Painting a Galvanized Frame?

[fxk142]

I am thinking about buying a new galvanized frame to replace the one on my Series IIa. Do people paint these or just leave them bare metal? Do I need to put any protective coating on them?

[siii8873]

I waxoyled my 10+ year old galvy frame while I had body off, a lot less prep required and has the black look, seems to stick fine. Not really necessary except for aesthetics

[ThePhotographer]

The galvy is the protective coating, there's no "need" to do it but I think it looks better black.

You could waxoyl it, which will probably be easier than painting because paint doesn't always stick very well to galvanized metal.

[o2batsea]

You can paint it. I painted mine cz I don't like the look of the galv. Only thing is that you have to be very scrupulous about prep. You can't have any white powder oxide anywhere or you're sunk. It has to be bright metal to work best.
After going over the whole thing, by hand, with a stainless wire brush, I did a chemical wipe down with Xylene. This I followed with epoxy primer 2 coats, and then three coats fo satin epoxy black. It does chip, but the adherence is very good.

[jac04]

I painted the galvanized frame on one of my restorations. I washed it down with a degreaser, then with a diluted acid solution to get rid of the surface oxide layer. After it was dry, I spray-bombed it with satin black paint. It definitely looks more original painted black.

But, as Zack said, no need to paint it or spray any protective coating on it.