Wanting to restore a frame?
 

I just bought a Schwinn Paramount, but there's several blemishes and places where they went over it with a primer to reduce the rust. On top of that there's rust in other places that they missed. I was just wondering if anyone could give me a range of how much it would cost to remove the rust and repaint the frame? And are the decals hard to come by?

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...e/Dsc_0895.jpg

High end?

http://www.cyclart.com/

http://www.sanchezpaintshop.com/

What's your budget and location?

I sandblasted my frame at work and paid $75 to get it powdercoated.

Budget isn't very high... I'm looking into doing it later on, it's not really a big deal honestly. My location is the Dallas area.

Why don't you ask on the classic and vintage subforum, two choices down? They probably get the most frames repainted on this forum.

Oh, sorry! I just figured this would be a better area. I shall repost! Thanks!

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...e/Dsc_0895.jpg

Nice one.... Does it really need paint? Put some clear nail polish on the new rust spots. Then wax.

Ah, that stops the rust? Also, is there anything I could use to go over the primer? Preferably cheap.

Boiled linseed oil. Less than US$10 will buy you a lifetime supply.

Ah, I meant for color since he used a gray primer that doesn't blend too well. Would I have to apply that beforehand though?

Primer does not treat or remove rust, unless they used one of the rust converter products. Looking at the pics, thats not rust converter, that's basic automotive type primer.

Dealing with rust: there are 500 to 600 threads on that topic already. I would suggest you search the forum and read all of the opinions. The same is true with touching up paint. They really buggered it up using so much primer, probably well beyond any small rust spots.

The problems with a full repaint are that you lose the originality of the bike, and all of its decal work, it is pretty costly to do right, and that is a series Paramount (made in Asia), so it does not have the value to merit that kind of investment. Paint looks good except where they went crazy with the primer.

In the Dallas area you can try Southwest Frameworks: www.southwestframeworks.com. The will bring the frame back to original condition including decals. Shop has a very strong reputation for their work.

I would like to add that if you pick powder coating, u get what u paid for. A 350 bucks PC job will be way better than a 50 bucks one.

Who knows what primer the guy used but you can get car paint in a can for about 15 bucks. Single stage paint so you wont even need clear. As for the blending well it depends of the color and how good are you with the spray can. If the color is the right one the blending will come up almost by itself.

To remove the paint and sandblast it I know over here at least the painters ask like 60 bucks more. If you have some rust the sandblasting will take care of that.

Wet car paint, can go for 150 to 600 bucks. A good PC job is around 300. For the record eventho PC is famous for being tough, if a wet paint job is done right it can be equally tough than a PC paint job.

U can strip the paint with paint remover but I would use rattle can to paint the bike, u have to use car paint or powder coating, rattle can sucks.

Good luck

wrk101's point that this is an Asian sourced Paramount takes it out of the collector catagory and it's just a decent quality lugged steel frame. You won't ruin a potential museum piece by just having it repainted or by doing local touch-up yourself with a spray can.

Before you give up on retouch, spend $10 for some 1000 grit sandpaper and model paint in white and gray. Use the sandpaper with some water to remove the primer- take your time and just remove the primer, not the underlying paint. Chances are that MOST of what lies under that primer is good original white paint. If the sandpaper is too much after a while, go to automotive polishing (not rubbing) compound to get the rest of it off. Then if you're lucky you can just touch up the white areas with the model paint and use the gray as necessary to duplicate the splatter effect. Worth a try.

ah thanks for all the feedback! Thing is I don't wanna repaint it for value or anything, I just want to just because. The main concern was that primer he put on it, and so I'll try to remove it like you guys said, and then try to get rid of the rust. Thanks a bunch guys.

Eastwood sells a paint and powdercoat remover for about $22 a quart which should easily do your frame and fork. They also have a rust remover that is gentle on steel and other metals, also in the $22 range. A can of PrepSol or similar pre-paint degreaser costs around $10. That will get you where you need to be to get the frame and fork powdercoated which will cost anywhere from $75 - $150. Make sure that your powder coater knows bicycles and can appropriate mask all threads and other areas where you do not want powdercoat as it is a bear to get off if it gets in the wrong place.

If you go the paint route, I like to use a rust converting primer which I also fog into all my frame tubes. As above, make sure you do a proper masking job first. You can get some pretty decent paints in rattle cans from your automotive body shop supply, but you are better off going to an autobody shop and getting it sprayed and baked with a durable automotive paint. Imron makes some very durable industrial paints, but not all shops will spray it because of toxicity issues during the spray process.

Never mind the paint, fix that seat angle!

And if that's the original stem, I'm tipping it's way past its minimum insertion mark.

If it's a 7spd, I'd throw 8spd Campy brifters and RD at it.

I am redoing a '89 TREK 400 and a local auto repair shop is going to paint it for me the next they paint a car red for $50

50 bucks? darn thats cheap, post pictures :D

If you take the forks (preferably) to a sherwin williams automotive division store they can make you up a duplicate rattle can of the color for about $18.00