Ok, So I want to paint my 4300 frame.

my three choices are these: powdercoating, or take it to the autobody, or do it myself.
If I go to the autobody or powdercoat it, it will cost me minimally a 100 dollars. The color I'm currently thinking is tangerine metallic, that honda puts on the element.


My biggest question, is what do people think is my best bet? Should I do it myself with spray paint and clear coat. How should I go about taking the paint off the bike. Thats my biggest problem. I've already had many suggestions. Sand it, use naval jelly, paint thinners. Just wondering if anyone has experience with painting, and can give me the safest, cleanest, and easiest way to get the paint off.


If I was to spray paint it, does it have to be a certain kind of paint? or can I just use anything?

Heres the current pic, everything stripped off. Cleansed it with dawn and used degreaser on greasy parts.

I like the colour it is now..

I recently paid to have mine re-sprayed, I think it is hard to get the paint tough enough without putting it into an oven.

You can do it yourself, rub down & reapply a few times, but I would suspect the paint will mark a little easier.

I think that there is spray paint specially for metal... but to get the paint of your frame you ( that is what I would do) could take a buffer and get all of

Pay someone to media blast it.

theres this airkraft coat remover, its a spray. this guy used it with great results... check comuter pics... page 40 on wards... im lazy.

I think Powdercoating is the way to go.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Trek-7000ZX-bike...QQcmdZViewItem


Heres an ebay listing for a better trek frame, in that ugly color, with a bunch of parts, for $299 buy it now. You are going to have almost that in that 4300 frame by the time you are done.

+1

I recently did the DIY rattle can paint job on a beater. Now I'm counting the days til the paint chips all the way off, then its off to a powdercoater.

I wish rattlecan paint was more durable...I can do a kick-a$$ job with the stuff and make it look totally custom, but breathe on it wrong and it disintegrates.

i would encourage you to leave it as is. you do not know what you are getting yourself into. the only way to get and an equally good as "factory" finish is to have it media blasted and probably powdercoated. to have someone do these will cost around 300 dollars.

I'm not buying a frame off ebay, and I'm not keeping it as is. I hate the frame color, and the whole reason I got this frame is to try out painting a frame.

I just wanted to know tips for taking the current paint off, and repainting it. I may or may not take it to an auto body to get painted, and it will definitely be under 300, if I buy the paint and already have the frame down to the metal.

I woulnd't recommend sanding it. I once bought a trek 4500 frame to do what you're doing now, and it was a waste of time. The paint was really hard to get off, we tried sanding it and it ended up looking like shit...

I was thinking of having my next bruiser frame custom painted. I'd only have it done professionally though.

I'm trying to avoid having to pay for sand blasting. I'm calling around to auto bodys as we speak, so far they all are asking me to bring it in so they can see it.

you can get it powdercoated for about 50 bucks...

Where?

most places will be more...they might do black, white, or red. i guarantee he cannot get his color choice for 50 bucks

yea, the ssf place for powdercoating just called them. 125 for a stock color powdercoat including sand blasting. If I sanded it myself it would be less. But they might have to fine tune it by sand blasting if I don't do a good enough job.

I called about 6 auto bodies, 3 of them were illiterates who told me to bring it in. One guy was helpful, he estimated 100 dollars, most of that is in supplies. For primer, paint, and clearcoat.

If you're just going to powdercoat over it without sanding the layer of paint you have on right now, then it's not going to last very long. The paint is gonna stick onto the bottom layer and not the metal frame, so it's easy to chip it off. Unless this frame means a lot to you, then get some professionals to do it.

For those of you that have used the rattle can method on your frames, what kind of spray paint did you use?? Was it the hardware store generic stuff or this stuff https://duplicolor.com/products/wheel.html you find at automotive stores.

The reason i ask is my friend decided to paint the rims on his car black and used the wheel specific paint and its been pretty durable. Plus its cheap so if it chips just touch it up.

Plus you only spent $100 on the frame, if it were me I wouldn't be able to justify spending more for the paintjob than I did for the frame in the first place. But that might just be me since I'm a cheap b*****d

Powdercoating is a process mostly only professionals do, therefore no I'm not trying to powdercoat anything myself.

I recommend what others have said...For what you want to pay, is it better off left alone. The rattle can will last only weeks. A decent powder job SHOULD cost at least $150. Auto Paint is about the same. Maybe you can sneak it in with someone elses paint job (use their color) to save a few. This is if you want it to last for a while. If you do not care about longevity use the rattle can and just keep re-coating it.

Another thing, aluminum requires a special primer to make the paint stick. In the old days they used zinc chromate, thats that green colored stuff you see inside old airplane bodies. Now they have some new primers, but regular paint out of a rattle can is not going to stick to bare aluminum for very long.

Put that thing up on ebay, I bet you get your money back.

Here's a quick tutorial on painting a frame.

The first set of isntructions involves sand blasting, so go down to "2" if you don't have an air compressor and gun.

Honestly, I'd take it to a professional because DIY can be fun and there's a chance it'll come out how you'd like it but with my experience of painting stuff other then art (I've done modded computer cases. And you think a bikes going to be hard to paint? Heh...) it's very hard to learn and do well, especially the first time.

Then again, you got this frame cheap and you can learn how to paint on this. Emtpy canvas.

But on that notion, I recommend giving it to a professional and asking them if you can stand off to the side and watch what they do and how they do it so you can learn.

Good luck and I think it'll look great in that color (but airbrushing some frames would be badass) so however you do it, best of luck.

Why are you never helpful?

ok, nevermind all that non-helpful stuff I just said