c_bake

I'm going to paint an old frame with a brush. I've done some reading on it and I'm going to give it a try on a frame thats not being used right now. If it turns out well I will make it a SS for my son.
Can someone recommend a specific brand of paint that works well for this type of application?

randyjawa 

I have had good luck with Rustoleum

For what it is worth, this is how I go about hand painting a bicycle...

Make sure that you let it dry thoroughly (at least a month in a warm place, or less in a really warm place). If you attempt to assemble too soon the soft paint will distort and/or mark easily.

This Carlton Flyer and this Peugeot PX10 were both painted using the previously mentioned product. You have to look around for smaller cans, though...

big chainring 

I like Benjamin Moore Impervo Gloss oil paint. Really flows out nicely. Dries overnight. I have assembled bikes within days of it drying with no problems.

Rocket-Sauce 

Imron.

rootboy 

Seem to remember somebody here using, and liking, One Shot sign painter's enamel. I've used Bennie Moore's Impervo before, but not on a frame. Good stuff.

c_bake

I'm going to look into the B.Moore stuff, I suppose it can be bought at The Home Depot or the like.
Those bikes above look amazing. Great site as well.

sillygolem

99.9% of a decent paint job is prep. The other .1% is reminding yourself that proper prep makes the difference between good and bad paint jobs.

One Shot is popular with art car builders, but it contains lead. When I built my car I used craft paint with a thick layer of clear coat: It looked good and the color was stable. Craft paint will quickly fade if directly exposed to UV light.

If you aren't terribly specific about color you may want to hit up your local auto paint supply and see if they have anything left over pre-mixed. Straight paint will need to be mixed with a thinner before use. This will be extremely durable if applied right.

rootboy 

I don't know if I've ever seen B. Moore paints available at Home Depot, at least not the good stuff, but your HD may be better stocked than mine. Usually available at specialty paint stores.

And, One Shot contains lead!? Almost hard to believe in this day and age.

bikenut2011

Benjamin Moore is sold at Benjamin Moore stores...

andy

big chainring 

Tried something new yesterday. For a while now I have thought about trying out some latex gloss paint on a bike frame. I found half pint cans of Ace Royal Gloss latex paint in premixed colors at the hardware store and decided to give it a try. Bought a can of dark green. Painted out in my shed last night in very low lite conditions and wasnt expecting much when I looked at it this morning. But wow, looks great. The paint is very forgiving when it dries. Sags and runs seemed to just fade away when it dried. Its still a bit tacky to the touch, my shed is probably 60 degrees maybe less overnight. I'm going to see how well the paint adhered and its durability later today by intentionally scratching it. When its dry and I'll post some pics.

ultraman6970

I have had really bad experiences with rustoleum, specially if you have to wait like a month to get the paint fully cured.

Brands? well... imron is really good but i have never used it. I have use Omni and Omni plus polyurethane car paint, a friend gave me a few spares or house of color and in the test i did the paint is one of the bests in the market, well u get what u paid for.

My advice?? Any cheap polyurethane 2 stages car paint (base coat clear coat) will do it fine for a bike... as for the clear, the last i used was nason and the clear just is amazing, levels pretty good, easy to sand and polish... good stuff. As for primer, nothing beats u-pol spray can primer (car paint in a can), probably the paint will nick with a small pebble but the darn u-pol primer will stay there stick to the metal.

U cant get this fiinsh from rustoleum and wont last even close to this...

cycleheimer

What they sprayed onto early Treks!

toytech

An auto paint store can set you up with spray cans of virtually any color you can imagine custom mixed. With proper prep and practice you can get a professional result and durability.
You MUST wear a respirator with it though, especially the clear coat which contains cyranoacrylates (crazy glue). It is also expensive.

ultraman6970

+1

RustyB

I painted my Colnago Super today with canned spray lacquer from NAPA. It turned out nice. You can recoat quickly I put 5 coats on the frame and 7 othe forks. My fork crown is chrome and has chipped and rusted some any ideas on what to do with it? I tried to buff it but the chrome just peels off more.

I'll post some pics soon.

Peace

willpower101

Owe, my eyes. That site design hasn't been updated since geocities was cool right?

Flying Merkel

I'm finishing up brush-painting a frame. Using Rustoleum. I made a mistake by cheaping out on the brush. Next time i'm going to look at artist's brushes.

txvintage

Drop by a local motorcycle shop and check out PJ-1 paint. It's an epoxy based frame paint for motorcycles, usually used on dirt bike frames.

Good stuff.

sillygolem

This. They'll also have off-the-shelf spray paint in common automotive colors, and it's generally far better than what you'll get at a hardware store for the same price.

You're generally OK spraying outdoors, but a decent paint respirator is only $20. Don't even think of spraying indoors without one.