Pro tip: Check your frame before you paint it

Last week I stripped a vintage Schwinn down to bare metal in my garage in Portland. Three hours of sanding, primer on, looking good. Then I sat down to inspect it closer and saw a hairline crack along the bottom bracket shell. Almost painted right over it. Glad I caught it before wasting the paint and having the frame fold on me downhill at 30 mph. Anyone else almost paint over a cracked frame and regret it?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_price9d ago

Paint can hide a crack that'll kill you later.

casey8189d ago

Damn right. Paint covers up all kinds of sins, not just cracks. Saved yourself a trip to the hospital.

wendy_henderson219d ago

Last summer I painted a 1973 Raleigh frame in my driveway here in Portland. Noticed a bubble in the paint a week later near the seat cluster. Sanded it down and sure enough there was a crack underneath. Thing is that frame was already welded back together by a shop. That crack came back because I didn't grind the old weld clean enough before I started. So my experience is the opposite. If you strip bare metal and take your time with prep you can catch those cracks before paint. But sometimes you can actually stabilize a crack with a proper repair and then paint over it just fine. Not all cracks mean the frame is dead.