I've got a couple decals i wanna throw on the now rattle-can painted black frame....
do i wait until after the clear coat or do i get it between the black paint and the clear coat??

-j

most professional painters put the decal under the clearcoat. if the decals belong on the frame; brand, model, tubing I would certainly put them under. if you are just putting random decals on and may sell the bike at somepoint I would recomend putting them on top

they'll hold up better under. you typically want to do a test though. put a drop of the reducer for your clear on the decal the night before you put them on and see if anything happens to them.

reducer??

1 part clear coat? just put the clear on it then if it's not a catalyzed system. i just do this kind of thing to make sure i'm not going to get a reaction later on. one bad experience has been enough.

i just painted a frame and decals went under the clear coat...it looks awesome! be sure about 2 things, 1 that your clear coat is compatible with your base paint, 2 buy a clear coat that stays clear, many rattle-can clears become yellow....

another important thing, if possible try to apply clear coat no more than 3 hours after base paint, that way you make sure the base and clear bond better... if you alredy painted, it would be good to lightly sand and paint 1 more layer, wait 1 hour, put decals, and then clear coat....be sure to be as clean as possible, soapy water is great, the oils in your fingertips can damage a great paintjob.

PICS PLz

It entirely depends on the type and quality of your decals...

We use special decals that are made specifically for clear coating over (dry transfer). While some people have used vinyl decals and cleared over them, sometimes there is a chemical reaction which occurs that makes the vinyl decals crack (or dry out) under the clearcoat. They also can fade in the sunlight. If you use dry transfer decals, you put them on over the base coat and then clear over them. Personally, I'd only use vinyl decals OVER the clearcoat.

were can we find a dry decal maker? that would be awesome! full color, professional decals! i finished my bike, but im brewing beer and my bottles would look so darn cool with a nice decal.

SSSink did mine... of course I bought enough to do 50 bikes and it wasn't cheap... here's some close up pics of their work:







They will also do any artwork etc that you need...

https://www.SSSink.com