frame coatings for a budget rebuild

[grenadeinspector]

Hello all, I joined some time ago after lurking for quite a while, but haven't posted until now. I am beginning a rebuild but have not, as of yet, really settled on the direction it will go and have therefore not yet started a build log. In the mean time I am doing the things that will need done regardless... chief among these is cleaning up the frame. My frame is currently in nearly completely stripped condition; it has some areas where the paint has come off over the years, some of which have surface rust, but overall not to bad.

My question is, what are my options for painting/coating? I know that powdercoating is the gold standard and I am looking into that, but with a pending wedding to pay for the budget is limited so I am wondering if anyone has had good success with other products?

thank you all for your advice and opinions.

 

[DARKMIDKNIGHTWARRIOR]

I thought about going with spray on undercoating or bed liner type stuff.

 

[xschris]

Welcome to the forum Any good rust preventing paint will work. We need pics of what you have!!

 

[grenadeinspector]

Thanks for the responses guys. I have been kicking around painting, but if i go with a 2 part epoxy i am probably in powdercoat pricerange anyway. I thought of por15 but it doesnt do well in the sun. Any thoughts on machinery enamel or the always cheap rustoleum?

Will certainly be posting pictures, probably more than people will want to see, but unfortunately all of the ones of my teardown were on my phone which fell in the full sink a few days ago.

 

[willem]

I've seen great results with elbow grease and simple rattle cans, too. Prep more than you think you need: sand everything down super smoothly and remove any old paints. Put a layer of primer or grounding paint/rust preventative paint on, and two or three very thin layers of the color you want. Neither the base paint nor the color need to be super expensive. Just finish off with a somewhat decent clear coat (2 component stuff is good), that goes a long way.

If you do it in the right conditions, a nice warm and dry day, you take your time prepping, cleaning and sanding between the coats, you can get professional looking results with the cheapest materials

 

[grenadeinspector]

Thanks, I know prep is everything. I have done some painting of things before and it has come out well, my main concern is durability, most of what I have done hasn't been subjected to the same abuse a frame will.

I am looking at using the POR15 hardnose product, it isn't exactly cheap, but it seems like it will do the trick, anyone have any experience with it?

 

[eric123]

Appliance epoxy on bare metal...

 

[krich1979]

For the frame I used spray on rubberized undercoating. Looks good and protects.

 

[Robsteeler66]

You could always use a 2K rattlecan, like this.

http://www.eastwood.com/paints/2k-aero-spray-paints.html

I don't know how many frames you could do with that, maybe have a painting party!

 

[jmd_forest]

I used a black DTM (Direct to Metal) epoxy automotive primer and am very happy with the results. Its highly resistant to oils and gas.