found some cheap "rim" touch-up paint

[wannab]

well, as you guys know from a previous post, I was thinking of painting my rims to a gold-ish color. just because the PO used an unsheathed chain to secure the bike at night, and scuffed up the rims pretty good. Well, since I figured I was going to strip them and do a total repaint anyway. I figured I would try some touch-up options first (in the name of good science ). I tried some water based metallic acrylic "art" paint first, and it turned out way too glossy. Well to cut to the chase, what I found that worked the best is Rust-oleum metallic, and the color is "Black Night Metallic" It blends pretty good. I got a rattle can of the stuff, and sprayed a pool of paint into the lid, let it set for about 5 minutes to let the thinner evaporate some, and then used some art brushes to apply it in thin coats. the metal flake blends in surprisingly well with the stock paint. I guess if you have some real long gashes in your rim you could tell where the touch-up work was done. but for small nicks and scratches this seems to work pretty good. Good enough that riding season is TOO close to have my bike apart at this time of the year. I might still paint my rims, but it is going to be around November before I do it. that paint worked good enough for me to keep riding instead of having down time. Hope this helps any of you with small scratches and rock nicks in your rim paint.
Mine is an 06 Sprint, Im not sure what other triumphs use that color paint on the rims. Speed3??, Daytona?? Give it a try, you'll only be out about 10 bucks, and that is with brushes. BTW wal-mart has better brushes in the art&craft section than they do in the paint section (and cheaper) Although at 6' 235lbs, bald headed with a goat-tee, I looked a little out of place in the arts and crafts section, and got some strange looks there while shopping LOL

[oldndumb]

Good info, wannab.

Before I changed my rim centers to black, I used finger nail polish for touch ups. Strange looks? Try shopping in the teeny bopper nail polish section.

[wannab]

Originally Posted by oldndumb

Good info, wannab.

Before I changed my rim centers to black, I used finger nail polish for touch ups. Strange looks? Try shopping in the teeny bopper nail polish section.

I did the same thing OnD, trying to find a suitable match for the sunset red. It worked out pretty good though; I had 2 women trying to find the matching color finger nail polish to my pannier lid (that i detached from the pannier and took in the store, as to not look all out gay). now the backside of one of my colored panels has about 6 different shades of red, only to not find a suitable match. I also found out, women will gladly talk about different colors of finger nail polish, and that i dont "know" my colors . I thought pink was pink and orange was orange. but not to them, it is "fuchsia", and "pumpkin". also turns out my sprint is not "sunset red" to them, it is more of a "cinnamon spice" ROTF, I left on that note. I told them I felt my manhood was being questioned and they could find me over in the hunting and fishing department (they laughed) LOL.

[DaveM]

Originally Posted by oldndumb

Good info, wannab.

Before I changed my rim centers to black, I used finger nail polish for touch ups. Strange looks? Try shopping in the teeny bopper nail polish section.

But you told me that's where you always buy your bright red toe nail polish OND!


oops I wasn't supposed to tell was I?

DaveM

[oldndumb]

No you were not supposed to tell........but you did anyway!

Now my one and only secret is out thanks to you.

But I've never worn lime spandex.

[KevyKev]

Wannab--Thanks for the tip! I'm preparing (getting up the nerve actually) to perform the OND polished outer edge to my wheels, but have a couple of nicks to touch up myself. I was wondering what would be a decent/close match----thanks for the 'heads up' on the match you found. BTW, I have Sunset also, and your "ordeal" in the nail section is hilarious

Oh, I got ya beat by 5 inches and 50 lbs (same bald head and goatee), soo I'll stay outta that nail section I guess!

[oldndumb]

Kev, I have painted the centers rattle can black. That does away with the touch up paint problem. I let the paint cure a couple days then polished them with fine compound then finished with this polish and sealer. http://master-formula.com/english.htm

Their website looks hokey and I never would have tried it if that was all I knew about their products but I had seen actual demos at bike shows, so I had a good idea of the product effectiveness. The jury is still out on how effective (duration) the sealer is, but so far, so good (4 months).

[KevyKev]

Thanks for the link OND! I may give that sealer a try since it's working OK for you. I plan on using aircraft stripper to remove the outer portions (like yours), then thought I could buff out the aluminum with a Powerball and Mother's polish. I was thinking (cost may be prohibitive) of checking with a local plating company in regards to electroless nickel plating the exposed aluminum. If I'm correct, I think there may be a slight amber tinge to that process, but with my Sunset red and the gold carriers I have, that may not be too bad!

Back to the touch-up, I remember your wheels looking very sharp. I even thought the looked like a WD40 coating was on the black (must of just been polished up)! I think I may stick with the factory color job for the center portion for the time being though.

Kev

[oldndumb]

If you buy some of that polish, do a google search. There is more than one vendor and prices vary quite a bit. I tried to find my info but I must have deleted it.

PowerBall and Mothers was my first cut.

I never put WD40 on my painted surfaces. I reserve it for the chain and to keep the counter steering sensor freed up.

The stripper will be attracted to areas you do not want it on. Mask 100 percent of the rim. Very tedious, but well worth the effort. Use 1/4" or narrower tape for the separation, then use 1" on the rest. Laying the tape on the interior of the rim can be tricky because, not only is it on the inner circumference, it is on a taper. What all of this means is that you can not lay the tape with the tension you would normally use. The tape tension has to be minimal so that you maintain accuracy, but not tight enough to pull off the rim. Then, burnish the tape so that it has max contact and adhesion.

Whatever gloves you use will fail, so plan on changing them frequently. Stripper contains Methylene chloride. My handy dandy glove chemical resistance chart states that neither latex, nitrile, neoprene or pvc gloves are effective. I used nitrile and changed them frequently. I also discovered that the fumes will penetrate the nitrile glove.

[KevyKev]

HA! Yeah, I was kiddin ya about the WD. I know exactly what you mean about taping. Spent hours yesterday doing what you said, and my upper back/shoulders are killin me from hunching over both rims all day!

Guess I'll have to find something better than the nitrile I got from work. That sucks. I'm part of a hazardous decon team at work (hospital). Maybe I can score a pair of the bulky, plasticky gloves we use there. I don't know what they're made of, but nothing is suppose to get by them (yeah right---there is always something). Absolutely no fine motor skills with them, but the firefighters/EMT's we trained with found out by putting the nitrile gloves OVER this things, dexterity issues are solved!