capnjonny 

I have experienced wrinkling after applying a clear coat over a recently painted frame. I spoke to a Tech at Rustoleum who explained that the solvent used in their Automotive grade Clear is mostly acetone and that if it is applied over paint that is not thoroughly cured it will react with the soft paint underneath and wrinkle. Asked why it happened mostly near the lugs he said that is where the paint was thickest. He told me that to fully cure you should let the bike set for at least 2 weeks . The paint cures from the outside in so even though it appears dry and hard , the paint underneath is still soft. That is one reason not to paint in winter unless you can keep the freshly painted frame somewhere hot, like in an attic , till it cures. I hang my frames from a hook on the eves of my roof on the south side of the house in the sun for a few days after the paint is hard enough to handle carefully. Sitting in the sun all day will heat the frame quite a bit and speed the drying time. If I am spraying small parts I will often put them in a fruit dryer I have that will heat them to maybe 150deg. with a fan continuously blowing air at them .
I have found that clear coating an old hard paint job works great at restoring the color and shine on an old frame and haven't had a problem with wrinkling. I will carefully clean then rub out the paint with Dupont White polishing compound or rubbing compound and wipe down with acetone before spraying the clear, making sure to glove up to avoid touching the frame with bare hands. I also use a home made rotisserie which is nothing more than a dowel attached to a folding table which the seat tube is slid onto. This allows me to rotate the frame as I spray it, making it easy to reach all the corners and helps in preventing runs. keep it spinning and the paint can't figure out which way to run.

paulb_in_bkln

Absolutely right. I learned the hard way. Also if the paint has set but not fully cured, the next coat of the same paint can cause it to wrinkle. (I learned a lot from this stupid project!)

brixxton

painting can be no fun. Just for giggles here's my favorite new stripping tool

paulb_in_bkln

Yech! (And, your call, but why leave the crankset in place, even if you don't feel like removing the BB?)

brixxton

O had problems with the pedals and was worried about the thread. dismantling more than I have to right noe might spoil the fun

delbiker1 

Today I put the first coat of gloss gray Rustoleum rattle can paint on a Fuji Ace I have been working on. My first try came out ok after the first coat, but the second just did not look good. My second attempt was a complete disaster before I even got the first coat completely on the frame set. I was ready to just re-strip it and go to powder coating. I know some of my issues were just a lack of knowledge and experience, and,with that, improper prep. This time, after stripping it again, I really took my time and sanded it out to a better finish, did a much better job at priming the frame with 2 coats, light sanding in between. Before doing the first coat of gloss finish, I made sure the primed frame set were lightly sanded smooth, cleaned the frame with soap, water and a blue Scotch-brite pad. Then I wiped it down really well with a lint less cloth and hung it to dry. It is looking pretty good after the first coat of dark gray gloss.

A couple of things I believe I learned: skimping on prep trying to save time and effort is a losing, wasteful way to go about it, spraying thin layers is better, give it time, maybe 48 hrs., then lightly sand and clean in between coats. It is a good exercise for building patience. Maybe the biggest one for me, in the end, powder coating is a time and cost effective way to get a great looking, durable finish. Another thought just popped up, if you are not committed to put in the time and effort, either do not start, or, expect very poor results. When I have this paint job finished, hopefully, it will look, certainly not professional, but pretty good. It will probably include some runs, drips and errors, and I am OK with that. I am not sure what I am going to do with it at that point. I have pretty much a complete Tiagra 4600 group that I just may use on this. I also have a set of Bontrager Race Light wheels and a set of Mavic/Ultegra Open Pro and will use one of them. The BRL's are black rims/ hubs with silver spokes and the Mavic's are all silver.

paulb_in_bkln

You've summed up everything I learned in painting my Trek. If I had somewhere to work outdoors, protected from the wind and blowing dust, I would not hesitate to try this again. As I had to convert my bedroom to a spray booth for six weeks, no more. Oh, and that one of those sticky lint rollers is useful for getting bits of lint/dust/fiber/hair off the frame before spraying. But I'm so happy riding-wise with the way the Trek came together that, who knows about the future? Perhaps I'll find $500 under the couch cushions and get a pro to paint it with something real, like Imron. One thing I insist on: the contrasting head tube. Love that.

paulb_in_bkln

Did you mask off the contact surfaces of the dropouts? With forged dropouts, that's a nice touch, IMO.

andresh

Hi guys, I'm finishing soon with stripping all the old paint of my Phillips roadster, I have never done this so I would like to ask if anyone has a tutorial of what do I need to paint it again.
my main doubts are:
1- Do I need an anti rust layer as the first thing to apply to the naked steel? (can this be spray or it has to be applied by brush?)
2- I've read about something called "prime", what is this? a paint? a base paint? why do you need it?
3- Once the paint is applied, many layers and waited a few weeks for it to dry, I add the decals, and then do I need to apply a clear lacquer?
4- Am I missing anything?

thanks!

3alarmer 

...at a minimum, you need a layer of primer, a layer of color coat, the decals, and a clear finishing coat over that.
If you want the colors to look bright, you need a white primer, but some colors are achieved with a grey or dark red primer, like Rauler blue.

