Hmmm, so there is no way out of painting it. Wonder if cleaning up all effected areas nicely, and clear coating it would keep it 'real' authentic, without messing up everything up with a new paint job?
Clear has no base so is not the best paint to seal with, but it sounds theoretically optimum. I like the way it looks now, except when it rains.
But it sounds like I will have to put a substantial paint over primer areas first before clear coating. Or by not painting it professionally (down to frame metal) to begin with, just seal the 'possible' rust underneath?
Powercoating may be the best value for the money, but not riding it every week will be the pits. Really did want to finish all of my main system work before painting it nice (got front end and rear end work to go).
As an old skeptic, it would be hard to believe it could not be touched up painted, as long as verified primer is not damp underneath - ??? Maybe every place that needs touching up, will just paint uniformly 360 degrees around that section of frame. Kind of like a random uniform-sectioned artwork, lol. Or I could make them the paint blocks symetrical, but if its going to be patchwork paint, I like the concept of stratified randomly distributed uniform block sizes and locations. It may turn out to be very nice, and keep crooks away at the same time.
For piece of mind concerning rust, I know eventually it will have to be painted right, but still have to bend rear forks and all that stuff. And I really don't have any idea how the thick clear powder coat will react to flexible seat post clamps. Seems like it would crack the thick clear paint. That's my only known rusty area I need to paint first in the mean time.
Thanks, Phil Bailey Sarasota, FL
*************************************************************************** George Argiris Jan 30, 2007 4:37 PM
primer is porous, it will absorb moisture. Gotta paint
georgeargiris
sandiego,ca