REMOVING PAINT - help!

[stirlinggaz]

hi all,
I was going to put nbr in title but changed my mind, the reasons will become obvious...

ok, so friend of mine had her mountain bike stolen. its not a really expensive one with carbonfibre bits etc but never the less, it cost the girl a lot of money (to her).

its a aluminium framed, deore lx equipped ridgeback. the original colour is a kind of bronze, but it doesnt look like paint more like anodised. (if you know what i mean)

anyway it was stolen but i recovered it from the wee scumbags the following morning...
heres the bad bit... they painted the whole bike with household white gloss! everywhere on the brakes, pedals etc. looks like it was done by a toddler using fingers!

so how can i remove this dried in gloss paint without damaging the original finish?

all ideas welcome,
cheers,
GAZ

[Hetzer]

Have the "wee scumbags" pay for enough gallons of white spirits to submerge it in. That or make them do the work with a single bottle and some rags.

Then beat the shinola out of them.

Edit: last bit was a joke. Of course. Obviously.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[mudcow007]

try a jet washer?

if the gloss hasnt long been on for long

be careful of the carbon bits though

[stinkwheel]

[Walloper]

[-Matt-]

Okay i might be able to help here.. for a change

You will probably find [particularly the sort of bike thieveing scumbags in question ] didn't do a good job of the 'painting'.

First thing get a hairdryer and some wire wool, hair-dry the parts in question and LIGHTLY start with brush it with the wool, you will quite likely find a lot of it being un-prepared gloss paint will come off.

If not, try giving it a bit more force but if its coming away in parts keep it light and constant or you will end up scraping off the original paint form areas that you remove the white from.

For parts that are fiddely to get the wire wool in without over-scrubbing you will probably find a toothbrush and some elbow grease is best but expect it to take a fair bit of time.

Once you get most of it off general degreasers can be quite affect and least harmful to the bike as although they aren't 'paint remover' the fact it hasn't been set and cured properly should allow it to aid peeling and de-flaking the last few bits.

One I use which can be quite helpful https://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_195697_langId_-1_categoryId_165682

Another tip - if large areas bubble/flake during heating avoid the tempation to try peel them straight away as often this will make removing the bits that remain more difficult.

Hope that helps a bit at least

[Walloper]

[-Matt-]

For a motorcycle the petrol n rag is fine - to play it safe though its probably worth taking the extra time with wool and heat as its a push-bike. Petrol can sometimes bugger them up due to cheaper grade plastics and components they use - again it depends on the bike but unless you're talking about a more professional-end bike i'd play it safe personally, you're only looking at an hour or twos work tops i'd think.

Alternatively get the ****'s that nicked it to do the job on community service

[stirlinggaz]

thanks for the replies, even the "joke" ones
perhaps i should elaborate a bit more....
bike is a alu framed ridgeback, equipped with rock shocks & shimano deore (xt?) gear set, so cost around £900-£1200 (more than i usually spend on my motorbikes) & was only a few weeks old & had never been off road.
so seems a waste to bin it. (& it wasnt insured)

i recovered it the morning after it had been stolen & "painted" but unfortunately the bike has sat for ages (weeks) whilst the owner moved house & made up her mind what to do with it.
so i now have it at my garage, unfortunately my pressure washer has given up & it wasnt a hot water type anyway.

1st thing i tried was a bit of gun wash (thinners) on a discreet place & it turned the the white paint into a consistency of chewing gum.
paint is everywhere, on the plastic bits, steel cables, ally frame etc etc but bike DOES NOT have any c/f.

i was thinking along the lines of taking it to a local place that has a hot water pressure washer? i know it would blast out a lot of grease etc but its gonna need stripping down & re-assembling anyway.
i just dont fancy doing it myself,lol & definately not without some good chemicals & a "decent" pressure washer.

keep replies coming...especially if they involve chemicals or tools

cheers,
GAZ
ps : im pretty sure that the original covering on the frame was not paint but anodised. thats what it looks like & it doesnt feel smooth, a bit like engine covers on my old honda vfr700, like paint with sand through it.

[mudcow007]

where abouts are you based?

we have a steam lance that will get rid of the paint...it stripped the paint of my "hand painted" Suzuki Samurai offroader

[-Matt-]

The fact its been sat weeks shouldn't of made it much worse to be honest particularly if it became like 'chewing gum' that would indicate its probably just been coated or sprayed without any prep as i'd expect they did in order to quickly disguise the bike.

Have a go with the wire wool as you will probably find that is more than enough to get the bulk off or at least loosen it up a bit - then use a washer if you can get hold of one to remove the remaining bits and flakes.

If that doesn't work and the frame is definately as you say anodised you should be okay to take a bit of petrol and rag to the remaining bits but i'd recommend stripping what you can off the bike first if you're able to so its as close to being only the frame you're working on as possible as the last thing you want with a bike that expensive is to end up with a load of crapped up parts if any petrol gets and and they don't agree with it. The removed parts should be cleanable with a small brush and degreaser given a bit of time.

Best of luck

[stirlinggaz]

[Grubby]

Steam clean it.
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[Walloper]

[stirlinggaz]

[/quote]

Its probably household enamel they used. You could check for the brush marks or the tiny dots of spray can.

Try brush cleaner on a rag.

It can soften paint on an old brush so should be able to soften paint on a frame.

I don't think a hot wash will do much if anything as the paint solvent will have dried now and the piant is more or less stuck.

Steam clean? Steam clean will take all the coatings off.

Is it the bike you want to ride or it's owner?

Some one had to be first to ask....[/quote]


afaik, the "coatings" on the bike is "anodising".
dont think steam cleaning will remove that, seeing as i have had to remove anodising before, from parts, manually & it takes a fair bit of effort.(if not using chemicals it takes wire wool or brush)
dont have any brush cleaner, but will have a look at its active ingredient. thanks for the tip.

its definately household gloss paint & i can see the brush strokes.
as for the other comment, trust me, i have better beside me
cheers,
GAZ

ps : was thinking nitromors. i know the stuff used to be excellent at paint stripping & was quite dangerous causing burnt skin etc but since they removed the most active ingredient (dichloromethane? or something similar?) heard it aint so effective.
was thinking this might actually be a good thing......
i'll try it on a discreet bit of the frame...unless someone tells me its a bad idea?

[Walloper]

[Ariel Badger]

I do not understand why you are doing this, if they caught the rats that nicked it they or their parents should be putting things right.
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