I just got back from the local Body Shop (LBS?) and they said they'd paint my frame for me whatever color I want (and I want a cream color like the new Mini Coopers get) with a clearcoat for 100 bux. Another 50 for them to strip and prep it and they can turn it around in under a week.

Sound like a decent deal? I thought it did but i'd like to hear from anyone who's had it done.

Sounds cheaper than any bike I've had painted, and almost as cheap as the bike I did myself with rattle can paint.

...thats what i thought...I'd spend at least 100 bux on paint and supplies and these dudes would do a better job.

I think its so cheap because they do a high volume of work there and have buttloads of paint at their disposal, and they work mostly on Bimmers and Benzes and Caddilacs there so they've got good paint.





Do you think I should repaint the tin Headbadge or just hit it with a coat of clear and keep it in all its faded glory?

Someone told me there is a shop in Michigan that will sandblast/strip and powder coat a bike frame for 100 bucks. They have like 20 colors to choose from.

does this ring a bell for anyone?

if its a lugged frame you might want to consider paint rather than Powdercoat. From what I understand you'll lose some definition in the lugs when you powdercoat.

https://www.powdercoatstudio.com/

Here's a quote:

"Keep the nozzles clean and don't use the cheap painter's tape."

Yes you will lose a bit of the definition on the lugs but if you highlight them in a contrasting color most people won't know the difference.

I'm planning to highlight my lugs in brown over Cream. Is there a major durability advantage using powdercoat?

[QUOTE=deez;7277813I think its so cheap because they do a high volume of work there and have buttloads of paint at their disposal[/QUOTE]

Wrong, it's cheap because they're going to wait until a car with a similar color to yours comes in for body work. Body shops always have left over paint from a job mixed up. The original customer paid for it. Your job is basically labor. I know, one of my best friends does it for a living.

If it's what you want go for it. Make sure they know where to mask though.

Tim

So where should they mask?

OT: what's the best paint to use to detail over a powder coat (e.g. if i wanted to hand-paint lugs)? I think I know someone that does it for $100.

I just had to touch up some scratches on my fender and found that Duplicolor makes paint pens in about 100 colors. Of course, I immediately thought about lining lugs with one. https://www.duplicolor.com/products/scratchfix2in1.html

I couldn't tell you how well this would work over powder though.

automotive Pinstriping paint is nice stuff for detail work.

I was thinking about trying those paint pens, I know they are easy as heck to control but my concern is that the ones i've used in the past have all had really large nibs on the end that would produce too wide of a mark. I might just end up spending 15 bux on a really nice detail brush and doing it by hand. Its not hard at all when you use a good brush.

I hope they've done bike frames before, otherwise they're gonna hate painting that frame. MOst painters are accustomed to shooting onto flat panels, not rounded tubes with junctions everywhere. But $100 sounds good, as long as they are using decent prep materials (you'd be surprised at the crap some shops will use under good basecoat).

+1 I've painted both and cars are easier.

and how are they stripping it? Blasting is fine as long as they don't run the pressure up. This ain't a car.

When I do a rattle can job, I use PJ-1 motorcycle frame paint, it's epoxy based and runs $10-$12 a can. One of it's primary purposes is for dirt/off road bikes so it stands up really well.

By the time you get your stripper, primer, paint, clear coat, sand paper, polishing compound, and good quality Carnuba you are pushing $100, and untold hours of prep and application time. Even then, as good as the paint is, it doesn't take the place of a properly mixed and catalyzed automotive paint that is baked on.

We seem to have stumbled across a powder coater here in the Dallas area that will strip, prep, and coat your frame for $60. We have our first brave soul who should have picked his frame up Friday evening, and I'm awaiting a report on the finished product. He said when he dropped his off, there was a guy there picking up a frame and it was the 3rd one he had brought in.

The Dupli-color touch up pens have a pretty fine tip. They are not at all like the old Testors pens with the large tips. These are actually reversible, one side has a regular touch up brush, but you can take it out, remove a small plastic cap from the bottle and reinsert back wards to get the pin head. They work surprisingly well, especially on really small dings where you don't want the bubble that a brush leaves.

I have no doubt they would be suitable for finishing lugs.

My thought is to powder coat, finish the lugs, apply decals if desired, then have a local body shop clear coat. Pretty much any painting they do will be clear coated, so doing a frame at the same time should be relatively inexpensive since it wouldn't require much in the way of prep, beings it would be fresh off of the powder job.

Am sure the color looks good on a Cooper, but painted tubes of that color reminds of water pipes.

"Any color you want" does not imply a 2-tone paint job. If you want the lugs a different color, make sure they know that or plan to do it yourself.

I don't know how much variation there is in auto shops. I know there is or used to be a shop here in the Dallas area that would paint any car for $100. Needless to say, when you do that, you get a $100 paint job, not a $2,500 paint job.