Hello, Has anyone repainted their Red Olmo. If so which color red did you choose to closely match the original color.
Did you use spray paint from cans or choose a professional?
Why is a spray can covered with 2K clear coat not as good a finish as a professional spray job. As I had a fender panel replaced and painted on my truck and it scratched through to the undercoat extremely easily. Just wondering.

I don’t know anything about your truck prep prime, color, clear paints, the conditions of and application quality.

I did recently paint my old paramount I etched with vinegar and immediately primered with 2k, 1k color, and 2k clear and it’s very fine and durable. It not soft or chipping. It does take a few weeks for final cure.

I went with real car paint Lumabase in Spraymax rattle can. It’s about $40 per can filled at the local Wesco supply.

Take your Olmo to a car body repair/paint shop and ask nicely if they can use their spectrometer. They should do it for free.

Or, head to the oldest auto paint shop in town. Here in Oregon we have Industrial finishes. Ask for the old books that feature the 1970s-80s brands from Italy like Lancia, Alfa, Fiat, and Ferrari. You will find a great match.

Once the color is established, then you can choice your next direction.



At the co-op I'm a board member, we got some donated cans of Spray.Bike

I tried it on a trek after sandblasting. Its a different way of painting as you hold the can 4-6" away from the frame. Let each coat cure a long time. Luckily it takes weeks for decals to arrive.

People's biggest complaint about Spray.Bike is the matte finish from the base coat, but thats how auto paint is too, until the clear is sprayed.

In the end, Spray.Bike was cheaper and easier than normal "chemical" paint but not as smooth. But, smoother than powder coating. Less orange peel.

Thanks Mr 66 I will check out Luma base products. Having painted 2 other bikes I know the prep takes a long time and requires a of of patience.
Hopefully the finished product will be outstanding.

Thanks for the information Robvolz .Good idea with the spectrometer, I will certainly check that out as there are many autobody shops here in NJ.
I have no experience with Spray.bike but I have seen reviews on youtube where people have reviewed that product. Seems like it's ok. I'll check it out further.

I've got a 1982-ish Olmo Competition....



... but it has seen a bit of abuse over the years. The top tube has a bit of corrosion that I periodically try to slow down.

I've gone to the local auto paint supply store for touch-up paint, and they generally do a great job at figuring out how to mix up a batch of the correct color. However, "candy" paint jobs are a special challenge. My Olmo has a gold base layer, with a layer of tinted clear lacquer on top. There's no way to make a plain, single layer paint look the same, but hopefully you can get in the ballpark.

The last time I had them make a bottle of touch-up paint, they came back with a Nissan color...




The paint looked like a great match in the store, which is about all you can hope for.
I was fixing up a spot on the top tube, so I sanded it and applied some gray primer.
After brushing the paint on, it became obvious that it was too dark.




At the recommendation of a friend, I tried a Testors red paint with some gold mixed in, and the results were closer....




That's my low skill attempt to fix up my red Olmo. It's probably not the answer you need, but perhaps will help keep you from making the same mistakes.

Steve in Peoria

Thanks for the reply SteelBikeGuy and the photos showing your damage. that's the same problem I'm having the bike looks good but my damage is under the lower end of the down tube . It looks like it just got rusted from sitting in the previous owners shed.. I'm weighing my options , like you touch up or repaint. After all it's a great bike.

It's hard to say how much work or money to put into it, but a bottle of touch-up paint was $25 at the time, and a couple of little bottles of Testors is even cheaper! I'm not sure that the Testors is as durable, though. In any case, the touch-up paint slows down the corrosion and still leaves the option to do a better job in the future.

Steve in Peoria