# Best Way To Strip Paint Off Frame?



## Toff (Sep 11, 2004)

I have a old painted Ti frame and I would like to strip the paint off it.

I would prefer not having to tear it down if possible.

Anyone know a way to do this halfway easily?

Also, would I need to do anything to Ti to protect it after stripping the paint off?


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## dh1 (Aug 28, 2004)

depends what you are trying to do. The best ways to strip paint is either sand or bead blasting or a chemical stripper (like aircraft stripper). Either way, I would not suggest that you do either without completely disassembling the bike. If you get the solvent or sand into your BB bearings or headset, your bearings will be shot...then you will have the expense of replacing them and refinishing. Better just to do it the right way. You can sand the paint off with sandpaper, but it will take forever.

If you are planning on refinishing afterwards, I really reccomend bead blasting then powdercoating. I had an old aluminum frame and fork done for about $55 three years ago, and that price included the blasting. I know some guys have taken bikes to a body shop for finishing and they turned out OK. I don't reccomend the rattle can finish, as most of them just aren't very durable.

If you are trying to go for the polished look, you will have to sand the frame several times with finer and finer grit papers after the paint is completely removed.


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## logbiter (Dec 30, 2003)

Toff said:


> I have a old painted Ti frame and I would like to strip the paint off it.
> 
> I would prefer not having to tear it down if possible.
> 
> ...


any way you look at it, you're gonna have to tear it down. if it was painted with 'wet paint' (as opposed to powder coat), you might be able to remove the paint with minerals spirits/paint remover and lots of rags (+ lots & lots of elbow grease).

if powder coated, chemical paint stripper (nasty stuff & a very messy & time comsuming job!!) or getting it bead/media blasted are the options.

basically, tearing it down & getting it blasted is gonna be the easiest.
there's been a number of threads about chemical paint stripping, search is your friend.

oh yeah, then you need to look up the polishing ti threads... no need for protection with ti frame though!


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## PutAwayWet (Jul 6, 2004)

I did my first one this winter. I used 100 grit sandpaper for the tubes, then got a non-aggressive wire wheel which I put in a hand drill to do around the bosses and welds and stuff. The wheel worked really well for polishing the tubes where I had sanded, too.

So long as you don't have any rust problems (which you shouldn't with Ti), I'd consider just a very light sanding with a scotchbrite type pad (available at you local autoparts paint department) to scuff the existing paint. After that, your new paint will stick like glue and you'll save yourself from having to strip it down to bare metal. In my case, I had to go to bare metal, as I had some surface rust that went below the paint in places.


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## cmooreboards (Jan 24, 2007)

I had to strip my powdercoat with ZIP STRIP. It's like a paste that you brush on. And when you brush it on, really really load that stuff on there. It's safe to put as much as you want on there, the more the faster it gets done. And I would highly recommend tearing down your whole frame. Your paint job will look wayyyy better. Just make sure to tape the important stuff off. And wire brushes are amazing for that stuff. Good luck


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