Redoing a frame?

[MtnEX]

Hey guys... what's the typical cost on blasting a frame and powder coating?


And who went another route on this and just prepped and painted?

I have heard of people using other stuff instead like epoxy paint, tractor paint, hammer paint and so forth.

I am starting to see the very minor surface rust here and there and think it is time to get ready for a tear down and may as well go all the way and address it while I am at it.

Colors in play right now are silver, white, yellow, red, black... or maybe lime green.

Maybe a combo of these colors as far as frame, subframe, arms, swinger, bumper, nerfs, odd parts.
Not sure yet.

[Longdong]

$200 to $400

[chronicsmoke]

$160 for mine

Though a few of us have used this rubberized rocker guard for low budget projects.. I did it to my EX 3-4 years ago and it's held up alright.

Most local guys have started doing this and are using the $150+ on other things. It's not as nice as PC, but it looks pretty damn good considering.

http://imageshack.us/a/img855/1685/o6ub.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/5553/b94h.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img195/4791/img2736q.jpg

I've personally never had the greatest luck with regular paint which led to using the ruberized stuff.

I always PC everything on my 450 though, try not to cut corners on that one, lol..

[LxMxL97]

Here's mine spray painted white

1718106775

1718106776

[mxquad53]

In my area it's between $140-$200, depending on the color.

[Fix29]

I sand blasted mine and then used an epoxy primer, followed by base coat/clear coat paint. It turned out really nice and has held up pretty well to the abuse. Although the product you use will vary the durability of the finish, prep work is probably the most important step towards durability with most products.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u320/ltrain30/100_2074.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u320/ltrain30/100_2088.jpg

[miller821]

If longevity is what you want then I'd go for the powder. With everything you have listed you're probably looking at $400 or more depending on color.

[MtnEX]

Thanks guys...

White and black both for sure look good.

Anyone else have any to show?

[CJM]

I did the powder route on my 400, it held up pretty dang good-WAY better than paint. Friend painted his 450 frame using automotive paint and a compressor and did a really nice job. However it didnt last. Trick is when using paint, the prep but also the clear coating. Many, many layers of clear make it hold up better. Powder is still stronger

Here is a good story about why you shouldnt bother with paint on most parts: I recently R n R my 450r frontend, I decided what the heck Ill paint my front hubs. Powder is nice but means I need to remove the bearings and whatnot and pay someone to PC them. I cleaned ALL the old stuff off using aircraft stripper (some nasty stuff btw!), then sanded it down a bit, cleaned it off and put down about 3 coats of primer. Then I did about 3 coats of black and then 3 coats of clear. Putting it together the other day I nicked the dang paint very easily with just a screwdriver. Since your not going to see them much I didnt care and I didnt want to be hassled taking the bearings out-but PC woulda been better.

[MtnEX]

I just stumbled across a rebuild thread on one with a white frame and wow the rust popping through on it really popped out. Looks much worse than mine. Just stands out I guess. Will make you think... But at the same time it also makes me think about touch up vs full tear down to get stripped and powdered again....

I don't know on color still. I looked at a bunch. They all look good to me. Even the newer plain silver that is about the color of the engine.

Black looks good. Makes you just notice the plastic more. Red looks good if the color is the same as the plastic and I think it works on the 400 a little more because less of the frame shows.

I am starting to lean towards lime green though considering my other quad, our team graphics, etc. And I have not seen one that way. Plus it will just be loud as heck looking for easy picking out at the track.

Might do the frame lime, lower arms black, upper arms white, black or silver with white, black or raw aluminum nerfs and bumper, etc. Don't know on the swinger. White, black, silver...

That would take a little guts... lol. Ain't graphics you can just peel off...

[JOHNDOE83]

I stripped my frame down to bare metal, sanded it to a nice sheen, then clear coated the bare metal. It looks sick! and people ask all the time if I built it from scratch. been that way a lil over a year now and still held up great.

Pics of the frame are in my hybrid 400ex/cr250 drag bike thread.

[MtnEX]

Asked probably I don't know, 20 people over the course to time about clearing bare metal and every one of them said it would fail and look like poo in no time. Otherwise I would probably have a nice clear coated raw metal chopper... lol.

I would like to know what your process was and what you used.

Would give a sweet works look!

[MtnEX]

To do the newer ligher OEM silver color isn't worth the money or the labor is for sure.

I have looked around any it is cheaper to just buy a really cherry silver frame than to pay for a blast and powder.

So if I decide on silver powder coat I will just get a cherry frame and set mine aside to go somewhere for gussets, etc, or sell it off to cover part of the new frame cost.

[Stickman400]

PC'd mine for $125 with clear on top, got lucky and got a good deal with a local guy. He also did about 90% of the rest of the stuff on my quad, which was amazing work. Mines red and black, looks good when it's clean, but once it's dirty it looks a little ugly. But mine isn't a show quad, even though it does look damn good. Everybody that sees it tries to find something that's stock and they have a hard time.

