is there any such thing as tough DIY paint?

[JakobW]

'Tough' and 'thin enough to show nice lugs' are (in practice if not necessarily in theory) reasonably mutually exclusive, no? There's also the trade-off that you can (assuming you're discounting in some way the value of your time) probably spend more time than a pro frame painter sanding coats back etc, but they're more likely to have access to proper sandblasting and spraying kit, as well as tougher (& more hazardous!) paints. For a simple tough paint job most people are probably best off finding a recommended local powder coater or sending the frame off to Bob Jackson or whatever - if you've not got your own painting gear, by the time you've got the kit together it's probably not hugely cheaper than letting a pro deal with it.

[fastpedaller]

i thought it was a hack bike? - Just put any old paint on it..... If it gets scraped, just add some more!

[Brucey]

i thought it was a hack bike? - Just put any old paint on it..... If it gets scraped, just add some more!

that is what I've been doing, but as I've already explained I've got to the end of that particular road now; there is lots of paint that has reacted with other layers and is crazed, lots of paint that is very brittle and chips easily, lots of areas where corrosion is setting in. The one redeeming feature of the bike as it stands is it looks so crap no-one in their right mind would ever dream of nicking it.

Re powder coat; as I have already explained powder coat is, for me, almost the worst possible option; the frame has a number of very delicate braze-ons which will literally be destroyed by a typical shot blast, the cables won't even fit into the braze-ons any more if the coating is the usual thickness, it'll look like crap because the frame needs to be flatted properly after priming, later when it is damaged touching it in with anything that matches/sticks is a crapshoot and locally to me there isn't anyone who will do a half reasonable job at a half-reasonable price either. The bikes I've owned with factory powder coat on them have only impressed me in one way, being that I've been totally amazed that the manufacturer chose to ruin their product by covering it in such rubbish. I'm told that there are 'really good' powder coat jobs but I don't think I've never seen one. The powder coat jobs on used frames I have seen have left small dents and other blemishes on show and most of them have looked like they have been painted by a blind man with a stick. In service the finish itself is usually so soft it picks up lots of superficial scuffs and scratches, and it seemingly can't be cut back and polished, or (in light colours) even cleaned properly come to that. I have several other bikes here which had factory powder coating on them when they were new and nothing could be a better advertisement for other paint finishes than that; several need the whole lot taking off and starting again (eg because corrosion is galloping away at high speed beneath the powder coat) and the ones that can be saved from a corroded hell without a complete refinish will never look any good no matter how much time is spent on them.

So no, powder coat is not the way ahead here, not for me.

I quite like the idea of using epoxy-based paint as primer and I don't even mind brushing it either provided it can be flatted off OK. Ditto tractor paints as topcoats.

I don't mind spending time and/or money on the job provided I know what I'm letting myself in for, I'm not going to poison myself, and the results can be in some kind of proportion to the effort expended. You could argue that the present paint job has failed because paint manufacturers simply don't indicate clearly on their tins what is inside them and you can't always even obtain the same paint again years later; I don't want to come a cropper that way again and some of the suggestions have been very interesting.

cheers

[Greystoke]

Like I said before tractor paint is cheap, dries hard, easy to match and spray on. Ideal for wreckless rally drivers so I painted my bike with it.

[David9694]

I’ve had one frame powder coated - it’s ok, it didn’t cost too much and rescued one of my early resto’ attempts that had gone wrong and that I just didn’t want to look at. I don’t think it’s laid on so thick that lugwork is obscured.

It’s Surprisingly difficult to find information about what works with what. I stick with acrylics myself.

I thought of the spray paints, it was the enamels that was the toughest : https://www.riolettcustomaerosols.co.uk ... ray-paint/

Two pack is a jump to semi pro - you need PPE and a negative pressure spraying area.

[hoogerbooger]

Tractor paint interesting me. Anyone got/willing to upload a tractor paint finish close up ? Particularly if brush painted.

[cycle tramp]

Tractor paint interesting me. Anyone got/willing to upload a tractor paint finish close up ? Particularly if brush painted.

