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Now that all the maintenance is done on my bike, I plan on giving it a makeover. It was crashed when I bought it so the price was right, but the effect of fixing it up is that its now a frankinbike of different colored plastic. I'm working on a budget, but I still want at least a two color design so this forces me into either painting it myself without any experience or going for a vinyl wrap instead. Paying someone else to paint it will just cost too much, as the lowest quote I've gotten for a two color paint job $1500 which is 3X more than a vinyl wrap and 5X more than it would cost to paint it myself.

Any thoughts about which of the two options is better? Also, does anyone have experience with vinyl wraps? How do they stand up to normal wear and tear? Do they rip easily, or can they stand up to a low speed scrape with the ground without having to replace the panel?

How about painting... How hard is it? I have access to a paint gun, but only a 2HP air compressor... Will this be enough power to properly shoot the paint, or do I need to find a bigger compressor?

Thanks,
Greg

Can you say Flat Black.

I've seen vinyl wraps last for years on cars that are daily driven. They tend to hold up better than paint too because they don't chip when a rock hits it. Plus if anything really tears it up you just put on a new one and you've got a brand new color.

Johnj wrote:Can you say Flat Black.

Not really an option... It would be too similar to too many of my friends' bikes which kinda defeats the purpose of really trying to give it a makeover.

Wrider wrote:I've seen vinyl wraps last for years on cars that are daily driven. They tend to hold up better than paint too because they don't chip when a rock hits it. Plus if anything really tears it up you just put on a new one and you've got a brand new color.

According to one product I've been looking at (bikeskinz), the claim is that they last 3 years at a cost of
~$500. Which isn't all that cost effective compared to 5-7 years for ~$300 for paint. The big difference is that I can have almost any design I want with the vinyl since its essentially printed from a digital source, while the paint can only be as complicated as my level of skill permits. That being said, if I lay down a paint job it will be scratched but otherwise still acceptable, while I'm still unsure how the vinyl would react in the same situation...

Well I was referring to a professional paint job coming at at 1200 bucks. If you're gonna do it yourself I'd do the paint. Cheaper and easier than the vinyl wraps.

Two words. Street Fighter.

Wrider wrote:Well I was referring to a professional paint job coming at at 1200 bucks. If you're gonna do it yourself I'd do the paint. Cheaper and easier than the vinyl wraps.

That's an important point, the wrap itself causes ~$500, then you have to add installation costs, since installing on your own voids the warranty. I'm not sure what installation costs, but even if its only $100 I could completely fail a paint attempt and buy everything over again and still probably be cheaper...

HYPERR wrote:Two words. Street Fighter.

One word: Ewwwww!

There are some awesome paints out there - that I suspect you could do yourself after testing on some spare parts from a junk yard. The problem is that it isn't just the paint. Often these people use many coats of clear coat to get the final product - something that will endure. And don't forget that sometimes you need a specific color base coat as well - which adds to the cost.

I vote paint.