During the build:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0433.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0433.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0443.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0443.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0490.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0490.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0495.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0495.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0492.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/IMAG0492.jpg.html)

Recent:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/20130309_155847_zps71524fca.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/20130309_155847_zps71524fca.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/20130309_155858_zps62bdb849.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/20130309_155858_zps62bdb849.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/20130530_130025_zpsea9e3709.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/20130530_130025_zpsea9e3709.jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Quad%20Pics/20130530_130047_zps89c002de.jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Quad%20Pics/20130530_130047_zps89c002de.jpg.html)

[MtnEX]

Yep, that is certainly sharp the way you did the frame and the red accents, etc...

[CJM]

I did my 400 frame black and Im not sure if the guy cleared it-I think he did. I do know that I sprayed the engine down a few times when fixing various leaks with car/brake cleaner and the PC did not like that-lost its luster anywhere I got it. I paid $175 to do mine, but it is NJ and everything is more $$$ here.

I want to do my 450, but I really dont want to break it all down.

[MtnEX]

Yeah, I dread the breaking down pretty bad.

[LxMxL97]

Yeah, I dread the breaking down pretty bad.

A tip when you get your suff done if you do get PC and not spray paint is go get really big washers and some nuts and bolts and pack areas such as your stem bearing and front wheel bearing with grease and really tighten the nuts down so that the sand from sandblasting doesn't get in there and it will help them with the heat

[MtnEX]

Stickman I saved some of your pics for accent inspirations. I too had a black quad... a Kawasaki, and that is what I did with it at first. I added a lot of popping lime accents like that.

The ol 400 will be red though... and I am thinking of using red and black and white but really have the loud loud lime in the back of my mind too. Might decided to do lime accents instead of the whole frame... maybe. Might flip and do the frame lime and stuff you have red in white. Who knows.

[MtnEX]

A tip when you get your suff done if you do get PC and not spray paint is go get really big washers and some nuts and bolts and pack areas such as your stem bearing and front wheel bearing with grease and really tighten the nuts down so that the sand from sandblasting doesn't get in there and it will help them with the heat

Thanks for the tips... I will certainly do that. Going to contact some more people for quotes tomorrow. So far I have not even found anyone who has returned a quote. Got better things to do or plenty to do I guess?

[ysf250r]

I have done many quad builds over the years and would only go with pc (powder coating). I have blasted and base clear painted in past and it holds up for a year or two. Pc will hold up for years. You can pc small parts your self with a house oven and a pc gun and freshly blasted parts. I pc a lot of smaller parts. I just had my step sons frame and sub frame pc. he picked out a 3 step pc. It has a darker base with a transparent coat then clear on top of that. It is VERY durable being so thick. The prices I received over the winter has been from $350-500 to do frame and sub frame most colors. That included backing off the factory pc, blasting the parts, taping off as needed and pcing. It cost me $425 to do the frame and sub I'm in western mass. I know that i paid $385 for 2 frame and sub frames, set of +3+1 arms, +2 swing arm, and a few other parts in the winter of 2010. When I did mine and wifes quad builds from frame up. Prices around here jumped. 17181068301718106831

[Stickman400]

That's fine, take whatever pics you want, I have tons of them on my Photobucket. I got a friend who PC'd his 450 with a blue frame, and lime green accents with some white also, it looked pretty good, little bit too much blue for me, but good nonetheless. I thought he had a few more on his Facebook but I don't wanna dig. It's also for sale if anyone's interested, he's a good friend of mine.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Random%20Pics/422571_10150595661722192_1449478351_n_zps5c3321b9. jpg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Random%20Pics/422571_10150595661722192_1449478351_n_zps5c3321b9. jpg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Random%20Pics/64723_10151429108952192_1356324453_n_zpsab8d0751.j pg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Random%20Pics/64723_10151429108952192_1356324453_n_zpsab8d0751.j pg.html)
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv192/Stickman400/Random%20Pics/1235132_10151802613447192_37018108_n_zps5fa5c052.j pg (http://s683.photobucket.com/user/Stickman400/media/Random%20Pics/1235132_10151802613447192_37018108_n_zps5fa5c052.j pg.html)

[MtnEX]

Yeah, that is sharp too. Works with the white plastics. If I could swing white or black plastics I would probably do it up with hot pink for my girls to make them happy and race it some like, as I wouldn't care a bit. Heck somebody might even stop and help me if I got stuck, lol...

Someone will be getting a nice MX bike there though for sure. **** Tech probably has it hooked up nice.

