Deep Scratches on Vintage Steel Bike.

[asindc]

Yesterday, I scratched the top tube of my 2002 LeMond Alpe d'Huez in several spots. Some of the scratches look rather deep (I apologize for the sideways orientation of the photo. It was oriented correctly when I uploaded it).

How do I go about getting these fixed and repainted?

[makoti]

I'm going to guess that a good painter can buff out minor scratches. Possibly just fill them in & polish it up. Lots of places handle small repairs along with painting.

[jamesdak]

Battle scars, let it wear them with pride.

Otherwise I'd just find a matching testor paint and touch it up. The Lemonds of that era had some really soft paint unfortunately. My 2000 Zurich loses paint if you breathe on it.

[old_fat_and_slow]

Touch up paint, sandpaper, masking tape and lots of patience.

[batman1425]

Paint it with something so that it doesn't rust.

[ultraman6970]

1st thing you have to wet sand paper that till gets fairly flat... 600 grit.

2nd... primer... sand again..

3rd paint on top. looks like is black, not hard to find a suitable replacement color.

[asindc]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I have put clear coat nail polish over the scratches as a temporary solution. The color is actually a very dark green that is common enough to find but, of course, no guarantee of finding an exact match.

[ultraman6970]

I think is not a problem in the metal, those scratches are just in the paint itself, sand, retouch with a toothpick and sand again.

[Spaghetti Legs]

I recently bought a frame from a fellow paceliner that needed some cosmetic work and it came with a kit of primer, paint and clear coat from these guys

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/index.htm

The paint color wasn’t an exact match (Bianchi - hell, no two Bianchi are ever the same color anyway) but I was pleased with how the stuff worked. You have to prep and sand as noted above. The website has nice directions on how to use it. You just have to figure out what ccar color your bike looks like.

But basically, sand, fill with primer, paint, sand with fine grain, clear coat, sand with super fine.

[asindc]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

I recently bought a frame from a fellow paceliner that needed some cosmetic work and it came with a kit of primer, paint and clear coat from these guys

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/index.htm

The paint color wasn’t an exact match (Bianchi - hell, no two Bianchi are ever the same color anyway) but I was pleased with how the stuff worked. You have to prep and sand as noted above. The website has nice directions on how to use it. You just have to figure out what ccar color your bike looks like.

But basically, sand, fill with primer, paint, sand with fine grain, clear coat, sand with super fine.

Thanks. Do you have before/after pics you wish to share? If not, no worries.