Before I get into the thick of it, does anyone have any tips before I spray can paint this bike tomorrow?
Already used 80 grit to get the old paint off it and a steel brush for the crevices and debossed logos.
Tomorrow’s plan is run over it with 220 grit, prime, then paint.
Just want tips on best outcome. Appreciate it!
by nemobvb5
15 Comments
I’m not much of a painter but I’d focus on preparing surfaces well. Wipe everything down with isopropyl before you start, and sand/ wipe between layers of primer or paint. Clear coat might be good too if you aren’t planning on that yet.
What material is that? Aluminum?
Start and finish your spray lines off the bike to get a better chance of even distribution and less drips
I’d say don’t. Mad Max that thing!
I’ve watched many videos on YouTube that were very helpful. It’s basically 90% prep work to achieve a nice clean paint job
Don’t forget the paint 😅🤦♂️
I stripped and painted an aluminium. State black label frame. Well, I stripped and clear coated it but same thing applies:
From where you’re at right now, sand with 220 and maybe finer? I sanded and then went over with a scotch bright pad to get a consistent finish but sandpaper is probably good enough as is. Don’t take off too much material because the aluminium is probably not super thick. It’s easy to take a lot off. Then clean off all the debris. I got a wet towel over the whole thing to get off all the left over sanding material and then a new towel to dry it off. After that, I wiped the entire bike in mineral spirits to clean the frame of any grease, including from your bare hands. From there I handled the frame only with gloves on. Find a spot to hang your frame. I hung my frame from my rear brake mount hole with some wire and hung it from my garage ceiling. Tape off whatever you don’t want painted (BB, Headset, dropouts). Then wipe the frame in mineral spirits again and once it all evaporates off, spray your primer on. Thin consistent coats is better than one thick coat. Note that if you spray too lightly, the clear coat or paint will have a very gritty rough finish. If you put enough on it will look smooth. If you put too much it will drip, so don’t put too much on. I found that since there is so much geometry in the dropouts and rear of the frame, naturally I sprayed more paint back there to cover all the surfaces, which unfortunately lead me to spray too much and some drips happened. So just keep note of that. Be intentional with each stroke would help. The bottom tube would be a good place to start to get the feel for it.
Just be consistent with your sprays and be intentional with each. Idk if you know how to use a spray can, but start and stop spraying before and after your stroke goes over the area you want to paint. Don’t start or stop your spray on the area you intend to paint because it won’t be consistent. Starting and stopping off your price will give a consistent amount of paint and consistent finish. Have a consistent distance too, whatever the can says. Do a couple coats with some time in between and maybe finish with a top clear coat if you want. Let it fully dry for 24 hours and put the bike back together.
Get all the products you need before you do anything else. Over spend a little bit so you are not running to the parts store. Prep all the actions, and the location you are going to paint in. Check the weather if you are going to paint outside. A windy day will fuck your paint job up. Do a mock run.
Watch a couple youtube videos right before you paint so the technique is fresh in your head.
Remember you need a self etching primer for aluminum. Look into a 2k one. More durable. You can sand it down before painting. Also cover with 2k clear coat.
Slowly Slowly. Most of painting is prep. Temperature, not only of the surface but of the paint, humidity in the air, contaminates in the air/area all add up to an ugly finish.
https://youtu.be/14cvmIubfrE?si=zu-NLOpJKx3SJj1K
This guy does a good but amateur job.
https://preview.redd.it/cpw6tqfqmpzf1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=41b8c3f9dcdcdf098007bccd9a605c868aa83210
This is the goal btw, don’t really care for the aventon logo tbh
a good thing to do is to sand down between primer layers and before paint. apply a layer, wait 24 hrs, sand down with wet 600-800 grit, clean and then apply new layer. this give you the chance to fix mistakes like rundowns and makes for a smooth surface. Sanding down the color is not recommended but if a spot is bad you can do similar to above: wait 24 hrs, wet sand down and then re-paint. the same is true for-between clear coat layers.
Do lots of super thin coats and be patient
Id go for that patina look and embrace it get rid of the scratch look by sanding but take a little more paint off in places then 2 k lacquer
Honestly it looks kinda cool like that, I would ride it that way
If you want to paint it sand it a bit finer like up to 300 will be more than good enough
Make sure to use some 120 or 150 grit first because it looks like you used some 80 grit and this will leave visible grooves in your primer! So sand it a bit more fine
And if you really want to also sand the primer a bit with some finer sandpaper after it fully dried, I’m not sure whether or not you should wetsand the primer so look that up