# steps of properly painting a mountain bike frame



## themarsvolta55 (Dec 23, 2004)

yo guys

i really want to repaint my lowers of my 2002 super t and my sgs frame

what is the process of properly painting a frame? stripping, then primer, then coats... how many coats.. exc)

im going to dissassemble my rear swingarm, so i wont be cutting any corners


and for painting my fork, i would like to take my lowers off so i can get the paint near the seals and such, cause i dont want to get any paint on the stanctions or anywhere it should not be

thanks


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## KevinM[Freerider] (Aug 12, 2005)

get a spray gun, and some automotive paint, and some primer, and a sh1t load of sand paper.. and make magic.


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## COmtbiker12 (Jan 12, 2004)

KevinM[Freerider] said:


> get a spray gun, and some automotive paint, and some primer, and a sh1t load of sand paper.. and make magic.


 You mean you don't want to use a paint brush and house paint?


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## dogonfr (Jan 6, 2005)

Powder coat the frame


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## themarsvolta55 (Dec 23, 2004)

lol i would liek to do this at home,

im gunu use spray cans
lots


so what grit sandpaper should i sand the frame down... and until the bare alluminum?


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## COmtbiker12 (Jan 12, 2004)

themarsvolta55 said:


> lol i would liek to do this at home,
> 
> im gunu use spray cans
> lots
> ...


 As long as you're going to do a thorough job with the painting you could probably get away just sanding off the clearcoat.


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## Acme54321 (Oct 8, 2003)

They sell this pain stripper called Jasco at Lowe's. One of the guys I work with sprayed it onto his BMX frame and the paint litterally bubbled and wiped off.


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## fiddy_ryder (Jun 15, 2005)

prep is by FAR the most important step to a good paint job. best to start with a chemical stripper like aircraft remover. then sand everything with 400-600 wet. prime, sand, prime. paint, paint, sand with 800-1000grit , paint. some like to cut or sand the color before clearing, not always necessary especially for a bike thats gonna see dirt any way.. after 3-4 coats of paint. clear, clear, sand with 1000-1500 grit clear sand and buff.


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## KevinM[Freerider] (Aug 12, 2005)

practice on a stolen bike first, or a younger siblings or something.


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## Amazing Larry104 (Aug 19, 2005)

use toilet paper tubes and tape to cover up the stanchiions.. it works nice nate


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## keen (Jan 13, 2004)

I woudn't strip the paint w/ sandpaper you can scratch the alum. too easily. Use a chemical stripper. If there are any automotive body paint stores go there for most of the supplies - metal specific & better quality than a hardware store. Too do a poper job the metal should be prep'd before priming just ask @ the auto body supply shop. Our local auto. body supplier will sell spray can enamal that is the real deal paint.


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## mondaycurse (Nov 24, 2005)

Paint it just like a car, better yet have a car painting place do it.


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## fuelinjection23 (Sep 3, 2005)

*do wat rob said*

jordan hes not messin around it works good but just tape it up well so none of them painter shart gets on the stanchiooooooons


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## Spero (Apr 6, 2005)

If you end up using the Jasco, you really need to be careful. THICK gloves, proper ventilation and filters. 

I just finished the rear triangle of the bike I'm painting - I decided to go with an epoxy aerosol which will end up bieng tougher than most other sprays...if you go with the auto underbody epoxy or appliance stuff, you're limited to black, white or an almond color.

Also, the epoxy aerosols are thick and sticky, so its harder to get a good even coat. Do a couple of coats, wetsanding with high grit paper in between. My finish isn't as pretty as planned, but tomorrow I'll hit Auto Zone to pick up some auto wax and see if I can improve the look.


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## XSL_WiLL (Nov 2, 2004)

fiddy_ryder said:


> prep is by FAR the most important step to a good paint job. best to start with a chemical stripper like aircraft remover. then sand everything with 400-600 wet. prime, sand, prime. paint, paint, sand with 800-1000grit , paint. some like to cut or sand the color before clearing, not always necessary especially for a bike thats gonna see dirt any way.. after 3-4 coats of paint. clear, clear, sand with 1000-1500 grit clear sand and buff.


Good advice.


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## kazlx (Jun 13, 2005)

I would paint it just like anything else, but use a chemical stripper. Airplane stripper would be the best because they are usually aluminum. Paint is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.


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## themarsvolta55 (Dec 23, 2004)

does anyone know how much jasco is? 

ill prob do the chemical stripper


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## bike=good (May 2, 2005)

*before wax....*



Spero said:


> If you end up using the Jasco, you really need to be careful. THICK gloves, proper ventilation and filters.
> 
> I just finished the rear triangle of the bike I'm painting - I decided to go with an epoxy aerosol which will end up bieng tougher than most other sprays...if you go with the auto underbody epoxy or appliance stuff, you're limited to black, white or an almond color.
> 
> Also, the epoxy aerosols are thick and sticky, so its harder to get a good even coat. Do a couple of coats, wetsanding with high grit paper in between. My finish isn't as pretty as planned, but tomorrow I'll hit Auto Zone to pick up some auto wax and see if I can improve the look.


after WET sanding (notice the capital letters) of your clear coat, get some fine cut polishing compound from 3M use that, then I used a 3M glaze to give you a nice hard surface...this gives you a bright a$$ finish. Touch up with wax as need be.

