Frame Paint Color Comparison

[Mark D]

I'm in the middle of some frame rust cleanup and I bought a few different paints to try and match the stock frame color:

Krylon Smoke Gray
Krylon Classic Gray
Rustoleum Smoke Gray

Here are the results compared to a chip of stock frame epoxy. I took photos in both the sun and the shade and I'd say the Rustoleum Smoke Gray matches best. Just thought I'd share :-)

[deloumis]

Nice, very helpful. I will be needing to do some touch up this coming up week so this is very helpful and saves me time in guessing the right color.

[Dangermouse]

We're all frames painted the same color at the factory?

[deloumis]

We're all frames painted the same color at the factory?

Hope so

[Nicholas R]

I absolutely positively 100% swear by the color match of the Rustoleum grey. I've never found another paint that matches so perfectly. I've done lots of frame repair and cleanup with POR-15 and KBS Rust Seal and I ALWAYS do a top coat with Rustoleum grey. You're supposed to apply a topcoat to POR-15 anyway because of its lack of resistance to UV but even if it didn't I'd cover it with Rustoleum grey.

I've tried every Krylon grey out there and never been satisfied with the match. It's always plainly obvious. Rustoleum grey, you'll never know where it is and is not.

[WelmoedJ]

For you information:
I repainted my frame using a can and roller, no spray paint (too thin a layer).
The most closest colour also depends on where you took the chip of paint for matching.

Mind that paint gets lighter over the years due to effects of a.o. sunlight.
I had my chip of a section next to the fuel tank (almost no external light affecting the colour).

The closest colour I could find matching my chip is RAL 7042

Hope this is of help to you.

[Mark D]

I absolutely positively 100% swear by the color match of the Rustoleum grey. I've never found another paint that matches so perfectly. I've done lots of frame repair and cleanup with POR-15 and KBS Rust Seal and I ALWAYS do a top coat with Rustoleum grey. You're supposed to apply a topcoat to POR-15 anyway because of its lack of resistance to UV but even if it didn't I'd cover it with Rustoleum grey.

I've tried every Krylon grey out there and never been satisfied with the match. It's always plainly obvious. Rustoleum grey, you'll never know where it is and is not.

I finished up some painting the other day and I have to say I agree completely. The Rustoleum Smoke Grey is as perfect of a match as I could hope for. Other than the finish being a little glossy compared to the dulled epoxy it's very difficult to tell which areas have been repainted and which are stock. When taking photos there was more of a difference in color due to shadows and lighting differences than the actual paint color.

Here is an example where the lighting was pretty even over the whole area. Can you tell what spots were painted?

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The area boxed in by red has been painted.



One other thing to note is that if the stock epoxy is discolored then the color difference will be more obvious. I used Simple Grean degreaser and some Mr Clean magic erasers to remove the yellowing and dirt. For really bad areas with rust staining I used a brown scotch brite pad and wet sanded with the simple green. After rinsing and drying then I used some turtle wax rubbing compound to bring back a little shine.

Once the frame expoxy is back to its original color the rustoleum is a perfect match. With the cooler temperatures here lately it took 3-4 days for it to cure nice and hard though. It does an excellent job of covering the primer with one light coat.... I did apply a second wet coat so there was no orange peel.

Overall the process was really time consuming to get from rusted metal and flaked epoxy back to a stock look. Here was the method I followed:

-Use a flat screw driver to remove obvious flaking/loose epoxy.
-Degrease with Simple Green, wipe dry.
-Scrub discolored areas with magic eraser and more simple green.
-Scuff with scotch brite pad where needed, rinse.
-Buff dulled areas with turtle wax.

At this point everything is clean but there is still rust. Cleaning does a good job of helping to distinguish areas that were just stained vs cracked/rusty and it's much easier to see the small perforations in the epoxy.

From there I used air powered disc sanders w/ 100 grit sand paper to remove rust and feather the epoxy out around the rusty areas so everything was smooth. I also did a second round of lifting and scraping off any loose epoxy that was now more visible on the clean frame.

Once everything was sanded rust free the next steps were:

-Final degreasing with POR Marine Clean (dilluted 3:1 with water), rinse well.
-POR Metal Ready on bare metal. (Keep wet for 20 minutes to etch the clean metal), rinse well
-Let dry really well over night to be sure there is no moisture
-2 to 3 thin coats of POR15...Painting too heavily will result in trapped bubbles as the POR cures and outgasses CO2.

Before the final coat of POR cures you can dust on a layer of primer or top coat, but I decided to let everything cure solid to prevent trapped bubbles.

After the POR15 cured:

-Scuff painted areas and the surrounding epoxy with red scotch brite pad.
-Degrease and remove dust with marine clean, rinse well and let dry completely.
-Apply two coats of POR self etch primer. It's designed to stick to POR 15 after it has cured.

The self etch primer dries really quickly but will lay down smooth if you use thin coats and work fast. This paint also dries really hard like the POR15 and can be built up a little thicker in areas to blend any hard edges and achieve that dipped look the rest of the frame has.

Once the primer is dry:

-Mask the frame with painters tape and newspaper
-Spray Rustoleum Smoke Gray over primer and blend into the surrounding epoxy. It only takes a few minutes to dry between coats so added a few extra coats in any areas where I could see brush strokes from the primer.
-Let cure for several days
-Remove paint masking

Here are a few more pics.

As you can see I had a leaky brake master that dripped fluid and ate through the epoxy.



After degreasing and some sanding



Sand blasted



After metal ready...it leaves a whitish yellow coating of zinc phosphate.



After POR-15 and primer




Rustoleum

[Dangermouse]

This reminds me of the scene in Red Dwarf where Rimmer has the Scutters repaint the entire ships interior from Ocean Grey to Military Grey. "Something that should've been done a long time ago".

Or was it the other way around......

[pezzonovante88]

Nice job! Thanks for posting this. I have a few edges in the rear area of my car that are starting to show a little surface rust.

[DMC3165]

POR-15 now comes in a grey color. Last time I did some touchup work I used magnet paints grey to cover the bare steel. It is a simalar product to POR-15 but is made for industril applications such as heavy truck chassis and industrial structures. Howecer over time the color dulled and it's obvious what was repaired and what wasn't. Next time I do any work I'll be using the grey POR-15 and I'll see how that looks. I may cover the old areas I repaired with the krylon smoke grey as that color is a dead ringer for the epoxy finish.