Bike Painting Tips

I have painted a couple bikes for my friends so I thought I would share some tricks I learned in the process.

Step 1: Frame Prep.

- To strip bike frames completely I use brush–on (not aerosol) Aircraft Stripper. With the brush on variety you can load it on, let it dry and get almost all the paint off in an hour or so. Be careful though, this stuff is EXTREMELY TOXIC!

- If you only want to sand down the current paint, my favorite method is to use 180grit wet/dry sandpaper. I keep a bucket next to me and rinse off the paper when its starts to clog with old paint. The wet sanding cuts through the paint pretty quick but it still takes awhile.

- I tape off all the holes and trim the excess with an exacto. I stuff a roll of newspaper in the seat tube because I’ve seen motorcycle builders do this so I feel cool. Get decent masking tape that sticks well but doesn’t pull off paint. I have found that the blue house painters tape doesn’t stick well enough for detail work but is fine for masking big areas.

- If you can, wait for a warm, dry day. It will help the paint bond well.

Comments

[fastback570]

SICK blue print bike This is a bike that belonged to my mom from about 1964... 69 Camaro Hugger orange with a Dodge Off white . PPG Paint.

[frenzy]

This posting has won today's "I Made It" Challenge. For winning you will receive a 3 month pro membership!

Thanks for using instructables!

http://www.instructables.com/community/June-is-I-Made-It-Challenge-Month-Win-a-Pro-Mem/

[barnhill123]

i should do this when i camo paint my bike

[japanbike]

Is the wheel rim painted red in the first picture or just anodized ?

[devein]

another option for "harder" coat is to have it painted using paint gun. The paint gun allows to use acrylic hardener, exactly like in professional coat in cars etc. it is impossible to add hardener to a spray can - the can content would turn into solid in hours.

cheapest compromise: make base and color using spray cans, and then take the frame for coating to car painting shop.

spraying over powder coating has one more advantage: powder coats are limited to RAL color palette (at least in Poland). you can fill cans (for spray or gun) with every car color possible or have a custom color, with pearl and metalic gloss.

[nathan701]

My own painted bicycle light blue and all of the brown is real leather.
Link to instructable about it.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-your-bike-look-like-new-again/

[dorm7guard]

I am painting my bike. I sanded the bike, but only removed the front wheel. I am going to paint it by hand, using a sponge brush and a regular artist brush. I have a primer, but now I'm thinking that the primer is too light in color because I tested a spot and put the color I want over it and it came out a lot brighter than the card (where paint sample was on). So I guess I will have to buy a different color primer color? This is the best I can do with this bike. I would like to just take the whole thing apart and spray paint it, but I don't know how, and I wouldn't be able to get it back together. Any advice with this, would be greatly appreciated.
dorm7guard

[adnauseam]

I painted my bike with regular Rustoleum spray paint and found it chipping a little here and there. Especially when contacting metal when I locked it to various things (posts, racks, etc). In the future when I do this I will probably be using more expensive Enamel spray paint as I think it's much harder when it finishes. Also, I will be leaving it atleast a week, hopefully with some sun, to ensure it hardens well.

[gfernandez2]

Do you think I can do this in two weeks?? Also, do you think it will last a two month cross country bike tour?

[gold fish]

are we suppose to use 180 grit or 600 grit sandpaper?

[metrometro]

Both. 180 grit to remove paint. 600 grit to even out paint between layers.

The 600 will be very smooth paper compared to the 180.

[SamGerald]

This is great advice for someone like me who wants to spruce up the look of their bike. Thanks for the guide!

[mga12]

Thanks for the info! Here's a shot of my newly painted bike (please overlook the dirty tires). I also found that it was useful to use a drill with a wire brush to take off what paint the stripper missed.

[pcorbett]

That's a little plaid. This is a lot of plaid

[johannalee]

you could also ask the sticker or sign shops for odd pieces of vinyl. They run huge sheets that come wrapped around a tube through plotters and there's always ends that are usually too small to use for anything. there are a lot of extra pieces lying around our shop all the time. even mis-cut vinyl could be used for some cool paint effects. This is such a cool idea. I've wanted to do this for so long but never really thought about the right way to do it or the right materials to use. Love the plaid. Are there glittery spray paints?