However after all the time and effort you WILL put in to doing a decent paint job, it will be heart breaking when that first teeny tiny peeble scratches down to the primer... don't forget you are painting a mountain bike and not chopper you will wipe down with a diaper and never ride.


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## thebikedoctor33 (Apr 4, 2004)

Thought i'd bring this thread back instead of startinga whole new one...

Can anyone recomend a specific paint to use? Primer and color if you could? theres a lot of differant types and i dont want to have to paint it again for a while. I either want flat black or flat green. If I want it flat, should I put clear over it or will that make it glossy?

And can someone explain wet sanding real quick for me?

If I were to paint my fork, I could just mask the uppers and seals and all right? Or do I need to do a full disassembly?


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## thebikedoctor33 (Apr 4, 2004)

and one other thing, can you put decals under clear coat? As in stickers? or do they have to stay on top.

and if you paint a dc fork, do you paint the uppers?


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## Outlaw10.5 (Nov 21, 2005)

Are you trying to paint this out of a can? Best advise I can give you there if you don't want to do it again is don't do it 'cause what you have on there now for paint will probably look better than the can paint in just a few short weeks. The best paint to use would probably be Imron made by Dupont. It is a single stage, meaning you don't use clear, and its tough as hell. It was designed for industrial use on aircraft and such (I paint Fed Ex trucks with it). You can get it in any color you want but I don't think you can get it to be flat. Also with the Imron you cannot color sand and buff (wet sand as it was called earlier), it simply cures too hard. I have painted bike frames with this paint and they still look great 15 years later. They were road bikes, but I was replacing 2-3 year old factory paint that was already very chipped.
If you have to have the flat, you can check with House of Color as I think they have a flattening additive that you can add to their clear to get a flat finish. I have seen durability issues on cars with this finish though (still way more durable than anything I know of that comes out of an aerosol can).
And yes you can clear over stickers, but it takes a lot of work to make it so you cant feel them.


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## thebikedoctor33 (Apr 4, 2004)

Outlaw10.5 said:


> Are you trying to paint this out of a can? Best advise I can give you there if you don't want to do it again is don't do it 'cause what you have on there now for paint will probably look better than the can paint in just a few short weeks. The best paint to use would probably be Imron made by Dupont. It is a single stage, meaning you don't use clear, and its tough as hell. It was designed for industrial use on aircraft and such (I paint Fed Ex trucks with it). You can get it in any color you want but I don't think you can get it to be flat. Also with the Imron you cannot color sand and buff (wet sand as it was called earlier), it simply cures too hard. I have painted bike frames with this paint and they still look great 15 years later. They were road bikes, but I was replacing 2-3 year old factory paint that was already very chipped.
> If you have to have the flat, you can check with House of Color as I think they have a flattening additive that you can add to their clear to get a flat finish. I have seen durability issues on cars with this finish though (still way more durable than anything I know of that comes out of an aerosol can).
> And yes you can clear over stickers, but it takes a lot of work to make it so you cant feel them.


well i'm down to bare aluminum, its only my fork not my frame. and my super t was really just bare metal with clear. that imron sounds good, do you know where you can get it? and with, do you need to prime. or just sand at a really fine grit?


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## justpayme12 (Jan 21, 2005)

i painted some old ht and it turned out good. (for my artistic sh!tyness) I just sanded off the old paint and decals, taped off the bb case and stuff, put on tons of auto primer, then painted. I would recomend rust-oleum (sp?). I bought all my supplies at walmart and my bike didn't turn out bad. for the designs i painted the entire area that color(silver for me), then covered it in a cut out of the design i wanted(I used sticky vynal paper). Then i painted the the entire body coat w/ the color i wanted. (do lots of coats) Let it dry for a least a day, then put on lots of clear coat. 

































I used textured black paint for the main color, its real cool, feals like sand paper. lol


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## PLURPIMPIN (Nov 3, 2005)

ya might wanna look into having a car place do it before buying tons and tons of paints and such to do it yourself. a friend of mine got his frame professionally POWDERCOATED for 75 bucks. once i get some cash my steelhead's gonna get powdercoated hot pink


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## Outlaw10.5 (Nov 21, 2005)

thebikedoctor33 said:


> well i'm down to bare aluminum, its only my fork not my frame. and my super t was really just bare metal with clear. that imron sounds good, do you know where you can get it? and with, do you need to prime. or just sand at a really fine grit?


You can get it at any automotive paint supply that sells Dupont. Really dont need primer on aluminum; just sand with 400 grit and 2-3 coats should do it. Just be careful when you spray 'cause what you spray is what you get- can't fix a run w/ wet sand and buff. Goes on real thick and flows out like glass if you do your job right though. Oh yea, and Imron takes a long time to dry also- like I'd give it 24hrs before you messed with at all and a couple days before assembly. Believe me I've tried to push it before and am always sorry; it will seem dry, but still too soft no matter how careful you are. After a week or so its bomb proof.


