The Thin Man 

I've got a rockin' '86 Bridgestone Mile 112 I'm restoring and turning. The frame is in really gorgeous condition except for a few paint chips here and there. The chips occur on the white paint showing the teal underneath. It's not a big deal, but it would be nice to cover these with white since the teal sticks out like a sore thumb.
White is a fairly easy color to replicate, but there are so many shades. Can you suggest your best ideas for matching the white? Actually, any paint tip matching techniques are appreciated here for all colors. Perhaps this thread will help future searchers.

khatfull

Most steerer tubes I think are painted the same color as the frame. They make great places to try paint. I just dragged my latest project's fork into Walgreen's today looking for a nail polish to match the frame. Still have one more beauty store to hit up

I gave up on trying to have paint matched. Find something close and just go with it. I like nail polish personally. Nobody cares if you test by dabbing a bit on a steerer tube.

The Thin Man 

I'm glad you responded, Keith. I had a feeling you would though, so I didn't find it necessary to specifically call you out

Wogster

Unfortunately bicycles don't have paint code numbers attached, some may have paint codes in manuals, but if you have an older bike, that code could be meaningless, especially if the company is no longer in the bicycle business. Best solution, take your bike to a place that sells car touchup paints, most will have a metal lid painted the same colour as the contents of the can. Compare the lids on all the whites until you find one that matches. If you have the teal as well on your bike, match up that colour as well. Write the colour codes on a blank business card, fold it in half, put inside a small plastic bag and stuff that into the end of your seatpost. Next time you need to buy touchup paint you simply pull out the card, note the proper code, and go buy the paint.

If you have more then one bike, you simply do this with each when you need touchup paint.

khatfull

What retailer and what brand of touch up paint are you referring to? The biggest supplier here in the US, Dupli-Color doesn't even have chip books...you HAVE to know your car's color code to get the paint...which doesn;t do squat for bikes.

gaucho777 

Many auto paint stores do keep a book of paint samples. For anyone in the SF bay area, I'd recommend San Leandro Color. (After settling on a base paint color from a massive paint sample book, I was told that I had chosen the pearl white used on Cadillac Escalades.)

RobbieTunes

I imagine the security consultants are preparing a file on you.

RobbieTunes

You could try a color wheel, sort of like used to be used by body shops, before the paint suppliers began to match the paint for them.

A bike's shape makes the match fairly difficult for those cameras, I think. I eyeball it. Whites come in a lot of shades, and some car companies have a lot more whites than others. I believe Chrysler had a lot of variation, while GM and Ford had little. The sticker on top of the can is a pretty good way to get there.

Whether the OEM car maker used PPG, or DuPont, or some other color makes a difference, as each code has variances itself, inside a range of shades pertaining to that color. It gets kind of complicated. I took a class in paint matching from ICAR, and though I understand it, it's still a lot easier for the paint vendor to match.

dbakl

I keep a supply of various jars of model paint and mix what I need to match. A little sanding or rubbing out, its a surprize sometimes what you can get away with. In my experience, white is pretty easy...

RFC

Yes, I find having a simple set of Testors primary colors plus a few more can give good results. Start by looking up the color mix on the internet and adjust from there. I also use bottle caps (beer) to mix in since, generally, you only need a little paint. The tough frames to touchup are the ones with metalic undertones or where two coats of different colors are used to achieve a more translucent color.

The Thin Man 

All great suggestions. Thanks everyone!

I had thought about the Testors route originally, but since I have a Walgreens within a 1/4 mile of my house, I figure I'll start with the nail polish technique first.

Keep the thoughts coming, gang!

vettefrc2000

Take your frame into an auto parts store and find the best match.

StabbageCycle

I wonder if Gesso would be waterproof at all. It's a white primer based off of some kind of mineral and it's used widely to prime canvases. I've used it to prime 28mm miniatures (works WAY better than GW primer). It would be useful for priming, for example, where tubes meet because it "shrinks" as it dries.