Paint touch up

mcowan77
mcowan77 Posts: 560
edited May 2013 in Workshop
Need to touch up a few chips/scratches on my bike... White paint

Any tips

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    A tiny tin of Hammerite
    left the forum March 2023
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    White is difficult - a lot of bikes seem to have a very white finish - almost with a greyish tone. Get a tin of white paint and what comes out is something that looks beige in comparison (I've been there!) - finding a pure white isn't so easy but maybe Ugos Hammerite is that colour. I've also heard mention that the ceramic sink and bath touch up paints you can get are a good match. That's what I was going to try next (I have a BB lug chain derail scruff to eliminate).

    In contrast, the Raleigh I am renovating is dark metallic grey and almost any random mix of silver and black provides a great match!
    Faster than a tent.......
  • laurentian
    laurentian Posts: 2,548
    Someone on here a couple of weeks ago suggested the tip of using a cocktail stick rather than a brush for very fine chips and scratches . . . I thought that was a very good idea.
    Wilier Izoard XP
  • NickintheLakes
    NickintheLakes Posts: 258
    Grab a handful of car paint sticks in Halfords and hold them against your bike until you find the nearest match.
  • zoltansocrates
    zoltansocrates Posts: 118
    get some carbon sticker/decal/frame protectors and get creative
  • buckmulligan
    buckmulligan Posts: 1,031
    Hi, not wanting to hijack this thread, but any tips on touch up paint for my matt black frame?!

    I heard using car polish on frames can make light scratches less noticable, has anyone tried this?
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    BuckMulligan wrote:
    Hi, not wanting to hijack this thread, but any tips on touch up paint for my matt black frame?!

    I heard using car polish on frames can make light scratches less noticable, has anyone tried this?

    It probably won't make much difference though a coat of car polish on a bike frame is never a bad thing anyway. The best solution to scratches short of some sort of refinishing (eg re-lacquering) is to polish the scratches out. This is why matt is the worst finish you can choose because you can't do this as you'll end up with shiny patches where you have been doing the polishing. And you probably can't even strip the frame and re-lacquer it because you've probably got those daft gloss black stealth graphics on it that rely purely on the difference between gloss and matt to show up - so they'd all vanish if you re-lacquered! There are good reasons (aside from taste) why cars are never painted in matt finishes (unless done with removable vinyl wraps).

    I had a matt black MTB. I just accepted that after a while the paint looked pretty naff. Never again!
    Faster than a tent.......
  • team47b
    team47b Posts: 6,425
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    A tiny tin of Hammerite

    In my experience Hammerite forms a skin which doesn't bind with the surface of the metal and air/water can get between paint and metal. Avoid using Hammerite on cars or bikes it doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin. Primer, paint (type that matches original) and clear laquer or as zoltansocrates says decals/stickers/frame protectors.
    my isetta is a 300cc bike
  • fludey
    fludey Posts: 384
    I used a small radiator touch up paint on my white bit on my bike...cocktail stick can work well just drop a spot in where required.
    Felt AR4
    Planet X Pro Carbon 105
    MTB Kona Kikapu Deluxe with a few upgrades!!
  • Aggerdoo
    Aggerdoo Posts: 94
    Does anyone have any experience with touching up on carbon? I've got a Specialized Roubaix and have a chip on the fork, anyone know which colour code specialized red is?

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