Fit S3 Rawing / Painting advice

[Brendan O.]

After too lang a period of neglect I finally took it upon myself to restore the bike to ride-able conditions. Living close to the sea in a humid climate and cycling my bike everywhere through snow and road salt you can guess what happens.

The frame was raw with a matte finish originally. The finish can be peeled off like one would with a hard boiled egg most of the places, especially those where rust has crept underneath. Especially the dropouts, the bridges, bb area and downtube gusset are heavily corroded.

My initial idea was to peel the paint and sand off the rust. Then primer (rust-stopping primer?), color of choice and transparent finish. I'm just a bit worried about specks of rust remaining underneath and me having to repeat the whole process in due while.

So, I guess my question would be: What would you do? In as far as you could possibly say judging by these pictures.

[dude...]

man such a difference between the areas where the finish came off and where it stayed on.

the ultimate way to do it would be to get the whole thing sandblasted back to a uniform finish and go from there

but you could just sand it off too (a dremel style rotary tool would be useful for the welds, and tricky reach bits)

id think that as long as the bare metal isnt exposed, the oxidisation shouldnt get any worse. its pretty gnarly on that bb/cs junction though (looks like its been exposed to the elements for a while) but as long as you get it smooth and get most of the rust off, id imagine it should be fine once painted, especially if youre laying down some primer and lacquer too.

in the future, if the paint starts to peel back and expose the metal again, just spray over it again and it should be fine

also another possible option is to use vinegar to get rid of the rust. however i know very little about this technique other than people use it to clean rust off old chrome parts (especially old/mid school restorers). might be better than sanding, might not be-youd have to check some how tos etc

[MSBNL]

My S&M blackbike used to look like that. Rawed it myself at one point, used a cheap clearcoat, then got a new frame and lend the Blackbike to a friend, who stashed it in his shed for about 3 years (same Dutch climate). I sanded of most of the rust by hand and resprayed it in matte black, no primer, no clearcoat (wanted to do a more decent job but in the end couldn't be arsed). That's been a year ago and it still looks perfect as far as I can judge, no paint cracking or bubbeling, no old rusty spots showing. You might wanna go with the sandblasting / primer / paint / clearcoat, I'm sure you will have even better results, but I am very pleased with how well my quick half assed restoration is holding up

[Stoked]

Another vote for sandblasting

[locomotive]

For the sake of simplicity i would just sand it, or just attach a wire brush to a drill and let it rip. Sandblasting would be ideal, but I would never go that far.

[Brendan O.]

About 8 years ago I got another frame of mine sandblasted and primer-ed for a tenner. See if that place is still around. If not, sanding by hand is what I'll do. Cheers guys!

[tim_sch]

Why would you sandblast it? I'd say the risk of damaging the welds is too high, I've seen a couple frames break after sandblasting.

[mrjimyjohn]

Wire wheel is a good idea if you don't have access to a sandblaster, but you'll scuff the shit out of the frame. This'll be fine if you don't ever plan on polishing the frame or if you use a few extra coats of primer.

[Sasha]

Sand/media blast would be best and probably not much more expensive than buying a pack of sandpaper.

[RevShawn]

I wouldnt sandblast, media blast would be OK, with sand i would worry about taking too much metal off under the rust. There is a reason why sandblasting voids a warranty.

You could do a vinegar bath or an oxalic acid bath. Before you do either take a wire brush and get off the stuff you can.

[Oddity]

Brass wire brush wheel on a power drill then a rust killing primer, then sand with a 600 grit sandpaper finish with color coat and a clear if you desire a glossy finish. Or you could go with the less labor intensive and drop it off at a media blaster/powder coaster.