Originally Posted by
ghostm42
Thanks for the response. Well, the bike is about 23 years old and costs less than half the price of a powder coat, so it doesn't make sense to put that much money into the job. I guess I can either just avoid the rattle can job altogether, touch up all the chips with nail polish or strip the entire thing and give it a proper rattle can job. Powder coat is out of the question though.
I don't care to sand it down to bare metal because I don't have a grinder or sander, making it a time-consuming process. Anyone have suggestions for a guy whose only power tools consist of a drill and a dremel?
A $3 wire wheel for the drill will make fairly quick work of strippng the old paint. I don't understand the chemistry behind it but if the new paint is incompatable with the old paint it will wrinkle so stripping to bare metal could save some time & wasted paint. After stripping clean with a fast evaporating solvant like brake cleaner. Primer is a very good idea. Duplicolor automotive paint does better then Rustolium durability wise & comes in better colors. A lot of thin coats both on the primer & color coat will last better than a few thick coats. You can make it look good. No it will not be as durable as powder coat but you can do this for $10 to $20.