The underside of my newly painted rack. Its probably the worst bit of the rack, and there's areas where I didn't maintain a wet edge, so new paint went over paint which had started to cure. If I wanted to I could sand it back and go over with another coat.... but was bored by then, and it's a rack so it's going to get scratched, chipped and worn whatever. (The rack was 2nd hand and quite corroded in places - given what it looked like I'm still fairly chuffed with the finish - I had to wire brush the original flaking powder coat off, treat the rust, before giving it two coats of red oxide primer and finished with two coats of tractor paint sanding down between each coat)

[fastpedaller]

If it was me I'd just use a good primer/undercoat system (just household red oxide and appropriate colour undercoat, flatted at each stage, then Humbrol top coat. All applied with a brush. On my kit car chassis and suspension I used this method, but used Dulux weathershield block gloss rather instead of humbrol. 33 years later it's still there! I consider Dulux weathershield to be too soft for a bike frame (scrape too easy). To keep a wet edge during application with a brush, Brucey could paint all tubes as 'barber's poles, painting the whole of each tube

[thatsnotmyname]

I can't help thinking that 'tractor paint' is just regular paint which has been prefixed by the word 'tractor'....

[Brucey]

most 'tractor' paint is one-part (1K) enamel, which is intended to have a consistency such that it will self-flatten to a great extent when brushed. It is designed to dry hard. I'm not sure there is any such thing as 'regular' paint....? Household gloss paint (for example) is only superficially like enamel, I think, and usually isn't as hard once it has cured; it needs to retain more flexibility on wood, if cracking is to be avoided.

It turns out that there is a specialist paint suppliers not that far from me, who do tractor paints etc, so I expect I shall be paying them a visit.
I come (way back) from a farming background, and various of my relatives are going to laugh like a drain if I ever tell them I've been painting my bikes in Fordson Major blue etc (which I quite fancy as it happens). It is almost worth doing it just for that...

cheers

[Greystoke]

My bike is as previously stated fordson major blue (as is the rally car) and it looks really nice

[simonineaston]

Going back years ago, my closest chums and I put together motorbikes from basket cases - stuff like Sunbeam S8, Harley 45, Matchless 500 etc.. Although I tended towards restoration, one chum in particular was quite creative and did some lovely paint jobs. As a consequence of all this, we got to know the properties of various paint finishes pretty well - at least, for amatuers. We ended up buying compressors, paint guns and airbrushes etc. and knew our cellulose thinners from our two-packs etc. etc.. We got to learn that the paint deposit from the average spray can is actually very very thin and if you want anything like a durable finish, then you had little option but to do the prep. well, put on as many coats of primer as you had patience to do, put on as many coats of colour as you could afford (cans being rather an uneconomical way of applying paint...) and then get going with a good quality clear laquer - lots of it. Having said that, with patience and a ton of elbow grease used to flat between each and every coat, the overall paint thickness would be similar to what you could achive with a gun. An expesnive way to do it, but if you worked hard, the results could be excellent.
However, painting a motorcyle (with the exception of the frame itself, of course) largely consists of several flat surfaces, eg tank, side-panels, fenders... whereas painting a bike is pretty much just the cylindrical tubes of frame. Flatting the tubes themselves is not a problem, the difficulties come with dealing with the lugs. Sharp edges are notoriously hard to rub down without going back to the primer or metal.

[thatsnotmyname]

most 'tractor' paint is one-part (1K) enamel, which is intended to have a consistency such that it will self-flatten to a great extent when brushed. It is designed to dry hard. I'm not sure there is any such thing as 'regular' paint....? Household gloss paint (for example) is only superficially like enamel, I think, and usually isn't as hard once it has cured; it needs to retain more flexibility on wood, if cracking is to be avoided.

It turns out that there is a specialist paint suppliers not that far from me, who do tractor paints etc, so I expect I shall be paying them a visit.
I come (way back) from a farming background, and various of my relatives are going to laugh like a drain if I ever tell them I've been painting my bikes in Fordson Major blue etc (which I quite fancy as it happens). It is almost worth doing it just for that...

cheers

Fair point - 'regular' paint is probably as relevant as 'tractor' paint, in reality. Self-levelling is a quality that most paints strive to achieve, I would guess. Ask them what would happen if you put 'tractor paint' on something that wasn't a tractor...

[alexnharvey]

I have tried to research which paints will work 'wet-on-wet' which is to say the top coat polymerises to the primer. I assume that will be good for toughness. Haven't made much progress with it.

On the other hand that might be quite different to the approach you are used to, of spray or best on, cure then flatten down.

[Jamesh]

How about epoxy spray paint.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143613037392

A good base is critical and preparation is key.

I might try and strip down the my hack bike at some point and repaint with epoxy paint.

Cheers James