Scratched Record derailleur

[bm0p700f]

I wouldn't bother. Stop worrying and ride the bike more. No one will see it when you are moving.

[Marin]

Leave the derailleur alone, and for the seatstays, get some auto polish.

[pdmtong]

I wouldn't bother. Stop worrying and ride the bike more. No one will see it when you are moving.

after seeing the picture, I would just leave it and not think about it.
yes, it is no longer shiny and pristine, but the scratches I see are not worth the hassle of trying to restor. done wrong, you might actually make it look worse

[rmerka]

Leave it, chicks dig scars...or fill the depressions with clear gloss, sand it down with 2000 grit wet sand paper and then buff it out with polishing compound.

[lannes]

the seat stay is way worse than the derailleur , I'd get that clear coated again, you can't even see the RD chips, a black paint marker touch up is all it needs.

[wheelsONfire]

I leaned it on a short wall and this happened.

You should buy a chain protector and place at the chainstay.

You should buy a second one to, but place at the underside to prevent chain-slaps whipping the underside of the chainstay.

I think this would cover the damage which is only cosmetic.

A chain-slap happens seldom (if ever). But if it does, it has a whip-effect which tear of the surface layer of the carbon and clear coat.

http://shop.lizardskins.com/collections ... -chainstay

[lannes]

You should buy a chain protector and place at the chainstay.

You should buy a second one to, but place at the underside to prevent chain-slaps whipping the underside of the chainstay.

I think this would cover the damage which is only cosmetic.

It looks like the damage is on the seat stay from the bike falling over, it's not from chain slap

[TheDarkInstall]

I have been studying painting, paint fixing, scratch repair, and polishing for a while now. I scuttled off the the 'much more advanced' world of custom car paint, and detailing, and read / watched / consumed everything I could get my hands on.

It is amazing what the top guys in car bodywork do with paint repair, and detailing. I have been applying a lot of what I learned to my SuperSix Evo, which once I understood high end paintwork a lot better I realised was painted incredibly badly (most bikes are, to be honest, but Cannondale take the biscuit for shit paint jobs).

So far, I have done the following;

-Taken it from matte to gloss.
-Levelled the clear coat so the surface is flat(ter). Flat gloss surface = ultra high quality and consistent light reflection, and therefore looks a lot more pro.
-Fixed a load of chips and gashes in the paint, from a year and a half of riding it as hard as I could.
-Removed the 'SuperSixEvo' text from the seat tube.
-Levelled off the really badly applied paint on the top tube, by building up a layer of clear coat to flatten the surface. It was seriously shit when I got it, and looked like they had applied all the clear coat in a single pass of the HVLP gun, which meant the wet coat was heavy enough for gravity to have a significant effect, meaning there were areas of sag under the top tube, and matching thin areas on the top. Yeah, I know; totally shit.

Scratches and chips can be fixed for sure, once you understand how a frame is painted, and can analyse the paintwork on your own frame to see how deep the damage it, colour matching, etc.

[TheDarkInstall]

This is easy. What has happened here, is you have scuffed the clear coat.

You can take these scratches out very easily.

Do this;

1. Get your smart phone, turn on the flashlight, and shine it over each scratch. Look very very closely at them, to see how deep they are, the shape of them, how rough the edges are, if there is any delaminating of the layers of clear coat applied, etc.

The next steps are basically going from 'big to small', in terms of smoothing everything off.

2. Get some 1200 grit wet and dry paper. Rip a small bit off (like, about 2cm square, max), Soak it in water. Then, pass it gently over each scratch, all the time shining your flashlight at it, looking close. Watch for any bit of clear coat that might snag off; this is OK, but you need to know how much clear coat you are removing here. The aim of this stage is to bring the jaggedness of the edges down. This stage will not cure it, and will actually make thing look worse, but just go with it. You might get a kid of milky residue coming off and mixing with the water of the wet and dry paper. This is normal. Keep checking the edges and continue until they have got slightly smoother. This process will rough up the surrounding clear coat and make it look dull and grey. Don't worry about that!

3. Repeat step 2, with 2000 grit paper, checking all the time with the flashlight to see the progress of the scratch edges.

4. Same as 3, but now with 3000 grit paper.

By this stage, things will look a lot smoother, but you will have a large section of grey and matt / dull looking clear coat. No worries!

5. You need to get some Tamiya Compound, and some micro-fibre clothes. Amazon it. Get the 'Fine' and 'Finish' compounds..

6. Start with the Fine Tamiya compound, and go over the whole area, not just the scratches. This will start to level off the dullness you put in when you were fixing the scratch edges.

