With cycling increasing in popularity all over the world, lots of people are dusting off their bikes and heading out on the roads and trails this summer. Whilst it is important to ensure you aren’t using a bike helmet that is past its expiry date, you may have one that could benefit from a spruce up or perhaps you are passing one down to a younger child who has a strong preference on colour. If so painting the helemt is a quick and easy job!
What’s the best way to paint a bike helmet?
Spray paint is unrivaled if you want to get a really smooth professional finish on a surface, no one wants to cycle round with brush marks on their lid! Spray paint also offers speed of application and for a small job like a bike helmet the coverage of 2m2 means you’ll only need one can of colour to cover all you need.
How do I spray paint my bike helmet?
CLEANING
The first step is to ensure you have a really clean surface, we recommend spray alcohol fr this job. For convenience, we sell our own, but you may already have some in your supplies. Use a cloth to apply it and wipe the surface to ensure it is free from contaminants that could affect adhesion or disrupt the smooth finish you are aiming for.
PRIMER
As the surface is non-porous we advise using a primer to help the top layer of paint adhere and ensure the colour lasts well. Our Universal Primer works well for this job, although we also recommend our Primer For Plastics. You are unlikely to use a full can for this application, so choose whichever will be most useful to you for another job! (Read the notes at the end of this blog post about storing half-used cans) Remember when spraying keep your hand 10-15cm from the surface and spray in wide sweeping movements starting and finishing off the edge of the object you are spraying. Leave the primer for 24 hours to dry properly before applying the top coat.
PAINT
What colour do you fancy for your spray-painted bike helmet? For this project we used our deceptively named Basic range of paints which come in a wide range of colours and finishes including fluorescent, matt, gloss and metallic. So the choice is yours. Browse our range and pick what works. Perhaps choose something that matches your bike?
Pintyplus - Tech - Universal/Ferric Primer - 400ml
Anticorrosive alkyd primer. Mat finish. Free from chrome and lead components. Quick dry.
£11.50
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Pintyplus - Basic - Gloss - 400ml
Quick dry alkyd enamel Gloss spray paint with a high resistance outdoors and an excellent adherence.
£11.50
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After you’ve finished
If you have any primer or paint left in the can which you want to save, invert the can and press the nozzle until only air comes out. This will ensure that when you store the can the nozzle will be free of paint. Also don’t forget if you do spray paint your helmet, share the photos with us on social media using #pintypluser
