Harvey, Gilbert, et al, Thanks for answering David's question and avoiding us painter types dishing up our infomercials. There isn't much that can be done for that area other than the painter trying not to load the dropout areas with excess buildup of paint. The thicker the paint, the easier it is to chip. For the owner's part, establishing exactly where the QR will contact and setting the adjusting screws there is the best you can do. When removing the wheel, open the QR all the way and slide the wheel out as gentle as possible. There is no perfect solution here; eventually the dropout faces will get marred. As for good primer/paint adhesion, prep is the most important step in the process, but is now more difficult because good primer is getting hard to find. I haven't researched all the alternatives yet, but the EPA is removing all the lead and chromates from primer and the result is a watered down version that probably won't have the adhesion or corrosion resistance of the good old stuff. I think it's important to be responsible citizens ecologically, but I think the state of California has taken it too far. The rest of the USA generally follows California when it comes to paint because we are the largest customers of the paint companies and they make the paint to comply with our regulations. In the future, I'll probably set up shop in some place like Bhopal, India where it's no problem blowing a hole in the ozone layer the size of Australia.
Am I ranting? Sorry. Joe Bell
Harvey M Sachs wrote:
> At 13:42 2/25/2001 -0500, David Goerndt wrote:
>
> >This is a question directed at the frame painters. I have two bikes that
> >have been repainted and have noticed that both have the paint chipped of
> >down to primer on both the front and rear dropouts. Is this a common
> >problem, or is this the result of a poorly prepped and painted frame? How
> >does one prevent this from happening, since it really detracts from the
> >overall finish on a bike?
>
> Paint-crushing at the drop-outs is not uncommon under the QR. Anywhere
> that the paint is not so stressed, it reflects failure of prep. My friend
> Les Lunas, who painted for some of the best, was always a fanatic about
> frame prep, to make sure that the primer stuck to the frame at least as
> well as the paint to the primer. It was time-consuming and
> painstaking. Not just the sanding and stuff, but the careful scrubbing
> with an iron phosphating solution (to develop "bite" on the metal surface,
> and incredibly careful attention to avoilding any oiliness on the surface
> after the surf prep. The results were worth the effort. Les also was a
> master at a really hard art: he'd do long, imperceptible fades. One for
> our son started silver at the fork and finished black at the rear dropout,
> and you could not tell the joint between the silver and the grey, or the
> grey and the black. Masterful. And done in Imron, with a single gun. He
> did another for Beloved Spouse, fading from a faintly purple silver to a
> rich reddish purple. Amazing. But that's another topic: it all started
> with incredible attention to surf prep and to getting the primer right.
>
> Good paint is expensive, and I thought it better to comment instead of
> forcing the experts on the list to toot their own horns.
>
> Harvey Sachs