Which Paint Would You Use

I will be stripping the old (1970s) paint from my George Elrick and repainting it white.
My first thoughts are to use primer and top coat spray cans from halfords.

Do you have any other recommendations?

Also, would you use a clear lacquer over the white paint? And what rust killer would you use to stop rust coming back through the new paint?

I'd think about powder coat if it's cheap and cheerful one colour, modern powder coating is quite thin and the lug detail should be kept.

Midlife said:

I'd think about powder coat if it's cheap and cheerful one colour, modern powder coating is quite thin and the lug detail should be kept.

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Thanks for that suggestion Midlife. I've just spoken to a local powder coater who says he's done hundreds of cycle frames. Quoted me £60-70 plus vat to blast, prime and coat. Only concern I have is he says old fashioned paint will be about 40-50 microns thick but his coat will be about 200, and I might lose some of the sharpness and definition to the lugs. Decisions decisions.

Don't use Halfords aerosols, they're terrible (well the base coat/colour anyway, the primer is ok). I attempted to paint a frame a few years ago using them and I gave up and used a spray gun instead. The Halfords paint is so thin and runny you'd need about 5 cans to paint a frame and fork (badly). They contain 300ml of paint but most of it seems to be propellant and thinners and it comes out far too quickly to get an even coat. I think it costs about £8 or £9 a can as well. Holts aerosols ( and probably most others) are much better in my experience. Then there's the hours of sanding down to get rid of all the rust. So, yes powder coating is a lot easier and maybe cheaper.

200 microns is about 8/1000 of an Inch

Just get it powdercoated. Ive had loads done, no problems with loosing the lugs....plus a good company will sort the rust / protection / imperfections for you to boot.

All that for £60, plus its going to be far more hardy and chip proof.

Or do it yourself for just a fraction more money and several hours of work to have a worse and less durable finish!

That's what i do!

I've had good results with UPOL acid etch primer no. 8 (3 coats and about two cans worth) light wet sanding between coats with fine grade sand paper. Kobra or Montana colour spray paint with Spraymax brand 2k clearcoat.

Any decent rust killer, a good primer, Rustoleum white, Rustoleum hard hat clear.

Unless you get rid of every scrap of old paint youll need an isolator primer first as well, so you need to add in the cost of paint stripper or a soft media blast if you don't.

By the time you've bought all that, and sundries like a pack of wet and dry, masking tape, etc, a proper, diligent DIY job will see you running close to the cost of powder coat.

A decent powder coater will lose little in the way of definition with frame detail. I use a guy who specialises in classic cars, his his customers are the fussiest buggers you can imagine so his powder coat has to be top drawer. Use an artisan who does work like that, not the local industrial estate guy who does farm machinery and beams for warehouses.

For the effort, cost, and comparative end result on a single solid colour I can see little argument in favour of DIY'ing it.

I use upol for pretty much everything...its good home use stuff, with a quality finish.

Probably the worst bit about home spray jobs is cutting and polishing the clear coat.....if you want a really smooth, glass like gloss finish, it takes serious work after clearcoat!