jfowler85

Not sure if this would do better here or in the vintage section - feel free to move it where it needs to be, mr. mod.

Also, google is of little help here, as is the bf search function.

I painted an old lugged steel roadie a while back, with oil based enamel from Rustoleum. It is my commuter, but I'm building a new commuter and converting the old steelie to fixed gear. What I want to do is this: mix .004 metal flake into a clear coat that is compatible with the oil based Rusto, and hand paint it just like I did with the base.

I want to pursue this route so that I don't have to repaint the entire bicycle. I know experienced painters will get on here and tell me "oil based enamel does not need a base coat for x, y, and z technical reasons" and "just repaint the bicycle" and "just paint it with a metallic clear coat" and "that is stupid" and blah blah.

This is what I am doing, and I would specifically like to know what clear coat will not ruin the base that's already on the bike. The only real painting experience I have is when I hand painted the bicycle to begin with. Should I use poly? Acrylic? Rusto doesn't make a clear coat (that I can find) without flake already in it, which I guess I can do if there are no other options.

Many thanks.

gerv 

I just went to Google and typed "clear coat bicycle frame site:bikeforums.net" and saw a number of useful threads on clear coating a bicycle.

jfowler85

Thanks for not reading the post - I am not looking for any answer other than what I asked for. You successfully found a bunch of posts that don't tell me what clear coat/top coat is compatible with the oil based enamel I used. I need something that will not alter the components of the paint already there.

mrrabbit 

Why don't you have an auto body shop do the clear coat for you? There's will have hardeners in it providing a much more durable finish.

Can clear coat has little or no hardeners - in no time at all - you'll have spider web cracking throughout or in patches.

=8-)

rhenning

Rustoleum makes a clear coat and if you don't want to run into problems that is what I would use. Not sure how easy it is to find but it exists. Anything else and you have a chance of the clear coat lifting and ruining the paint that is on the bike now. Roger

Retro Grouch 

OK, it sounds to me like you don't want to put a ton of money into this frame so any kind of professional finish is a non-starter. I like that. If it was my bike, the first thing that I would do would be to try to find clear Rustoleum to mix my flake into. If I couldn't find that, I'd choose any other brand of clear enamel.

Frankly, either way my guess is you have a less than 50% chance of getting the result that you want. Again, if it was my bike I'd be OK with that. I'd rather experiment and do it myself and learn through the process. The worst thing that could possibly happen is you'll have to strip it and do it over. You've already done that once so you know what that entails.

openmxy

agree it.If I couldn't find that, I'd choose any other brand of clear enamel.

reddog3

Any clear that is NOT lacquer will go over your base coat without problems, but adherence may or may not be an issue. You said "paint by hand"- as in using a brush? Good luck getting the "flake" to go on evenly.