I'm doing a path racer inspired ss build for my friend right now. Its pretty much done but I realized I kind of got myself into a dilemma with the paint situation.

I painted the bike maroon with regular rustoleum rattlecan paint figuring I could just clear coat it later. I have read a couple old posts on clear coating and I'm not exactly sure what to do in my situation.

1) The paint is already on and relatively set.
2) There is no clear coat for the paint system I used.
3) When I went to buy rustoleum clear coat at home depot. i found that they really dont make any specific clear coat, they just have clear spray paint which has no particular protective qualities.

I saw on an old post that someone claimed that many paint shops will mix up a 2 part clear coat with a catalyzer in an aerosol can for you and that this was a good heavy duty option but every paint store I called had no idea what I was talking about when I said this. Does anyone know anything about this?

Also I have access to a hot air gun. Would heating the rattle can paint job I already did about week after make it harden better. Would doing a clear coat over the original coat and then

When I was a kid, I spray-bombed a BMX frame using Rustoleum and that paint took a really long time (as in several months) to harden. You'll most likely just have to wait it out.

Whatever you do, don't srpay a lacquer clear coat over what you've already done or it will never dry.

BTW - your fork is bent.

leave it be, rustoleum is meant to be a single system, you shouldnt clearcoat if at all, as scrod mentioned for a looooong while. that paint is damned tough though once it fully hardens. best option for you would be to wait a few months, and apply a good auto grade wax and leave it be.

pretty sure he bent it

you can find high temp clearcoat at auto stores that dries a little harder, use 2 very very thin coats, wait twice as long as the can says to dry, put it in a warm, dry, place to dry.

also if your paint right now is a little bumpy, like most spray jobs, use a piece of dry paper towel and lightly wipe everything, it takes down the imperfections a little bit and makes the clear look better. dont get too carried away though, then there will be nothing for the clear to adhere to.

thats really the best you can do w/ a rattle can, expect lots of easy chips. looks good so far!

**** dry paper towel, 1000 grit sandpaper and wetsand.

god, why anyone would use anything other than krylon is beyond me

You can use Duplicolor Engine Enamel Clear Coat, which is what I'm currently using on a bike I'm building up. It goes on easily, you can reapply up to 6 coats an hour (1 every ten minutes) - after that you're likely to need a new can, but at $5-6 bucks its easily worth it.

It's not laquer based, and since it's for engines, headers, and other car parts its very durable and can withstand high heads and lots of abuse. I'd get two cans, give it a lot of spray, and then wipe it down and even the coats out with a 1500-grit wetsand, followed by a 2000-grit. Then polish/buff it to a shine and the clear coat will last forever.

But yeah, your fork is bent, and that sucks.

Also, you probably shouldn't have painted your headset.

or BB for that matter.

oof.

That bike is full of win.

haters...

tape would've been helpful though

the bottom bracket and headset are taped... I wasnt sure I was done spraying so I didnt remove the tape yet. I just threw the stem, bars and seat on it to show my friend what it was gonna look like.

As far as the fork goes I know that it looks like they are coming out from the head tube at a really weird angle, but when I took it off the bike and checked it out I couldnt see any sign that they weren't perfectly proportional to each other, and there was absolutely no sign of a crash on the bike, so I don't know. Worst case I'll get it checked out and just throw a new fork on there

Anyway, any clear coat advice would be super duper helpful.

Refer to posts #2 and #3.

You should have done this research before painting your bike.

^ but then this thread wouldn't exist.....and where's the fun in that?

This is almost as good as the typical "I just bought this, should I have bought something else?" threads.

The answer to that should always be, "Yes".

Bump. I wish I'd read this a week ago.

bust out the lacquer thinner

The fun part about oil painting is that you may have to wait a year or longer before lacquering a piece