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## thebikedoctor33 (Apr 4, 2004)

Outlaw10.5 said:


> You can get it at any automotive paint supply that sells Dupont. Really dont need primer on aluminum; just sand with 400 grit and 2-3 coats should do it. Just be careful when you spray 'cause what you spray is what you get- can't fix a run w/ wet sand and buff. Goes on real thick and flows out like glass if you do your job right though. Oh yea, and Imron takes a long time to dry also- like I'd give it 24hrs before you messed with at all and a couple days before assembly. Believe me I've tried to push it before and am always sorry; it will seem dry, but still too soft no matter how careful you are. After a week or so its bomb proof.


would you recomend wet sanding it with like 5 or 600 grit? sinse priming isnt needed. with the dupont, should i use a clear coat on top or not worry about it? will it be glossy? from what you say it sounds plenty durable, well as much can be expected from a can. and i'd rather have it like satin finish, so if i did have to do a clear i'd prefer it. but what ever gets me the most durability is what i want.


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## Outlaw10.5 (Nov 21, 2005)

thebikedoctor33 said:


> would you recomend wet sanding it with like 5 or 600 grit? sinse priming isnt needed. with the dupont, should i use a clear coat on top or not worry about it? will it be glossy? from what you say it sounds plenty durable, well as much can be expected from a can. and i'd rather have it like satin finish, so if i did have to do a clear i'd prefer it. but what ever gets me the most durability is what i want.


Sorry if you misunderstood, Imron cannot be sprayed out of a can. It is a two part epoxy type paint and must be sprayed out of an automotive type paint gun. The only colors I have seen have been glossy so I'm not sure if satin finishes are available w/ Imron, but the paint supply guys should be able to tell you. As for durability though I'd say it rivals powder coating. Especially if you don't use primer sand w/ 400. The scratches you put in the aluminum will give the paint something to grab onto, and Imron goes on thick enough so that the scratched are covered. I know this is too abrasive for typical 2 stage base clear systems, but Imron is its own deal. And no clear needed, it's a single stage system.


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## thebikedoctor33 (Apr 4, 2004)

justpayme12 said:


> i painted some old ht and it turned out good. (for my artistic sh!tyness) I just sanded off the old paint and decals, taped off the bb case and stuff, put on tons of auto primer, then painted. I would recomend rust-oleum (sp?). I bought all my supplies at walmart and my bike didn't turn out bad. for the designs i painted the entire area that color(silver for me), then covered it in a cut out of the design i wanted(I used sticky vynal paper). Then i painted the the entire body coat w/ the color i wanted. (do lots of coats) Let it dry for a least a day, then put on lots of clear coat.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what exactly did you use to do the designs? what is contact paper? if so, you didnt have any trouble with it pealing off paint did you?


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## justpayme12 (Jan 21, 2005)

i got vynal from my school ( the stuff they use to print on t-shirts) and just cut the design out w/ a razor. I have a ton of it, so i could give some to you if you live near by. Its like paper, buts it made of vynal and one side is sticky.


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## milhouse (Jun 22, 2004)

I just sent my SGS to Spectrum Powder Works for a new powder coating. Cant wait to get it back.


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## thebikedoctor33 (Apr 4, 2004)

justpayme12 said:


> i got vynal from my school ( the stuff they use to print on t-shirts) and just cut the design out w/ a razor. I have a ton of it, so i could give some to you if you live near by. Its like paper, buts it made of vynal and one side is sticky.


if you give me your address i'lll send you a buck in the mail to pay for shipping, pm me


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## Nick. (Dec 19, 2003)

milhouse said:


> I just sent my SGS to Spectrum Powder Works for a new powder coating. Cant wait to get it back.


that's funny, I just got my RFX BACK from Spectrum Powder Works with a new powder coating. They did a fantastic job. My eyes are still bugging out.

As someone who has stripped a frame and fork (and repainted the lowers on my '03 Super T) I would strongly recommend that you skip the chemical stripper and take the frame to be glass-bead blasted. Not only does it remove ALL the finish but it preps the metal as well. The lowers on my fork I stripped and scuffed, then applied a few coats of auto primer, sanded lightly, and applied about 4 coats of auto paint. The results were great, but the finish was not durable enough and looked beaten after a year. I don't believe you can powder coat fork lowers due to the heat curing process.

I'm all for doing things myself and having fun with it, but after seeing the results of my DIY job vs. the results of having a pro do the job I'd pay the $ and opt for the pro job.

_edit ... here is a bad pic of the bike with DIY painted Super T._


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## milhouse (Jun 22, 2004)

thebikedoctor33 said:


> if you give me your address i'lll send you a buck in the mail to pay for shipping, pm me


you can also get vinyl from a sign shop. they may even have scrap vinyl they might give you. O you could do your deign on a computer (vector art - illustrator) and bring it to a sign shop and they could just out your designs and you could either use them as decals or you could use it for a mask like mentioned above.


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