I damaged the clear coat on my new frame. fwiw I put a piece of tape on the top tube to "protect" it from handlebars during build and removing that tape also pulled off the clear coat. Ugggghhhhh.

I (we) ride the bike too often to send it back for repair. I'm not looking for perfection, just something that looks better. Will a clear coat spray over this area work? Any suggestions on how I might make this look better? The area is about 1" in longest direction.

Sounds like a pretty poor clear coat is mere tape pulled some off the color. If you spray clear over this area there will be a ring of the new clear misting out and the old clear remaining. This could result in a hazy or dull look. Also there's no guaranty that the new clear will change the color to end up looking exactly the same as that which is still covered by the old clear. Additionally there's likely to be a thickness change still present after. lastly I would be concerned about the old clear's ability to stay put, given that it lifted off in the first place.

But we don't know yet what kind of color and clear was used to begin with. So any speculation at this point is just that. Good luck and maybe start looking for a different painter for your next frame. Andy.

The paint color is House of Kolor Sno White Pearl. I see on the HOK website they have Kosmic Urethane Show Klear though I do not know if that was used. I realize it won't look as good - just hoping for a little improvement. I have the option to have it touched up but would be without the bike for a couple/few weeks. I think I'll look for a cool sticker ...

So if you're planning on covering spot with a sticker anyway.... Why not try a light coat of nail polish clear hard coat first. (I understand) it is normally used over the nail polish.

I generally use fingernail polish to color-match nicks or chips in the paint. But the polish will wash/wear off in time if not hard-coated. So I use the clear hard-coat. Then I wait a couple days and use car polish and wax to smooth-out the finish. You might want to try the same process... minus the nail polish (as your paint remains intact).

+1 the error seems to be in the frame prep, as tape should not remove paint that is cured. either that or you didn't want long enough for the paint to properly cure before you started your build. in any case, color matching it is going to be difficult unless you know the exact paints used. even then the repair may be obvious.

thanks - worth a try.

I started the build 2 months after getting the frame. Not sure if that was long enough but don't want to get into a blame game. I'm really happy with this bike, I like the builder a lot, wish I hadn't used tape on it but doo-doo happens. It's all been a learning process as my first bike build. I will never use tape on a new, custom bike again.

that's what I'm saying then, it's not your fault! if you didn't paint the frame then that is 100% paint prep error. the mark even looks like the size of a finger print. cured paint does just come off a bike like that. quite the contrary it's a pain in the ass. why do you think we invented a sandblaster if tape worked so well removing properly applied paint?