[twall3]

Yeah, they make aerosol cans of spray glitter. It's basically glitter suspended in a clear coat. I don't think it's super strong itself since it's kind of cheap and not really meant for high abuse jobs like bikes. I used it once on a bike that I was painting white but wanted to have a little metallic shine. I sprayed a coat of white, then a coat of glitter, another coat of white, glitter again, white a final time and then a few coats of clear. It came out pretty sweet, the glitter isn't overbearing but adds a nice touch and it has held up well.

[bibamofo]

It's funny, when I saw the pics of Panda Face's bike, I just assumed that the plaid pieces were printed vinyl. I did something similar with my bike using JavaSigns.com and was pretty pleased with the way the vinyl decals turned out once I was done applying them. Still, I gotta say there's something more impressive about doing it the old fashioned way. Kinda cool to see someone do by hand what I used Illustrator to do. Bravo!

[ckatzenburrger]

so, i want to paint my handlebars like a candy cane i.e. white with red spirals. would it turn out fine if I used white primer, taped it up like white swirls, did the red, took the tape off and clearcoated it? would that look terrible cause on some parts it was only primer and clearcoat?

[bfunnekotter]

I could not agree more with @fastback570....GET RID OF YOUR TELEVISIONS!

[xaviercugiecugat]

Just finished my bike. Thanks for posting your instructions it was really helpful. I stripped the paint off, repainted a gray-blue base coat and used mod podge to glue on blueprints. The blueprints are from Rankin Steel Mill in Pittsburgh. They're schematics of blast furnaces and other parts of the steel mill. The mill closed in the 80s so these prints sat around for 20+ years which is why they are faded and have water blotches.

[Wasagi]

That is fantastic! I love how it turned out too. I may have to try this out with my Mountain Bike!

[stymemagnets]

damn dude, that is just, wow

[xaviercugiecugat]

I decided to do another bike a couple months ago. This one is covered in wallpaper. I used matte Mod Podge and then sealed it with a uv protective sealer. This time I mixed a paint color that matched the wallpaper and painted parts of the bike that I didn't want to cover in paper.

[flabiola]

did you do anything before the mod podge or just mod podge straight on the bike frame? u should do an instructable...lol

[xaviercugiecugat]

Lol. That's a good idea.

I used an angle grinder with a wire brush to get most of the orginal paint off the bike. I also used an eco friendly stripper that I found at home depot. Next I cleaned the bike and then primed it with a metal primer. Next I would cut a section of wallpaper and modpodge the backside strip of wallpaper and the section of bike frame. Once that dried I would give that section a sealing coat of mod podge.

[flabiola]

Soo, i bought this bike and it has a pretty solid black paint on it... like real bike paint (idk what u call it) and i dont wanna strip it because 1) time 2) unsure how to do it right 3) scared lol ... if i just like... cleaned it good (wtvr that means?) could i modge podge OVER the original paint????.... do you think? orrrrr what would u recommend for not wanting to strip the bike.

[tmarques1]

your bike looks sick! I love it, awesome concept! did you have to spray the blue prints with acrylic sealer before mod podging it?

[xaviercugiecugat]

Thanks! No I just put mod podge directly on the blueprints. It acts as a sealer. I then spray sealed it a few times. I should have put a uv resistant sealer because the prints faded a bit with time. Though it still looks good - just more of a light blue / green now.

[rattyrain]

Wow, that's a really good idea; I'll probably have to try this with sheet music or something. . .

[number27]

heres what i did with sheet music and mod podge.

[xaviercugiecugat]

Sweet! I love it.

[Demondavid]

Amazing job

[nagutron]

I love the texture! Awesome job.

[pineapplenewton]

it looks like the paint is coming off is it?

[xaviercugiecugat]

nope. the blue prints are layered and burned on the edges

[pineapplenewton]

is it pasted on or is it a paint design?

[xaviercugiecugat]

I pasted on old blueprints with mod podge.

[Dr.Paj]

did you put anything over the blueprints like a clear coat? or does the mod podge protect it (I have no idea what mod podge is). By the way, sweet bike, I have one almost exactly like it (old fashioned shifters too) The whole wall papering your bike with old blueprints is very original.

[xaviercugiecugat]

http://www.plaidonline.com/apMP.asp#ModPodgeBrands

On the mod podge website it says a woman decoupaged her vw bug w/ mod podge

The topcoat of mod podge does protect it but I decided to also spray it with a high grade clear coat. I think I sprayed it 5 times.

Thanks

[Dr.Paj]

Nice, what brand of clear coat did you use and what did it cost?