[JOHNDOE83]

Asked probably I don't know, 20 people over the course to time about clearing bare metal and every one of them said it would fail and look like poo in no time. Otherwise I would probably have a nice clear coated raw metal chopper... lol.

I would like to know what your process was and what you used.

Would give a sweet works look!

Ive had it done for over a year now and it never failed or looked like poo...lol.

only thing is where I chain it up the clear got a lil chippy and started rusting slightly where the clear rubbed off.

Best part is once its cleared if you get a poo spot, you just lightly sand the one spot then re clear it and all looks good again.

I actually just made some drag bars for my chopper out of raw steel from a yard, had it machined then i cleared it....looks great!

I would love a steel cleared chopper tho!!!

heres some pics

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00067-1.jpg (http://s953.photobucket.com/user/johndoe83_2010/media/CAM00067-1.jpg.html)http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00072.jpg (http://s953.photobucket.com/user/johndoe83_2010/media/CAM00072.jpg.html)http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00073.jpg (http://s953.photobucket.com/user/johndoe83_2010/media/CAM00073.jpg.html)

[MtnEX]

Man... I really like this idea as I am a fan of low maintenance.

If I can get my pivot bolt out I thinking I might do this and might do a matte clear.

If not... gosh I swear I am starting to question if all the work to get that thing out is worth it if the bottom end don't need to come out and be split. I might go another route if that's the case. Might take everything else off and tape up a few things, deal with the rusty spots and paint it all one color engine and all.

[MtnEX]

Man... I really like this idea as I am a fan of low maintenance.

If I can get my pivot bolt out I thinking I might do this and might do a matte clear.

If not... gosh I swear I am starting to question if all the work to get that thing out is worth it if the bottom end don't need to come out and be split. I might go another route if that's the case. Might take everything else off and tape up a few things, deal with the rusty spots and paint it all one color engine and all.

I know that sounds awful and redneck if I can't get the bolt out. But if all is well and it don't NEED to come out, why go through all that?

I also know it sounds redneck to clean real good, remove what I can, and tape up and go painting. But it won't be a rednecked up effort on my part with overspray on things and stuff. I will do a clean job of it and either just do plain old silver so it just looks fresh, or black or white it out after doing the prep work real well.

If the bolt will come out though, I swear I will be real tempted to have it blasted really good, look up an old friend that does beautiful welds and have him go over the whole thing with real nice looking welds, maybe some gussets, and clear the dang thing. It would look cool and be easy to sand down and patch up.

[hondaREX]

I have done many quad builds over the years and would only go with pc (powder coating). I have blasted and base clear painted in past and it holds up for a year or two. Pc will hold up for years. You can pc small parts your self with a house oven and a pc gun and freshly blasted parts. I pc a lot of smaller parts. I just had my step sons frame and sub frame pc. he picked out a 3 step pc. It has a darker base with a transparent coat then clear on top of that. It is VERY durable being so thick. The prices I received over the winter has been from $350-500 to do frame and sub frame most colors. That included backing off the factory pc, blasting the parts, taping off as needed and pcing. It cost me $425 to do the frame and sub I'm in western mass. I know that i paid $385 for 2 frame and sub frames, set of +3+1 arms, +2 swing arm, and a few other parts in the winter of 2010. When I did mine and wifes quad builds from frame up. Prices around here jumped. 17181068301718106831

ysf250r- what place in western mass do you get your PC done? Westside Finishing?? Im just outside of Worcester. Do you do any local riding?

[miller821]

I know that sounds awful and redneck if I can't get the bolt out. But if all is well and it don't NEED to come out, why go through all that?

I also know it sounds redneck to clean real good, remove what I can, and tape up and go painting. But it won't be a rednecked up effort on my part with overspray on things and stuff. I will do a clean job of it and either just do plain old silver so it just looks fresh, or black or white it out after doing the prep work real well.

If the bolt will come out though, I swear I will be real tempted to have it blasted really good, look up an old friend that does beautiful welds and have him go over the whole thing with real nice looking welds, maybe some gussets, and clear the dang thing. It would look cool and be easy to sand down and patch up.

I know it sucks to get stuck on the swing arm bolt, but if you're already broke down to that point it's worth the hassle to continue trying to get it out. If not down the road it may be seized worse when you really need to take it apart for whatever reason.

Also I think that most of us have learned to either take it out every 6mos or put a grease fitting on a new bolt.

[ride red 14]

pay shipping to and from Kentucky and I will PC your frame and subframe for $250 for a single stage color.

[cheater13]

We went through so much to get my swingarm bolt out. He had to break the heads off the bolts and eventually drill it out. We used heat too. Hopefully taking it to get powdered next week. Then have to wait two weeks. And I'll be giving him my a arms to coat while I get my other stuff back.

I'm goin yellow and black.

[CJM]

Do understand you cant powdercoat the stock arms, you will bake the ball joints and ruin them