Painting my peugeot

[shuttie92]

I started work on my peugeot carbolite 103 the other day. I got it last year and it was in pretty bad condition, with a faded red paintjob and wonky wheels, rusty mudguards and generally a lot of things wrong with it.

I decided on a 'peugeot topaz blue' paintjob and so i took it apart, sanded it, primed it and painted it. I read somewhere that the temperature i am working in makes a huge difference to the paint quality and i noticed that england is too cold for it to dry fast and strongly, and so the paintwork is incredibly weak and dissappointing. What is the best paint type to use and in what conditions?

Also, what is the best way to strip the metal? furthermore, I sprayed over the nice peugeot decals and want to find a new carbolite 103 badge, but cant locate one. should i give up on the bike?

 

[Dave67]

To strip the frame you can sand, takes a long time. You can use chemicals, these can damage the frame. You could get it media blasted, this can be costly and hard to find. When it comes time to paint automotive grade paint would be best. You will need to follow the instructions on the paint. Most work best at around 70F and low humidity. Then clear coat to finish. After about 2 weeks you can wet sand and polish the frame.

I would check Ebay for the decals
. You could also see if a local sign shop could cut them out of vinyl for you. I would apply these before the clear.

 

[shuttie92]

To strip the frame you can sand, takes a long time. You can use chemicals, these can damage the frame. You could get it media blasted, this can be costly and hard to find. When it comes time to paint automotive grade paint would be best. You will need to follow the instructions on the paint. Most work best at around 70F and low humidity. Then clear coat to finish. After about 2 weeks you can wet sand and polish the frame.

I would check Ebay for the decals
. You could also see if a local sign shop could cut them out of vinyl for you. I would apply these before the clear.

brilliant thank you. if i sand the frame down to bare metal would it look good enough after a polish to be kept like that? im thinking about having bare forks as long as they are quite shiny

 

[TKOS]

You will need to use progressively finer sand paper on the forks to get them truly shiny and finish with a paste polish (I don't know what is available for you we have Autosol here).

Use wet/dry sand paper and probably go as far as 600 grit. Wipe the excess residue often or it will cause deeper scratches than you want.

 

[Dave67]

To polish the aluminum you will need to sand like stated above up to 2000 grit. Then use a high cut compound, and then a fine compound and then polishes to a high shine. You will then want to clear the fork, unless you want to polish it forever.
This is why most plate the forks.