[Closed] Time for a refurb - powdercoat or paint?

By the time you've bough the abrasives, primer and paint and spent hours cleaning off the old stuff, reapplied the new it'll still look gash for the same money as a powdercoat.

rattle cans are shit, you'll have more scrapes on it before you know it.

but then if it's just the Ute, how much effort d'you want to actually want to put in?

I've used a place in Ledbury a couple of times for powder coating and they are pretty cheap/do a good job.

I wanted my bike to look properly shit, so I went for exterior emulsion, waiting for it to go a bit tacky and then brushed over again, so the rough finish would allow things o grow on it.

The downtube cracked a year later, but I'm pretty sure that was more to do with it having spent god knows how long left outside in the 25 years before it made its way to me. Probably.

If I was looking at a decent strip down and repaint, I would 100% give it to a powdercoat shop. Tried my hand at a few things over the years, and messing round with chemicals for hours vs giving someone the frame and £50 and picking it up done definitely falls into the "pay someone else" pile.

but then if it's just the Ute, how much effort d'you want to actually want to put in?

This is the thing. It is the 'ute' but not 'just the ute'. I'm very fond of it, typically ride it a lot and it's a keeper. If i could afford it it'd have a green-bronze flamboyant paint pack and triple clearcoat 😉

Needs a strip down anyway as the headset is rusting 😳

So it's between powdercoat or Hammerite. Doesn't Hammerite just go straight on top of the old (pre-sanded) clearcoat? Whether can or brush? I'd certainly expect that finish to last longer than powder-coat,butmaybe I'm underestimating powdercoat because of one poor experience in the past (frame rusted underneath, breaking out all over like measles)

good powdercoat will look better than a Hammerite brush job every day, and will last as long, but should last way longer.

If you just want a cheap change of colour - rattle can on top of the existing paint.

If you want it to look good for a while - powdercoat

I've attempted to strip 3x frames in the past, none were easy and apparently nitromors has changed for the worse yet again so you'd have more success giving the paint a menacing look. Stripping paint is a horrible, slow, hard, messy and painful (if you get nitromors on your skin). Definitely one to leave to the professionals.

Ohmigodomigod...

FOUND A GADGET! Anyone used an electrostatic 3D Hammerite gun?!! I could make everything look like it's genetically related to a green metal watering can! But seriously...why not this?

Anyone who has ever been an apprentice will know you wont get a hammered finish if you spray it on, it must go one with a half inch brush.

Oh and powder coat every time, I'm just about to do mine and the Mrs pub bikes, I just cant decide what colours.

Thanks for comments. Was thinking hammerite smooth finish. ie not very ugly but durable?

My local powdercoater charges £55 to strip and coat a frame. When you look at costs and efforts of DIY it isn't worth it. Finish would be better too IMO.

The electrostatic guns are more common in workshops (actually similar tech to how you get the powder to stick). Even with that you'll unlikely get a good finish. Spray painting requires some practice and skill to get good at.

Final point is chemistry. The DIY paints you'll be buying will be solvent drying 1k paints. Powder and professionals will be using 2k. In general this allows for a much harder, tougher finish. So your DIY job will scuff up in a few months but the powder coat wil go on and on.

Thanks all. Have decided to follow STW wisdom and get it powder-coated after summer-season.

Would be interested to know how much a powder coat costs.

My local powdercoater charges £55 to strip and coat a frame. When you look at costs and efforts of DIY it isn't worth it.

This. I paid a bit more, but the powdercoater was used to doing motorbikes so took the time to mask up all the threads. I then had some replacement decals made up.

Hammerite should be reserved only for old men to paint railings with.

I've had two bikes (and rigid forks) done in the past:
First was £35 including sandblasting. However despite telling me all would be taped they ended up getting loads on the threads so I had to chase these out. Paint itself was excellent.

Second was around £40-50 iirc. Much better finish and more professionally done.

For the hassle (and time!!) of stripping yourself plus quiestionable finish / durability powdercoat is definitely the way forwards IMHO.

