Bike Touchup Paint?

dru

HI people,

Might be not posted in the right area but.... but it is my latest beginners question.

Do companies generally sell touchup paint for bikes? or do you have to go to a place like 'halfirds' and get the closest car colour and use those pen kits??


Reason being, I 've just picked up a bike and there are a few nicks and chips on it and before making the drive to a local halfords, to see if touch up paints are generally available?

Funnily enough, the bike in question is a Boardman Team (Grey) frame so thus might have to go to a Halfords 'bikehut' to get it anyway?

Anyone know if such a specific product is available?

Cheers,

Dru.

crankycrank

Any bike companies that do sell touchup paint to match their bikes it's almost always such a poor match in colour you might as well go out and as you said, find something at the auto paint supply. Hobby shops are also a good source as they usually sell fuel resistant paints in very small amounts. Nail polish also works reasonably well but not as durable as paint. If you know of any Goth women they should have just the right shade of grey polish.

softlad

Could be wrong, but I thought the 'grey' colour on the Team was actually a plain aluminium finish...??

If so, it won't need touching up...

dru

Nah - the colour underneath is regretably much lighter.

I take it that the frame I've got is the actual standard 'team' colour the same as the range that can be bought from Halfords.

dru

Well,

I went to one of my local Halfords with authorised 'BikeHut' Boardman bike range.

I asked the question if they sold any bike touchup paint.

The guy said I don't think so... what bike is it, I replied saying a Boardman 2008 Team model, and he said 'oh we probably do that one' as it's not a specialised manufacturer of bikes

Anyway, he came back a few minutes later and I was told that they did not do any touch up paints for the boardman bikes.

He did say that downstairs they could make up the colour touch up in the car department, I just needed to bring the bike in so they had something to match up against.

Is bringing the bike in for a match the right thnig to do - or should I contact either another bikehut that might give me a different answer or maybe Boardman bikes directly to get some official answer on if they do touchup paints or to see if they can at least give me the official colour code that I should be asking for when they make me up some touchup piant?

STEFANOS4784

Seems like a lot of hastle for a few chips to me?!? I reckon i'd e-mail Boardmans people and Halfords customer service.

dru

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Seems like a lot of hastle for a few chips to me?!? I reckon i'd e-mail Boardmans people and Halfords customer service.

I will do, but I think that the only way is 'through' Halfords customer services as I can not find any contact information for boardmanbikes directly :roll:

Flasheart

I had a scuff on my frame when bike was knocked over by one of the bloody kids trying to get their bike out (thankfully only tiny chip but I knew it was there)
:idea: NAIL POLISH. They make that stuff in every concievable shade imaginable. Yes easy for me with a black bike with white trim I know but it did the trick.

dru

Flasheart wrote:

I had a scuff on my frame when bike was knocked over by one of the bloody kids trying to get their bike out (thankfully only tiny chip but I knew it was there)
:idea: NAIL POLISH. They make that stuff in every concievable shade imaginable. Yes easy for me with a black bike with white trim I know but it did the trick.

I'm having issuies thinknig about walking about the cosmetics department in the middle of Cardiiff in my Lycra and pushing my bike around trying to match the colours

I fired off an email to Halfords/Boardman yesterday so lets see what they come back with first

hotnajers

I orderd from a place on ebayits car touchup matt black its in alittle bottle with brush its 5 quid inc post.

dru

hotnajers wrote:

I orderd from a place on ebayits car touchup matt black its in alittle bottle with brush its 5 quid inc post.

trouble is mate that my bike is the 2008 'team' version - its not black - its grey, and too make it a little harder, the 2008 grey is much darker than the 2009 model for reference.

lae

Car touch ups are fine, usually places have a decent range and you'll be able to find something that's a perfect match or close enough that you won't know unless you're really looking for it. As car paints are gloss (usually) it can be hard to match on anodised or satin/matte finish frames though (usually a little go-over with some 1200g and plenty of water will 'matte' a gloss finish)

Halfords and other places can mix paint 'by eye', although, many years ago when I worked at halfords I was one of only two members of staff actually able to mix paint by eye... so make sure you get a good one! Or ask to see their chip chart books (some stores don't keep books any more though) to find a good match. Be prepared to pay for their time though, it can take a VERY long time to get a good match by eye!

Or, if you happen to know someone with a light spectrometer, ask them to find the paint colour for you :P

dru

reply from Boardman Customer Services Department aka Halfords Customer Service.

Dear Mr XXXXXX
Thank you for your recent E-mail. Unfortunatley touch up paints are not available for any cycles within the Boardman range.
The store can offer a paint match service but as we do not keep the formula's for these paints the match would be dependent on the staffmembers mixing ability.

Kind Regards,
XXXX
Customer Service Advisor


I've replied to the above asking for contact details of Boardman bikes themselves. They surely must be able to get the paint mixup code for the bikes.

I cannot beleive that touchup paints are not available. Surely Bike manufacturers should be concerned about the 'image' of their bikes out in the market place. Who wants to see a bike full of chips or badly matched paint touch up..... grrrrrrrrr....... looks like I'm going to have to spend half of my day off tommorrow taking the bike to all the local halfords until I can find an expert in paint matching.

STEFANOS4784

I expect that the demand does not match the cost of manufacter, personally if my bike gets a war wound i just put up with it, can't keep it wrapped in cotton wool forever

P.s "depends on the staff members mixing ability". From what i've heard about Halfords staff you'll be better off just buying a luminous yellow highlighter

lae

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

P.s "depends on the staff members mixing ability". From what i've heard about Halfords staff you'll be better off just buying a luminous yellow highlighter

Well I was pretty bloody good, but yeah, don't get the 17 year old spotty kid who doesn't want to be there...

You can't complain about halfords staff too much. Pay them peanuts and you'll get monkeys

dru

well - I went up to halfords with the bike and ended up getting a Ford Focuse Sea Grey colour - looks a spot on match..... will wait until the weekend to see thou

I'll keep you all posted how close a match it actually is

evan_iss

Resurrecting this ancient thread in case anyone (doubt it) has the same issue: I have exactly the same bike and tried the Ford Sea Grey but it is too dark.

Will go to Halfords and replace with something a shade lighter.

schweiz

Blast from the past!

I wonder where some of the guys in this thread are. Especially Flashheart, I hope he's feeling happier with life these days.

Ampton

I spoke to Andy the operations manager of Boardman Bikes at the London Bike Show a couple of weekend ago. He gave me his business card and told me that they do have touchup paints and that he would get me some grey paint for my CX Team.

which is a very different to the reply i got from there marketing manager of boardman bikes 6 months ago who told me that i should get a complete respray.

my local halfords recieved paint codes for 2012/13 models just before the 2014 colours came out but they are not correct the team grey came out blue.

If andy come through with his offer I will post his email address.

Moray

Hi, just chasing the last comment to see if Andy from boardman came through with the touch up paint. If so do you have any contact details. Thanks