. Powder coating is applied using a static charge. CFRP doesn’t carry the charge as well as metal. And…
the curing process is done in an oven around 450-475 degrees. do you think this type of temp is dangerous to the carbon?
Only if you don’t mind your bike balling up and turning black at the bottom of the oven. Most matrices are cured somewhere between 250-350 degrees. Reheat the frame to these temps will ruin the frame pretty quick. Even epoxies will warp.
Thank for the heads up. I guess i’ll just look into having it repainted.
Not that it matters for carbon frames but you can powdercoat non conductive surfaces. Quite a bit of wood is powdercoated these days and low cure powders go down to 250F