Let's see a before and after shot OP!

Just please make sure it's masked off properly before it's blasted & coated.
I've just spent five hours cleaning a frame ready for a rebuild after it was power coated as it wasn't masked.
BB chased & faced, head tube reamed & faced, bearing seats all cleaned out by hand (old full sus frame)
It'll save a lot of hassle in the long run

Let's see a before and after shot OP!

Will do, I have until October/Nov to agonise over the colour. So far either black-blue (RAL 5004) or some concrete grey/green (RAL 7023). Have to decide whether to do match the mudguards and racks to the frame or contrast them in hardy matte-black.

Want unfussy, lo-viz and easily retouched. That's a point, what touch-up paints adhere to powdercoat? I have not a clue.
😯

@goldenwonder thanks for the reminder re correct masking. I'll have a 'proper discussion" with whoever does it.

Anyone tried this stuff?

http://road.cc/content/review/199463-spraybike-paint

Was also considering vinyl stickers for one of mine

Since we are here:

Local powder coaters or Argos Cycles for my daughter's 20" frame? It needs to become pink, apparently.

Powdercoat is the way forward.

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Had my 5 done, £50 inc sandblasting.

That said I would be VERY specific about where you want coating and where you don't, had to have BB refaced and chased. That said bike shop said it was best powdercoating he had seen 🙂

Local powder coaters or Argos Cycles for my daughter's 20" frame? It needs to become pink, apparently.

Argos Cycles respray will cost more than the bike!

I thought they weren't too bad for a basic paint job that wasn't spangly.

I thought they weren't too bad for a basic paint job that wasn't spangly.

Cheapest possible price is £155 according to their website. I've used them, and they have very good attention to detail, but the finish is fragile. Unless you're bothered about a specific finish I'd save £100 and have it powdercoated.

Aye, stuff that. Powdercoaters it is.

For those who do need to do any paint stripping themselves I'd suggest something called Synstryp by Starchem. I got some to prep for a rattle can paint job on an old Kinesis frame after trying the utter waste of money that is modern Nitromors.
Dabbed it on over the paint, left it 15 minutes and came back to find a nice pile of liquified paint under the frame.
It still contains dichloromethane (the good stuff) that nitromors have got rid of.
I'm usually the first to disregard safety info, but this stuff is nasty; wear PPE and use it outside!

Do you get a discount at a powdercoaters for stripping it yourself?

If you just want to make it look a bit more presentable I managed a decent job by rubbing down the rough edges on a frame and painting it with valspar paint and primer in one spray paint - the stuff that used to be called plastikote IIRC. Its a bit fragile but gave a decent finish for a couple of hours work and £10

I did my old commuter with yellow hammerite- ridiculous amount of work but it came out nice, and with 5000 coats, was also pretty tough. 4 cans full with a dustcoat on top to make it nice and flat, had a nice texture too. But even leaving aside time, that cost me more than a pro powdercoat, I just did it because it was fun.

You can always shoot a tin of bbq paint over anything. Or halfords enamel. Cheap, easy, will look fairly crap. Did this for my brother's Courier, it's perfect, it looks so bad he barely needs to lock it up.

molgrips - Member
Do you get a discount at a powdercoaters for stripping it yourself?

Probably not. A lot of paint performance is in the preparation - any good powder coater would want to ensure the paint is stripped and the metal prepared to specification. So this means taking a risk on your work or doing it again. You'd be going back to complain if it blistered so they'll probably do it again.

It still contains dichloromethane (the good stuff) that nitromors have got rid of.

It's good at destroying the ozone layer...

I've used that spray.bike stuff, it's not bad if you want a matte finish but the lacquer is trickier to use. It's also not very tough and very easy to scratch.

It's fun to use and you can go crazy with the colours. I'm just about to use it on a 14" 456 I bought from here, once my son has decided on the colour scheme he wants.

I used the homebase own brand paint stripper and it's surprisingly effective.