coffeecherrypie

I have a mid-80s steel bike (Centurion LeMans RS) that has a good number of scratches/chips in the paint. It seems like some of these go all the way to the bare metal because they have turned rusty. What should I do about these? My inclination is to coat them with clear or vaguely color-matched nail polish, but if they've already started to rust I'm not sure if that is sufficient. My goal isn't aesthetic, it's just to make sure the frame doesn't rust away. I can't post links yet but here's an example on the fork where it is worst: imgur dot com/a/3H00T. Thanks!

bikemig 

You probably want to post this problem with pics on the C&V forum as folks there deal with old steel bikes all the time. A lot depends on how much rust you are talking about. If it's bad enough, an oxalic bath is one solution. Otherwise, I'd just take some fine sand paper to get it out and touch up as needed. You can--with some luck--do a pretty passable job like this.

coffeecherrypie

After sanding, what would you touch it up with?

bikemig 

I like using flat white rustoleum. Sometimes I just leave it like that; sometimes I find a model paint which is a close match.

fietsbob

Touch up paint? its in the name.

dsbrantjr

Nail enamel comes in a huge variety of colors, you should be able to find a close match. Sand or steel wool off most of the rust and treat the rest with a rust converter such as Naval Jelly, then apply the enamel. The converted rust should serve as a good primer.

Champlaincycler

I had dings and scratches, some rust on a steel bike that I recently sold. Went to a decent auto shop that had infinite colors of spray cans. They matched the color well and I bought a can of primer, a can of colored and a clear coat for final. Sanded rust spots before priming. Came to about $35 total. The spray cans will last for years as even doing the whole frame will not take much.

alcjphil

Are you sure about the age of your bike? This model was produced for many years. In any case, even the most recent models are 30 years old. If the frame is that old, a touch up will not be anything but cosmetic. If the frame has survived that long it is fine

Iride01 

If you are going to clear coat it, you may as well paint it too. Otherwise just neutralize the rust and put waxes, oils or whatever you feel will help keep it from rusting more.

Once it's rusted, even if just surface rust, it's not going to be a high value collector piece. Similarly, once you do any painting, it's not going to be a high value collector piece.

But...... this is my opinion.

shelbyfv

Naval Jelly if there is not enough rust to require soaking the entire frame. Nail polish for the touch up.

coffeecherrypie

Thanks everybody. Very helpful.

EscapeGoat

If you're cheap (like me) buy a copper wire brush and some WD40, scrub the rust off the spots then use Testor's model paint on the spots once the rust is gone. You won't see the touch ups unless you're very very close.