frame paint

painting frame on 46 wl. would like feedback on best black paint to use.

Believe it or not I have had great results with PJ1 frame paint! It is a rattle can but very durable! You can put it on in layers but I put it on thick in one shot. Almost to the point of a run. You can do a frame for under $20.00 using 2 or 3 cans at $5 or so per can. Any scooter shop should have it. Nice gloss also! If you want to spend more I would powder coat frame! Peace!

From my experience, the best bet is to have it powdercoated. It's hard, durable and well worth the extra money.

The blackest black paint is Shurwin-Williams Super Coach Black. I've never seen a powder coat job that looked like paint. Maybe 14 years of autobody restoration has poisoned my mind.

Yea, I had 45 frame powdercoated, but I think I have seen paint that looked deeper. The powder coat seems tough though. I used Copon on my Bronco Frame, looks wet and is tough as nails. Not sure if you can still get it.

I'll vote for the paint everytime. I probably was the first in this area to start having a lot of powder coat done about 20-25 years ago. I have since (after about 50 bikes) decided that in the long run the powder ain't the way to go. Sure it's slick and sturdy, but it usually builds in places you don't want it to, and it magnifies any bad places, and it is much harder to deal with when you need to do a repair.
Todays paints are so high quality, and any imperfections can be easily taken care of in prep, that I much prefer them.
You also need to know how these guys are doing the baking. Some folks take a frame to 450+ and in my book this may be annealing, thus weakening your frame.
I have quit painting, and the guy that does my frames will do it either way for the same price, so I have them painted.......jb (wishing he hadn't had the frame and girder powdered on his `47 Chief 20 years ago...)

I guess if your bike never leaves the pavement you can get away with just about anything as a frame coating. I don't do a frame up rebuild every year or two. In fact I usually go through a couple tin paint jobs for every frame paint job. My 45 was done in Dupont Imron and it's held up very well. There's some molding on the frame and you can't do powdercoat on anything with any molding. I got tired of touching up chips and that place on the right rear of the frame that always seems to get battery acid on my big twin. Powder solves both problems and still looks like new years later, even when you make quite a few miles a year on sand roads like I do.

I have all the "long term" parts coated: frame, forks, rims and hubs. If the guy who does it for you is good, he can make it nice and smooth. Make sure you check your source before having it done: some powder coat shops come out with an ugly "orange skin" looking paint. If you're serious about riding the bike: powder coat it. Just my 2cents.
Eric


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Eric :: Knk45
www.beautyofspeed.com
A state of the art power quest

The guy up here that does my powdercoating charges 200.00 to strip and coat a frame in black. He does a lot of stuff for the drag racers, hot rod guys, and midget racers. He tells me he can do over 2000 colors including candy apples and flake jobs. In surfing the net I found a lot of companies that powdercoat the interior of gas and oil tanks. This sure seems like it would great if you could get it to bond. He's also doing a high heat powdercoat on exhaust systems.

I found an excellent shop here in Richmond,VA. A guy and his son, re-settled from upstate NY around Niagra. Great prices on first class coatings, all finished surfaces and threaded bosses perfect. These guys also put a wrinkle finish on my inner primary, taking care to purge oil before coating, outstanding! Straight up fellows doing quality work are hard to find, and a pleasure to do business with. $200 for the frame (looks very good in semi-gloss black), $50 for swing arm, $65 for the inner primary cover. Since my effort is a rebuild of a rider, I can live with a few inacuracies in fit and finsh. I had my old hand controls done in the semi-gloss, too.

I used these guys http://www.uglyjugs.com/bikes.htm
I went to alot of different places and came to the conclusion that if I saw more powdercoated bike parts than wrought iron gates, they probably took their craft a little more seriously.