jdawginsc 

Wonder if it works in powder coat.

i have a bottle that I will use at some point. Do you rough up the surface a bit before applying?

Andy_K 

I don't think it will have any effect on powder coat. That stuff is tenacious.

Most of the bikes I've stripped have been pretty rough to start with, but I did find that the 1972 Nishiki had some patches that initially resisted stripping. Sanding those spots took care of it.

Velo Mule

You can get just as good a result with rattle cans as you can with a spray gun and compressor. I have used both. Everything can be sanded smooth and polished so you don't have to rely on the finish that you lay down. I like the two part primers and use them when I can. I have also used the single part primers out of spray cans when working in the winter in my basement. I can't run my compressor from my garage to my basement and really don't want to spray a 2k paint in my house, even if it is the basement.

For color coats I like automotive paint from a spray gun, however, I have used paints out of spray cans with excellent results. This has included Duplicoler and House of Kolor. I have also used Rustoleum black since it was a solid paint color (non-metallic) it worked fine.

For clear coats, I like automotive 2k clear coats. There are some like Spray Max and Eastwood that have 2k spray paint cans with the activator in the bottom. I haven't tried them since I have a compressor and gun, but if I didn't, I would try it.

I have also used the services of Lettering.com with excellent results. In fact, I could spend hours and days trying different lettering.


This is Rustoleum Black without a clear coat painted 40 years ago.


This was painted with a 2k automotive paint. The color is from a Jaguar paint code that a friend of mine had left over from a project. The lettering came from Lettering.com.


This is from a single component House of Kolor paint that was package in a spray can for me. It was applied over Rustoleum Aluminum colored paint. House of Kolor recommends doing their flamboyant or candy apple paint over black. That might have change the color a bit. It looked great in person. The problem was I was looking for Campus green and ended up removing the paint and getting the right color. But I would go this way again. Results were excellent.


This is Duplicolor out of a spray can from the Auto Parts store. t was applied over Rustoleum aluminum colored paint. There is no clear coat on this at this point.


This is a single component paint from a guy that sells the original formula for Schwinn paints. Except that the original paints were lacquers and, I believe, this was an enamel. It doesn't matter, I was after just getting the color and the metallic flake right. It has an automotive 2k clear coat on top.

This is to show that you can get good results with spray cans or a lower end spray gun. The gun is a Sharpe Finex. This may not compare to the results that [MENTION=184012]Doug Fattic[/MENTION] or other pros can get but it is not bad either. Someday I would like to take his class. I think I will have to retire by then. I've already learned a bunch from him for free here on BikeForums.

By the way the Harbor Freight spray gun is pretty good for an inexpensive gun. I use it for 2k primers.

wrk101

Painting tip for restorations: Don't. Bikes are only original once. A quality paint job, one that lasts takes a lot of work and is not cheap. Then the requests pour out: "where do I get decals?"

I have treated rust and touched up as needed on keeper bikes.

I have restored a lot of different stuff over the years. Restoration never involved repainting. Preserving original finish? Sure, I've put a lot of effort into that.

bark_eater 

Tangential but,....I've got a short list of bikes that I want to get powder coated and was wondering if it was worth it to chemically strip the paint first to minimize the amount of sandblasting that frame gets.

martl

You need to pick a quality blasting shop (as opposed to that buddy who works as a mechanic in a quarry and has access to a sandblaster), they will pick the compound that doesn't damage the material. A steel frame would be hard to damage anyway (unless its that fella from the quarry - the shrapnell they use is downright nasty).

randyjawa 

I tend to agree with wrk101 when he says that repainting is a poor idea for a vintage bicycle. Long have I resisted the urge to repaint my Legnano Gran Premio. But most of the paint is OK so, with that in mind, I am preserving the original patina)...


Repaint IS pricey, even if one goes rattle can (1 primer, 2 color grey and red, clear, art, sand paper, rubbing compound - it all adds up). And, again, I agree it is difficult to get really good durable results...


This given to me for free Torpado would set me back a few bucks and plenty of time for a repaint and art replacement. But, in the Torpado's case, a repaint seemed the best way to go considering the damage paint and really damaged art (gotta love those Italian quick release decals)...




