Originally Posted by unworthy1

for some reason (I have a theory) there's nearly always some "rust bloom" that grows underneath the clear. Often it's the infamous "spiderweb" variety but upshot is if you live in any climate other than "mojave desert' you will probably only have the "clean look" of raw steel under the clear for a limited time. My theory is this is always happening underneath virtually any repaint, especially when amateurs like me did the prep, it's just that you see it clear as day when the "paint" is clear! So for my money I would take this to a powder-coat shop that would go from bead-blast cabinet straight to coating and pay them for a good clear PC job, hopefully applied over a dead-spotless and bone-dry frame!