The stays, seat cluster, fork and part of the top tube on this bike have been resprayed to repair rusty chips and scratches. A chain wrapped around the seat post had really chewed it up. I spent countless hours prepping the surface, priming the bare metal with etching primer spraying and then sanding with high build primer and then white primer before spraying the white acrylic enamel. then I had to rub it out with two grades of compound to get the gloss even. It was all worth it to me because the repairs are almost undetectable, but I don't ever want to do it again.

A big mistake beginning painters make is getting the surface too smooth. The primer won't adhere well to a too-smooth surface. You want to leave scratches that are just deep enough to be filled by the primer. That calls for about 320 paper.