phat bahsturd

I bought celeste green touchup paint for my bike this week, it should come on monday. I was wondering if anybody has had experience painting bikes? I ordered it from bianchi's website. It comes in 2 cans, one with the paint, and one for the topcoat. I also wiped the frame today with paint thinner. How should i apply the paint (number of layers, etc.) ?

don d.

I'll leave that to the paint techno's, but I was wondering what model Bianchi you have and did you get my post with the link to the Spinergy Rev-x failures site before the dbase crash wiped it out? Sorry to clutter up your thread with this.

phat bahsturd

Oh yeah, saw your thread on rev-x's . All i can say is wow.

Um, i don't even know what model the frame is. I took it down to the LBS today and asked them a couple questions, stuff about the sizes of the tubes and stuff. Basically they helped me out so that i know what size campy stuff i need to order online

but, i'll probably take it over there for assembly and tuning.

dexmax

well, how much of the paint has peeled/knocked off..

Sand the frame, or around the damaged paint.. use the #1000 sand paper so it will be smooth.. But it is really your preference..

Apply/Spray the paint(I'm sure they gave you urethane paint). I apply 3-4coats on mine..

Please allow a dry period between coats.. Depends on the paint though..

After the last coat, let dry.. Professional painters oven-dry it. But a day of drying period will do..

Sand the surface smooth with #1000 sand paper. Spray air to remove dust, and other debris.

You can now apply clear coat. Spray 2-3 coats.. If you will be putting decals.. Stick them to the frame before applying the topcoat(clear coat). BTW, make sure the humidity is low when you do the clear coat.. Clear Coats are tricky..

Good Luck and Enjoy!

P.S. After the clear coat has dried, you can apply rubbing compound to make the finish smooth.. Then polish and wax to a bright shine.


Safety First: Wear a MASK.

phat bahsturd

Hmm is it necessary to sand down the area you want to paint first? I was just ogin to give it a ocuple of coats of paint, then clear coat it after waiting a couple hours. I just need to touchup some areas, i don't need to redo the the whole frame.

dexmax

you can do without the sanding if the area is small..

I just sand when I touch up so the touch up will be invisible. And it is smooth.. Sanding can also prevent peeling paint since the loose(old) surface paint will be removed (I assume this to be damaged as the adjacent paint has peeled and/or have been knocked-off)..

Drying time between coats is about 10mins (minimum--still paint dependent).. Assuming you are spraying very thin coats.

But you should sand it after painting though.. before the clear coat..

phat bahsturd

If i sand it before the clear coat, won't that just take off all the paint i've put on before?

don d.

The way dexmax is describing the job is the best way for the best visual appeal. Sand the area so that the edges of the chipped or scratched area are "feathered" down to the bare metal. Clean with acetone. Then spray or brush on the new paint. Let dry, then sand down so that it looks like the metal is bare again, but in reality you will have left enough paint on the metal to fill in the "rugiosities"(sic) that the human eye cannot detect. Then paint, let dry, repeat for 3-4 coats, then when dry, wet sand with super fine sandpaper on a sponge, then let dry, then clear coat, let dry, fine sand, clear coat, repeat as often as desired.

Or you could just dip into the paint pot with the frayed end of a match or a model car paint brush and dab it onto the chip like I do.

phat bahsturd

If i don't sand it, will it the touched up areas appear bumpy? Keep in mind the paint comes in 2 bottles, 200ml each. One can of the paint, and one for the topcoat.

don d.

Can't say for sure , but probably.

jester69

There is another way to do the touchups, that is less intrusive than described already. If the area in question has LOTS of chips, i'd use the technique already described, the one i will describe is good for just a coupule here and there.

1) find the chip (duh)
2) take sandpaper and just sand the chip, nowhere else. Imagine you are trying to just remove any surface rust from the bare metal at the bottom of the chip hole and leave the surrounding paint like it is. If you catch it before it rusts, this step could be skipped.
3) use denatured alcohol on a q tip to remove wax/oils/contaminants from the chip that could cause paint not to stick. Dentaured alcohol is available at the hardware store, cheap.
4) guesstimate how much paint it will take to fill the chip just higher than the paint surrounding it, put that much in there. Use the brush that came in the touch up paint, or any old small artists brush. If the paint came in a spray can you can spray some into a small plastic cup.
5) allow paint to dry a few days. (a heat lamp could speed this up if used safely!)
6) use 1500 grit sandpaper on a block to knock the higher paint in the chip hole back down to level with the paint around it.
6b) you could use clearcoat here, I never have. If you do use clearcoat, sand it back to level if you apply it with a brush. Spray clearcoat wouldn't need that.
7) use some buffing compund then wax to finish up.

I like this way better than trying to spot paint the whole area if there are just a couple of chips. IMHO touch up paint rarely matches the original paint, so I prefer to minimize new paint if possible.

really as long as the surface ends up level it dosn't matter if you bring surrounding paint down flat with the metal, or build the chip hole up with paint.

I have done this on cars, but bikes are painted pretty much the same and I can think of no reason for it not to work.

take care,

Jester

P.S. paint thinner is oily and will ruin your paint job, use denatured alcohol to prep for paint. Do not touch with bare hands after rubbing it down.

perie

Hi,

Do you still have that celeste green touchup paint? I was looking on-line and was not able to order it. If you have no use for it, please, sell it to me.

Thank you.

Stefan