Paint repairs

[YMFB]

Back in July I had a very low speed off when the chain snapped. Along with my bike we hit the road, my grazes and bumps are long gone as is my helmet.

The carbon forks, chain and helmet have all been replaced. But the ND side crank arm and brake/gear lever were scratched. It’s Di2 Ultegra so I’m sure replacements will be suitably expensive. My thought was, a light rub down and rattle can would work, if it looks rubbish I can either put up with it or replace.

Q1. Am I mad or could this work?
Q2. What rattle can colour/finish would I need?

 

[lostinthought]

I'd be wary of rattle-canning unless you have some expertise. It's a good way of making a mess, and without proper preparation, damaging the surviving finish on the components.

I've found that those Halfords kits which include a fine tipped syringe are good for this kind of thing, and less likely to make things worse. You can carefully flood the scratches with paint with the syringe tip, in layers until it is slightly higher than the surrounding paint, then flat it back when fully cured.

As usual with this kind of work, a good result requires care and patience. It might be enough just to fill the scratches and not do any sanding at all, to take the eye off the damage.

In terms of colour, you'll probably have to eyeball it for something similar- loads of cars are dark grey metallic though so I'm sure there's something close.

 

[presta]

Just after I bought my Horizon I got chatting with the warden at Copt Oak YHA who'd just bought a Galaxy. He was saying he got a jar of paint for retouching, but it took weeks and weeks before Dawes got fed up of him nagging them and and sent him some.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Forget trying to get a perfect finish with rattle cans. The end results will not be perfect let alone worth the effort.

If the scratches bother you just go to Halfords and buy a near-match paint stick and touch up accordingly.

Then crack on with riding your bike.

Bikes get scuffed and chipped as the normal outcome of being used - they are just machines to facilitate specific sport or health requirements. Nothing to obsess over, imo.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

How about some nail varnish and clear lacquer on top?

 

[Drago]

A picture or two would help.