I would not have even started a repaint if the environmentally damaged chrome did not come back to a reasonable appearance (new paint with damaged chrome is not worth the effort, in my opinion...


But the chrome came up pretty good with some careful cleaning, rubbing and waxing...


And, now the brushed on Rustoleum paint is two years old and has had plenty of time to dry/harden. I am still very careful with my repainted machines because the paint will never achieve bullet proof status...

Colorado Kid

My Father use to paint cars for a living. I can tell one thing, unless you have profession equipment and experience you almost always mess it up. Go to a custom frame builder or painter and get the job done right. Yes, it's going to be expensive but it will look so much better when you're done.

RB1-luvr

I had my RB-1 done professionally. Ya, it was expensive, but seven years later I'm still quite happy with it. It's holding up well.

I'm also a fan of patina. I've touched up, replaced decals and clear-coated a few frames. They look good from 10' away.

PoorInRichfield

I'm also a hobbyist bike painter (definitely not a professional) and I think it's absolutely worth repainting an old bike... either as a restoration or perhaps get creative. My first restoration was a 1987 Schwinn Tempo that I did with spray cans and 2K clear. Quite frankly, I think the end result looks way better than the original paint did. It was a lot of work and definitely not cost-effective, but I'm very pleased with the end result. Doing it myself has made me appreciate why professional bike painting costs as much as it does.
For steel lugged frames, it's my preference to strip the paint so that the new paint shows all the details of the lugs. I've seen a few repaints where the paint was put on too thick and the lug details looked "blobby" and rounded, which doesn't look good to me. For smooth frames without lugs, I'm not sure it matters if you strip the paint or not as long as the original painted is properly scuffed to promote the adhesion of the new paint and all chips and scratches are filled in. Any imperfections in the base will be amplified once the new paint is applied.
For most paints, yes. For my next project I'm likely going to use Kryon Fusion rattle-can paint as they claim the paint does not require primer and has 5x the adhesion of other can paints. I'm considering going this route as I don't like seeing a sliver of the primer color show-up on tape edge areas.
As mentioned already, if durability is your goal, powder coating is the answer. However, if you're a perfectionist and want to do more than a single color, rattle cans or an airbrush is your path. I personally don't care for how powder coating looks as I've seen too many examples were the powder coating looks like extremely thick paint with a somewhat orange-peel finish. With regular paints, you can sand between coats and polish the end product (if you use a 2k clear) and get amazingly smooth and professional results.
Gloss, in my opinion. My current road bike came with a flat black finish and while it looks pretty, it's a pain in the butt to keep clean. You can't wax or polish a matte / flat finish and over time, the finish will eventually look semi-gloss as the matte finish wears down.
It depends. If you want to do fades from one color to another, an airbrush provides much more control over the spray and will yield much better results. It's usually easy to spot when someone does a paint fade with can as the paint doesn't look evenly distributed and the transition isn't smooth. If you want to retain the utmost detail, an airbrush is the way to go, but good results can be obtained with cans, especially if you're only doing a single color.
No. I do my painting outside as I don't want paint fumes circulating throughout my house via the furnace fan. Outdoor painting is tricky, however. It's best on a wind free day and the temperature and humidity has to be in the correct range. If you paint for a living, then you'd certainly want a paint booth so you can paint whenever you want.
I suppose it's possible to get decent results printing your own decals with a lot of trial and error. If you use a 2K clear over the top of the decals, then I'm not sure it matters much how the decals are created as long as they survive the clear coat. Ever since VeloCals went out of business, I've been struggling with finding a decal shop that can reproduce the Schwinn decals I need. I've actually drawn the decals into a digital vector format, but now comes the decision of whether to use waterslide decals, vinyl transfer decals, or something else. I personally don't like seeing an edge around the decals which is one issue I had with the VeloCal decals I used in the past. Even with a 2K clear over the top of the decals, it's still pretty easy to see the edge of the decal backing which the OEM finish obviously did not have.

Good luck on your hobby as I think you'll enjoy it. It's time consuming, expensive, and sometimes frustrating... all the things a hobby should be! Please invest in proper safety equipment such as a decent mask as you don't want to jeopardize your health for the sake of silly bike project. Also note that anything that lands on your skin will be absorbed into your body, so cover-up from head to toe when painting.