Fork Respraying?

brocky

Hiya people:)

Im getting some used black DJ forks and they are scrathched and they are also black
As ive always had white/silver forks i want to keep with that so i wondered if anybody had any tips on doing it myself?Or any steps to follow would be great;)

At the moment they still have the paint on them so im starting from scratch.
Cheers Everyone.

Chaz.Harding

Errr... Don't..?

Lol, if they aren't deep, you could try a black marker pen. Or a black 'paint pen'. YES, they do exist. Speak to people in your local arts and crafts store. A bit gay, but they'll know more than I!

nicklouse

trip them down to their component parts and then paint as you would a frame or anything else. then put back together.

Pete-C

brocky wrote:

Im getting some used black DJ forks and they are scrathched and they are also black

are they black? you might need to raw the forks to remove all the old paint and then sand down the surface to give it a better result once painted. This guide is pretty useful

paul.skibum

If you are talking suspension forks, that's going to be a case of stripping the fork if you are planning to do a decent job and spray them. Not a massively difficult task if you are careful and halfway ok with a spanner. I stripped my Z150's last summer and rebuilt them - it was OK.

Then you'd need to sand down the legs to get a good base, prime and spray/paint and rebuild - the finish you get may be a bit hit and miss and you want to avoid getting paint inside the legs!

If its a rigid fork (which it probably isnt) then just sand and paint - jobs a good un.

You could go with smoothright paint and just apply direct - it'll work but the finish will be "pikey stolen bike" rather than check out my jump style fresh.

junglist_matty

paul.skibum wrote:

I stripped my Z150's last summer and rebuilt them - it was OK.

I'm doing just that right now lol....

Lowers just after being primed with the first coat (second primer coat now finished and leaving to dry out for a few days)....



The internals...




They needed an oil change anyway, so thought they deserve a bit of a touch up whilst they're apart, its pretty simple to do so long as you have access to a service manual for your forks so you can take them apart, but the Z150's are easy enough to do yourself.

joshtp

just remember to take EVERYTHING out, tape up the holes in the bottom, the holes into which the stansiones slide, and any rubber sealing around the top of the lowers. next prep them really well, sand them and prime them with upmost care, before spraying carefuly, applying lots of thin layers, and maybe finishing with a clear coat. its worth talking to someone that really knows what they are doing when it comes to spraying first, they will give you some great tips. like bringing the can up at the end of the sroke so as to avoid patches and runs. it may be a good idea to tape up the drop outs, as it may affect the ease with which the wheel goes in if it has a thick layer of paint all over it.

Northwind

All good advice that. Here's better advice- strip them down and get them powdercoated. It won't cost drastically more, it'll give a super tough finish, and it'll mean that all the masking and prep is someone else's problem.

If you do want to have a crack yourself, I'd suggest hammerite in an aerosol for your paint- it does come in white. Reason being, it doesn't need an undercoat, it's pretty tough, and it's very easy to fix spraying errors- just cut back with 800 grit and spray again. You can spray it wet and get a smooth finish (quite hard, it's easy to get runs this way) or spray it a little dry and get a matte, slightly textured finish (nice, and easier, but you can't apply stickers to it and if you damage it you can't really repair it).

But most importantly, if you want a smooth gloss finish you can smooth the final coat with wet and dry just like you would a car clearcoat, even polishing up with a cutting compount (Farecla G3 then G10 if you want a top finish, tcut if you're not too bothered). With the right approach, it can be made to look perfect, especially on a small part like a fork. But you're talking an investment of time which could make you cry, for this. Personally I considered this for my old frame and decided that it was too much like hardwork, so I've dustcoated the top coat for the slightly texctured, matt finish, it's looking good so far and as easy as spraying gets.

Milkie

I took mine to the local car sprayers, and asked them to spray them for me. I slipped one of the guys £20, and got them back a couple of days later.

I took them to my LBS, which use Argos for spraying, and they commented on the quality of the spraying & masking.

So go down to your local car sprayers and see if they will do them for you.