Jdratcliffe
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Redhill, Surrey
have a chip on my chain stay on the red paint work its right though to the alli any ideas on the best way to cover it / fix it?
Specialized Red paint
- Thread starter Jdratcliffe
- Start date
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Globalti
Legendary Member
If it's the same red paint that's on my Roubaix it is very thick and very brittle, so thick and brittle that in two places it has cracked (so-called "witness" cracks) where there is a small amount of flex in the frame. On the other hand it is also incredibly hard and still looks as shiny as the day it was sprayed on, back in 2006.
I would just buy some nail varnish in the right red then apply several blobs into the chipped area, allowing to dry thoroughly each time.
I would just buy some nail varnish in the right red then apply several blobs into the chipped area, allowing to dry thoroughly each time.
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Jdratcliffe
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Redhill, Surrey
mm ideas where i could go to get it color matched? suggestions on colors that match Specialized Allez Elite 2011 frame red?
Go and have a look in the car paints section at Halfords. They should have a colour that closely matches.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
What sdr gb says - car paints section !!!
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Jdratcliffe
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Redhill, Surrey
cool i'll pop in there after work
Globalti
Legendary Member
What, and buy an entire can of spray paint in slightly the wrong colour then dot about 0.001 cc on the frame?
If it's the same red as on my Roubaix it will be a brilliant scarlet red, you will certainly get that in nail varnish, which will be in a tiny affordable bottle with a handy brush for application, the paint will have similar shine and hardness and you can keep it for future touch-up use. All you need is the balls to walk into Boots with your bike.... or try an independent local chemist shop.
If it's the same red as on my Roubaix it will be a brilliant scarlet red, you will certainly get that in nail varnish, which will be in a tiny affordable bottle with a handy brush for application, the paint will have similar shine and hardness and you can keep it for future touch-up use. All you need is the balls to walk into Boots with your bike.... or try an independent local chemist shop.
I was thinking more along the lines of the touch up pens they sell. I have one for my car that is like a crayon that you rub onto the scratch, quick buff with a cloth and the scratch is barely noticeable.
Globalti
Legendary Member
Not the same thing at all. You need to fill the cavity in the paint with 2-3 applications of a solvent-based paint, which will shrink as it dries to a few microns thick. Nail varnish has the ideal formulation, it's designed to coalesce and form a very glossy surface then dry evenly into a very hard glossy layer, which you re-apply a coupe of times.
(I only know this because many of my export customers happen to make nail varnish, not because I wear it!)
(I only know this because many of my export customers happen to make nail varnish, not because I wear it!)
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Jdratcliffe
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Redhill, Surrey
Globalti - where do you go for your nail vanish and how do you match the color?
Globalti
Legendary Member
As I wrote above I would walk with my bike or at least the frame into a local chemist shop during a quiet time, making sure my pedals don't dislodge a pile of hairbrushes or shampoo bottles, smile nicely at the assistant and ask her to help me find a matching colour. I'm sure that with eye contact and a charming smile most assistants will welcome a change from the usual routine of pile ointment, cough mixture and condoms.
Kestevan
Last of the Summer Winos
- Location
- Holmfirth.
I'm with Globalti on this one. Nail polish makes ideal touch up paint for frames.
My bike is black though, so colour matching was easy
My bike is black though, so colour matching was easy
sdr gp, if you can make a touch up look barely visible with a touch up stick you need your eyes testing. Car paints do not touch up well, now I could go into many reason why, Mica, Metalic platelets, reflection, evaporation, HS laquers you know all that sort of thing that we play with daily in our trade.
Just ride and ignore it.
Just ride and ignore it.
Globalti
Legendary Member
I may be wrong but I believe the touch-up pencils work simply by reducing the whiteness of a scratch. Three days after I got my new company car last October I was annoyed to discover a huge crescent-shaped scratch right across the edge of the bonnet - it looked as if somebody had brushed past in the car park with a bag over their shoulder. I rang the dealer who explained that with the thick layer of protective lacquer, which is very soft because nowadays it's water-based, a scratch actually makes lacquer powder, which is why it looks white. I took it down and they put the polisher on it and to my amazement the scratch disappeared; all you could see was a slight furrow in the lacquer if you looked carefully. Touch-up pens just colour that white powder but they don't re-paint. I think.
