Paint Question

[Person_TX]

Hey guys,

I will be picking up an old beatup Schwinn this weekend to fix up. It is not an old valuable one but a canteleiver probably from the 80's sometime. I am going to repaint it as the paint is not in good condition. I have a few questions about painting it that I hope you could help me with:

1. Should I go with spray paint or should I use a spray gun? I already have an air compressor so a spray gun would not be much of an investment.
2. I want to paint it a metallic orange or anodized like orange color. Any suggestions on paint type and brand?
3. Clear coat or no clear coat? Suggestions on type of clear coat?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[bigredddaddy]

I'd say with that collor you want, you'd prob have to go spray gun. I've heard that some paint shops will mix paint and put it in a spray can but none around me will. I don't know about a brand, but I'd go with a name brand paint. And yes, as much as paint is, you should clear coat. it does protect the paint. Just my $.02.

 

[Person_TX]

Thanks for the info. Has anyone tried the Krylon Xmetals paint? If it works it would be pretty cool...

http://www.krylon.com/products/xmetals/

 

[johnny nightwolf]

Never tried the Krylon kind. I used Duplicolr Metalcast, which seems to be the same basic thing, though. Had poor results on bare metal, but it makes an excellent candy coat. I used Metalcast purple over a coat of rustoleum purple, and it looks amazing! The paint looks about a mile deep.

 

[xddorox]

I swear by Krylon. They make real good paint.

 

[sensor]

have you ever use a paint gun before?(if you havent theres alot of things to consider......material expenses,where to paint,respirator,waste paint,reducers,clear, mixing cups, and of course painting itself.with a gun its alot different than a rattle can*not hard but very different*) if you havent id stick to spraypaint........house of color does make 3 stage rattle can(check firewalkers pic-a-nic cruiser he used h.o.k. rattle can for that)

 

[Hooch]

or you can go to any autoparts store like napa that mixes paint and they can put auto quality custom mixed colors in spray cans for about 15 bucks

 

[sensor]

d'oh!!! forgot about that hooch

 

[Hooch]

well you collision specialists are pretty used to the fancy stuff lol

 

[Person_TX]

Thanks for all the info guys. I think I will stick with spray paint from a can. I am very tempted to try the Krylon X-metal as a candy coat or maybe the Dupli-color metal specs. That stuff would look pretty old school.

I am going to think about it a little more but I am very tempted to do the orange metal specs over silver. If that comes out right it would look really cool.

Do you guys ussually sand blast the old paint off, sand, or chemically remove? Also while you are painting what do you use to hold the bike up so you can get an even coat over the whole thing? Do you hang it or use a stand?

Thanks again for all the info!

Eric

 

[KansasJack]

Eric, I used Duplicolor Metal Specks and it came out looking great. It chipped VERY easily though, so be careful not to bump the bike into anything. I sanded my frame down to bare metal, shot two coats of primer and two coats of Metal Specks. In the areas where it chipped, the primer stayed on the frame rather than chipping to bare metal, so it seems that the Metal Specks didn't adhere to the primer very well. Also, I sprayed clear coat over the Metal Specks and it made the paint bubble-up and shrivel. Thank goodness I only sprayed the chain guard rather than ruining the whole frame. I contacted Duplicolor about that and asked what kind of clear coat would be safe to use and they responded that clear coat should not be used over Metal Specks.

To answer your other questions, I sanded my bike. It went a lot quicker than I expected. In retrospect though, I probably inhaled a good amount of lead-based paint in the process, even though I was wearing a surgical mask. I hung my bike parts from a tree branch for painting and it worked out well. It was a hot day and the paint dried before any bugs had a chance to get stuck to the paint. I was worried about the prospect of bird poop getting on the fresh paint but that didn't happen, fortunately.

 

[Person_TX]

Kansasjack,

Thanks for the info especially about the Metal Specks paint. I would of surely tried to spray clearcoat on it..... That kind of stinks that you can't clear coat it and it chips so easy.

Do you have any pics of your bike?

Later,

Eric

 

[KansasJack]

Here's the bike: 1965 Schwinn Twinn. It was a piece of junk when I first got it. It's amazing what a fresh paint job and some chrome polish will do. The Duplicolor Metal Specks was a pretty close match to the original Schwinn blue paint. I sold it to a guy who gave it to a couple as a wedding gift.

 

[Person_TX]

Very cool!