CafeVelo

My newly built salsa casseroll got gouged on my bike carrier on the way home from the shop. I have no clue how, but that carrier is now trash. There are several large cuts in the paint that go down to bare steel. Anyone have a suggestion on touching up the paint?

rekmeyata

There is only two ways to do this, either contact Salsa and find out if they carry touch up paint for your bike color in particular or if they have Testors paint code that will match then take that code to a hobby store and have them find you the paint. The other way is to take the bike to a hobby store and try to match the paint with Testors by eyeballing it, this could be trickier than it sounds because sometimes the color in the jar won't match the paint when you apply it to the metal.

I hate some bike carriers, I had one that damaged the paint on one of my bikes too, luckily it was a bike that had lots of scratches anyways. Hitch style carriers seem to work better but it does require a hitch receiver to be installed if you don't have one already, this can be done at home, fortunately you don't need a real expensive receiver because you won't be carrying that much weight so a cheap one will more than suffice; but you need to get a nice hitch bike carrier because cheap ones will bounce too much.

alcjphil

Is it the carrier that is trash, or the bike? Question isn't clear. Where is the damage? I look at bike carriers as a mixed blessing and I buy cars based on how well they can transport my bikes inside the car. Your bike is far better protected when transported inside your vehicle

Andrew R Stewart 

Down and dirty is to get some paint that matches best possible and fill in the scratches best you can. Fingernail polish and model paint are two common sources as are auto finishing shops. Of course the scratches will still stand out.

The high road is a repaint. This is pretty much the only way to insure the new like look.

Between these are some attempts to prep, match, blend that usually don't work as well as the efforts suggest they might. If the color is a metallic, a prism or flip flop, a pearlescent, a fade or other finish other that a simple solid these comments are even more likely Andy.

Andrew R Stewart 

I'll add that the only car racks I use are roof ones with an axle clamp with wheel trough. I see so much damage from the common car racks that I just can't let my babies suffer. Cable kinking. casing compression. Paint damage. Exhaust melting rubber. Then there's the car paint...

Bikes have never been designed to carry loads and stresses along their tubes. It still amazes me that people buy and ride bikes made of thin wall and woven fiber plied bikes and let them hang from a car rack like a sack of dirt. Andy.

zebede

high quality folding bikes go in car for transport to remote locations

diamond frame bikes almost exclusively ridden from home (daily)

but thats me

If i were a hard core roadie or mountain biker, new bike owner, I would listen to andrew

rekmeyata

I can't count the number of times I've heard of someone driving their car into their garage and smashing their bikes into the top of the garage door forgetting they were up there, not only damaging their bikes but messing their cars roof up and the garage door. There is no polls to see which method has damaged the most bikes but I really think the roof racks have cost more in damage due to both the bikes, the car roof/rack, and the garage door getting damaged.

xiaoman1 

Sorry to hear this...post some pics of the damage as well as the carrier...other might benefit from seeing the problems.
Mini-countryman has a nice one..wrap top tube with insulation, good to go...
Regards, Ben

Andrew R Stewart 

I expected this type of reply. I can only say that an inattentive driver will do all kinds of damage to car, bike and whatever else is about them regardless of how the bike is carried. But an off the back bike carrier is exposed to other drivers, especially in parking lots. And again, the ways a bike is hung by most off the back carriers isn't how bikes are made to deal with daily life. We choose our poisons, some just do harm in ways many don't think about. Andy.

Retro Grouch 

There's "perfect paint match" and there's "not exactly". "Perfect paint match" is hard at best and sometimes impossible to achieve. "Not exactly" actually looks worse than an untreated scratch because it draws your attention. My solution is to protect the metal with clear fingernail polish.

rekmeyata

Exactly, a lot of people just aren't thinking when they're driving, a lot of this driving into the garage with the cars on top is probably happening because people are too intent on their cell phones and not intent on their driving, some are just over tired and forget about the bikes after a long trip.

I carry my bikes one of two ways depending on which vehicle I'm using, when I go camping with the trailer I installed a fork holder into the top rail of the side of the pickup (staggered them so can squeeze more bikes on in less space), and throw the front wheels into the trailer; this is the least expensive way to carry a bike securely plus you can lock each bike with a padlock, see: Amazon.com: Delta Bike Hitch Pro Locking Fork Mount: Sports & Outdoors

But for the car I use the Bonelocker, after much research I think this is the best hitch style bike carrier on the market and it is very sturdy; see: Bonelocker: Premium Hitch Mounted Bike Carrier for your Truck, SUV, or Car Made in the USA I can also transfer this to the pickup truck or to any vehicle that has a hitch. Obviously any rear rack be it bumper mounted or hitch mounted you do have the very slight potential of someone hitting you from behind, so I'm always mindful to keep an eye on mirror as I'm stopping to make sure the other dope stops.

