Hello,

My bike is REALLY scratched, but I'd rather not fork over $300 for a pro to do a repaint when I already have an (plenty big enough) air compressor. I don't have any paint guns or paint tools yet, but that's where my question starts. I'm sure there are many of you that are quite experienced with painting frames. Could you all recommend me what to buy and give me tips? Like paint guns, best paint brands, how to paint, primers, clearcoats, whether or not to make custom decals that look the same as the original but don't scratch off since they're under the clearcoat, stripping, how to take the bike apart without forgetting how to reassemble, whether or not to remove BB, and just tips in general. I try looking around the internet for tips and guides on this, but they don't ever seem detailed enough and there's always so many ways to do one thing, which further confuses me.

My frame is chromoly steel, it's a bridgestone xo-3 with simple decals, which makes me think I can use stickers to create a lasting logo in the new paint job. My dad is great at painting, me not so much, but I'm getting better and better, so I'll have assistance from a more experienced person on this. The deal is, he's never done any pro-like paint jobs either, just spray painting, house painting, and other small things. So I'd like to learn from the experts on this to help us both do a good job, since after all, this is a great bike and I don't want a paint job that starts flaking in 3 years.

Thanks.