7. Repeat with Finish Tamiya compount.

By now, the scratches should be pretty much gone. Wash the area, let it dry, and leave it for a while. Go back with you flashlight again, and analyse the whole job. Any areas that are still a bit lumpy, you can go over again with the previous steps.

Any scratches that originally went all the way through the clear coat, you can fix fully, by building back the clear coat gradually. Buy some clear coat, and paint thinner. Mix the clear coat with the thinner, and paint the clear coat back on, one ultra thin coat at a time. Allow the clear coat to flash, then sand very very lightly with 3000 grit, wipe down, dry, then apply another coat. Check constantly with your flashlight until the new clear coat is level with the original, then compound as before. This take patience, and if you rush it with a single thick coat, it will look shit, so take your time. You can get perfect results if you do it methodically.

[Djkinsella89]

Trollololol

Or if by the slim chance the OP is serious, clean the butter of your fingers before handling your bike.

I have over 180 post to your 7 so GTHOH!

Wait... Soooo, you were for serious...? Aawwwwkwaaarrd!

Btw-sick post count bro.

[BlackMadone]

This is easy. What has happened here, is you have scuffed the clear coat.

You can take these scratches out very easily.

Do this;

1. Get your smart phone, turn on the flashlight, and shine it over each scratch. Look very very closely at them, to see how deep they are, the shape of them, how rough the edges are, if there is any delaminating of the layers of clear coat applied, etc.

The next steps are basically going from 'big to small', in terms of smoothing everything off.

2. Get some 1200 grit wet and dry paper. Rip a small bit off (like, about 2cm square, max), Soak it in water. Then, pass it gently over each scratch, all the time shining your flashlight at it, looking close. Watch for any bit of clear coat that might snag off; this is OK, but you need to know how much clear coat you are removing here. The aim of this stage is to bring the jaggedness of the edges down. This stage will not cure it, and will actually make thing look worse, but just go with it. You might get a kid of milky residue coming off and mixing with the water of the wet and dry paper. This is normal. Keep checking the edges and continue until they have got slightly smoother. This process will rough up the surrounding clear coat and make it look dull and grey. Don't worry about that!

3. Repeat step 2, with 2000 grit paper, checking all the time with the flashlight to see the progress of the scratch edges.

4. Same as 3, but now with 3000 grit paper.

By this stage, things will look a lot smoother, but you will have a large section of grey and matt / dull looking clear coat. No worries!

5. You need to get some Tamiya Compound, and some micro-fibre clothes. Amazon it. Get the 'Fine' and 'Finish' compounds..

6. Start with the Fine Tamiya compound, and go over the whole area, not just the scratches. This will start to level off the dullness you put in when you were fixing the scratch edges.

7. Repeat with Finish Tamiya compount.

By now, the scratches should be pretty much gone. Wash the area, let it dry, and leave it for a while. Go back with you flashlight again, and analyse the whole job. Any areas that are still a bit lumpy, you can go over again with the previous steps.

Any scratches that originally went all the way through the clear coat, you can fix fully, by building back the clear coat gradually. Buy some clear coat, and paint thinner. Mix the clear coat with the thinner, and paint the clear coat back on, one ultra thin coat at a time. Allow the clear coat to flash, then sand very very lightly with 3000 grit, wipe down, dry, then apply another coat. Check constantly with your flashlight until the new clear coat is level with the original, then compound as before. This take patience, and if you rush it with a single thick coat, it will look shit, so take your time. You can get perfect results if you do it methodically.

Thanks Bro this is pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

[BlackMadone]

Trollololol

Or if by the slim chance the OP is serious, clean the butter of your fingers before handling your bike.

I have over 180 post to your 7 so GTHOH!

Wait... Soooo, you were for serious...? Aawwwwkwaaarrd!

Btw-sick post count bro.

Troll on troll boy....

[TheDarkInstall]

Thanks Bro this is pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

No worries. Go easy on it, and expect it to take a fair bit of time. It is a process, rather than a single quick fix. You might find you want to do a bit now, then ride it, and then finish it later. Just like you sometimes see cars driving around with half finished paint work repairs, etc. Takes time. Good fun though, and when you start to see it improving it is great. You will also learn a LOT about paint, an so on, so will get a deeper understanding of your bike.

Have a look the AMMO stuff on Youtube. This guy focuses on finishing and detailing, rather than painting, but there is loads of applicable stuff here.

https://www.youtube.com/user/AMMONYCdotcom