All this stuff about how a bike can get damaged while on any type of carrier is rare, I do think the mid to lower cost bumper style car carriers are simply to flimsily built to handle more than one bike regardless if they have 2 or 3 spots. When I had one of those type of carriers and after I learned from the damage I got on my MTB I bought pipe insulation and covered the top tube and any tubes that might bang against each other or bang against some component like the pedals.

rekmeyata

There are quite a few manufactures that actually paint their bikes using the same paint colors found in the Testors color line to make it easy to get touch up paint.

spdracr39

Scratches on a brand new bike always look worse to the victim than they really are. Touch it up with the best match model paint and let it go. You will always know and be able to see it but no one else will unless you tell them. I always protected my bike with cut up pool noodles after my first scratch experience then at first financial opportunity got a rack that cradles the wheels. It is still exposed to being hit by inattentive drivers but that is an acceptable risk for me. Scratches suck but won't affect the bikes performance so have a beer and relax it will be ok.

HillRider

Having used roof racks for several years and, while never having a mishap, came close a couple of times, I have settled on a hitch rack for my bikes. I have Swagman that supports two bikes in wheel trays and secures them with padded hooks over the to tube that only prevent swaying and bouncing out and carry no weight. It's easy to load, easy on the bikes, requires no wheel removal and can be locked for security. It's a fairly cheap rack and Yakima and Thule make similar, more sophisticated models for a LOT more money but it works well.

As to accident vulnerability, if you drive into or under something that damages your bikes and/or car on a roof rack, the cost of the damage is on you. If you are rearended with the bikes on a hitch rack, the other driver should be almost automatically at fault. Nothing is perfectly safe but a hitch rack is a decent alternative. Also a hitch rack is quieter and has much less effect on gas mileage.

CafeVelo

For some reason it never crossed my mind to use testors paint. I've done touch ups with auto paint before with ok results. Theres a hobby shop nearby that I'll go to tomorrow. Looking closely at the way the paint is done, most of the thickness is clearcoat, so I guess as long as I carefully layer it it might come out flush.

If I trust that carrier again it will be only with a towel or foam or something around the bike.

Andrew R Stewart 

What great idea! Hopefully next Spring I will be needing two new frames painted and I'll look at the Testors' for a possible choice. I've painted my frames with Sears marine deck paint (had roller application instructions on the gallon can...) and with mixing together what ever small remains of Imron I had left over before. So I guess I'm not too picky about the color. Andy.

HillRider

Another possibility is to pick an automotive color you like. Touch up and even entire repaint amounts can be had from any auto parts store by matching the color code.

Camilo

Really? It seems interesting, but I've never heard of that. I'd love it.

rekmeyata

They use to do this more than most people think, not sure about the Carbon Fiber bikes with their weird paint jobs if they're still doing this. That's why I love nude (hmmm...) titanium-there is no paint to worry about!

You can also take a testors color that is close and mix either white or black to make it lighter or darker but you have to do a small amount at a time and then test the color to see how close it is. I've always touched up my steel bikes because no paint on bare metal results in eventual rusting, and using just clear nail polish doesn't do it for me. My main mountain bike I just leave it scratched up because then it looks like what a mountain bike should look like!

HillRider

+1000 I've got three Litespeed bikes, one is almost 20 years old and the other two are 10, and there isn't a chip in the paint of any of them. Touchup paint? Whatever for?

ramzilla

Electrical tape. As long as your bike is black, white, red, yellow or some other color it comes in. It works wonders on the real bad spots. Stops rust. Sounds crazy but, it works.

rekmeyata

Electrical tape won't stop rust, in fact over time water seeps under the tape then all that moisture just sets there eating away at the exposed metal making the rust situation worse than if had be just sitting exposed! At least covering the scratch with clear enamel seals off the metal.

CafeVelo

I bought some testors paints and mixed a near perfect match. I applied a base coat which looks much better already. Once it dries I'll airbrush a layer to clean up brushstrokes then apply clearcoat. I expect it will pass moderate inspection. I love steel for this reason, so much easier than matching gelcoat on my carbon bike. As for the carrier, it's going to have more padding added.

ramzilla

I'm sorry but, I must disagree. I lived in S. Florida for 6 years in the early 90's. Drove an old white 84 Caprice. Had ordinary Yakima gutter clamp racks. Carried two kayaks on the roof & two bikes on a trunk rack. Paddled & rode in the FL Keys. Got some nasty scratches in the car paint loading & unloading things. Salt air would cause flash rust. Was working as a construction supervisor at the time. Grabbed some white electrical phase tape & covered the scratches. That 3M tape held up through rain, hurricanes, Florida sun, & everything else for years! May have replaced a piece or two along the way. Can't remember. Sold the car in 97 with the tape still on it. 3M electrical tape is some pretty tough stuff. It completely stopped the rust on that car. That's it - that's all - done deal!

PatrickGSR94

NOOO!!!! Stay FAR away from any bike rack that touches any part of the frame in any way!!! I have a Thule hitch platform-style rack where the bike tires sit in two cradles, and a vertical bar with padded hook goes over the top tube. The padding wore down the paint on the frame from rubbing, and also the padding itself wore holes in it down to the bare metal hook, which then removed paint from the frame in several places. Both my bikes and my wife's bike all have frame finish damage in the same spots from that rack. And since my bike frame is flat black, I'll NEVER be able to touch it up and have it look right.

No, the only suitable rack for those who want to preserve their bike finish AND not touch the paint on their car is a platform-style hitch rack that secures the bike with hooks going over the tires. Anything else you'll end up with damage somewhere at some point.