The above was four coats, a grey, self etching primer, a white primer over that, silver metallic, then a transparent red enamel. What you get is candy apple red.
I looks like this when it's finished after a week or ten days with the vinyl lettering and a clear coat of 2 part urethane. which comes in a spray can and costs about 20 bucks.

Lacquer is not a good choice for you clear coating, for several reasons, one of which is durability.



Always invest in and wear the best respirator you can buy at Home Depot, the one rated for urethane paints.

delbiker1 

Here is my Fuji Ace, I have 3 rides and almost 100 miles on it as of today. It is a really dark gray with mostly black parts/accessories. Very basic, decent frame set with a mix of components, what was on hand. My first bike paint job, it came out okay, I try to stay away from expectations, but I think this came out a bit better than I thought it would. I do not see myself doing another one. If the need for a recoating arises, Retro Cruisers powder coating is only 30 miles away and $100 or so for a single stage coating.



Giving the Brooks B17 narrow another try. I have been doing micro-adjustments to the set up. After todays ride, I think I need to keep the forward/aft position the same, angle the same, but lower the seat post just a few millimeters. The bike is definitely on the heavy side, but quite a cushy riding, nice handling bike.

NextDIYikeproj

1 and 2. To begin with. You need to remove all rust, ALL rust, as it will start to grow if you leave it. You then need to clean the frame properly with degreaser. Then a primer made for steel. The Primer is a base pant that creat a bonding between the frame and the paints you will use. Without it your paint will most likely fall off like flakes.
3. Use as few layers as possible, but make sure they are thin and covers. Normally 1-3 layers. You don’t have to wait that long. Normally 24-48 hours depending on how the conditions are where you paint. The decals should be painted on for best results, stickers will crack and fade. Laquer, or clear coat is a must. Your paint wont last at all without them.
4. Probaby, my best advice is to buy a pipe in the same material as your bike and do som tests. A bit time consuming but worth to make the mistakes on.

Ive done two videos on this. One about stripping and preparing, the second about the painting. Its an aluminum frame, but most of the steps appy to steel.

stripping and preparing:

painting:

good luck!

andresh

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, I'm working on stripping all the paint now and once I'm done, I will use two different sandpapers for finishing it well. With "well" I mean clean, not polished. Is there any primer paint you could recommend? any brands? Do I need an anti-rust layer before or the Primer will do that job?
What do you mean with "decals should be painted on for best results"? I thought decals were applied and then painted on with a transparent lacquer at the same time with the rest of the frame. Is that what you meant?
thanks!
Andres.

edit: I just saw the video, wow what a job! I'm glad mine is an old roadster and will go all plain black!

NextDIYikeproj

Thanks! The Spraymax 2k primers are great and quite common in stores all over (online and shelf). The one I used Is for aluminum, but I think the regular epoxy works good with steel, but do some research there. the primer will protect from rust. When it comes to stripping, paint stripper is very useful in tight corners and agles (see the first video).

If you men that you tape decals to the frame and then put lacquer on, that will most likely be bad. If you dont want to paint them (like I do in the video) I would recommend you to paint the frame, apply the clear coat/lacquer and then tape the decals on the “outside”. You will have some edges, but you can replace them if they get ugly. If you put lacquer over the taped decals and they turn bad, you have to do the whole paint job all over again.

ps. Feel fre to like the video on Youtube and subscribe to the channel! Cheers!

andresh

I'm done with taking off most of the old paint now, bare metal now.
Anybody got experience with Spray.Bike products?

NextDIYikeproj

I haven’t tried them myself, but the colors seems nice. The primers and clear coats/lacquers are only 1K though, so for a more durable and professional finish, the 2k systems are preferable.

andresh

thanks, I have seen mixed opinions about their products specially in the long term, I'll see what I can find in the store

NextDIYikeproj

Any pics from the project? 😃

andresh

I posted a couple of photos in the Phillips bicycles post when I got the bike but now there isn't much to show, it's just a bare metal frame and a lot of mistakes

paulb_in_bkln

You did a nice job masking around the lugs. In my experience that is one of the more difficult tasks.

andresh

hi again guys, I'm wondering how to treat the handlebar and the stem? they were originally chromed and the previous owner badly painted them in black.
I have stripped all paint so now they look metal and I know no paint will give me a chrome look again so I'm wondering what to do? should I cover them with primer too and then find a metallic paint with mirror effect? maybe only add lacquer?
thanks!




stem

Mr. 66

Was the chrome bad on the bars? I use chemical removal for paint on chrome.

andresh

yes the chrome is not in good shape so I will strip it off before start painting. I wonder what to do with the stem and handlebar? maybe sand it with 1000 sandpaper and then a clear lacquer? or a metal paint maybe?

NextDIYikeproj

do you want it to be chrome/metal finish or do you want to paint it in different color?

andresh

I want this Phillips roadster to look decent again so I think the stem and the handlebar should go metal. Thatīs why my doubts. I thought I could strip it off all chrome and then kind of polish it with a 1000 sandpaper but then? clear lacquer? primer and metal-looking paint? It will rust if I leave it naked.