I have a Suntour LeTech derailleur. Like a lot of the derailleurs that have the names and branding screened on- the screening is starting to wear off; despite having REALLY low miles on it.

I would kind of like to use this derailleur, however I don't want to damage the screening any further (and truth be told, it might actually be more susceptible to wear in a box or even wrapped up than it would on a bike).

Has anyone tried any sort of protective coating over the face of a derailleur or something like that?

I thought of using clear nail polish. It's clear, relatively tough, a lot of people use nail polish to touch up bike finishes and it does come off with nail polish remover. I don't know if the clear would turn yellow or if it would eat the screening- but I decided to test it out on a Suntour AR. The AR FD has been through a bunch of bikes- it was on my sister's bike, and I've had it on 2 different bikes. The Suntour and AR screen is still quite intact. So I brushed some clear nail polish over the screening. I did this last night- and it doesn't seem to have faded the ink, and it doesn't appear to have dulled the chrome- if you look close you can see where it was brushed on.






Of course, who knows how this'll hold out over the long haul. I'd imagine it might take the screening off if you would ever choose to remove the clear, or the polish remover would also remove the screening ink.

Anyway- it's just an idea.

How about a bit of auto wax?

But wax doesn't harden into a shell, and wax wears off.

I was thinking of something like a clear coat over the screening-

3m clear adhesive.

Mask off the rest of derailleur and hit it with spray poly or Krylon.

I can sort of understand the clear tape stuff- but I'd guess it would get ratty looking sooner than a clear coat.

Spraying on- that's a lot like work- rather than just brushing on a coat of clear


Has anyone done any of this stuff? I'm sure I've waxed screened parts- or is this just something that doesn't really bother anyone else- just the price of "wear..."

If you're OCD enough to worry about logo wear on an RD, what's a little extra work? Spray will get you a thinner coat than a brush.

Srpay on 2 or 3 light, repeat light coats so as not to possibly damage the lettering.

I have an airbrush and for small projects like this I spray the Krylon into a cup, transfer the contents to my air brush cup and shoot. Takes all of about 10 minutes including cleanup and I don't need to mask usually because the airbrush is so accurate. I have saved a number of decals, or what's left of them, using this method.

Bumping this for [MENTION=13229]Bikedued[/MENTION] and his recent XC score!