Restoring original paint

[GaleB]

I have a 78 with orig. maroon paint and peeling clearcoat. I like the color and would like to remove the clearcoat without removing the orig. paint. I am hoping there is a way of freshening the somewhat faded orig. paint before clearcoating over all again. I looked back over many pages looking for a previous thread and if I missed it, I appologize if this is a repeat request for information. I am wondering if anyone has previous experience in preserving and protecting the original paint? Thanks, GB

[DGXSER]

only suggestion I can come up with would be to use rubbing compound, alighter grit type. And buff the clear off, and just that hazy top layer of the base paint. Have to be pretty carefull but could be done.

[natemoen]

Yeah thats about the only option. Very very carefully remove the clear with puffing.

[MaximPhil]

Yeah thats about the only option. Very very carefully remove the clear with puffing.

Hey Nate I think puffing will take even longer than buffing
Hi Gale,
The challenge is the "peeling" which has exposed the color paint layer.
I think you will find rubbing compound will take a lot of effort to remove the clear coat. Buffing compound is not designed to remove.
I would start with 1500 or even 2000 grit water paper. By hand on a block.
Then rubbing compound and once the clearcoat is removed Buffing compound to bring the color back.
As you already know it is a high risk operation trying to preserve the underlying paint.
Phil

[crazy steve]

If you have clearcoat that's peeled off exposing the base color coat, your only option is a repaint if you're trying to 'restore' the paint. The reason is the base color has both metallic and pearl elements in it, and if you sand on that it will turn blotchy. You cannot color sand either of those. Sorry..

[GaleB]

Thanks everyone. There seems to conflicting opinions so I think I will try a bit of everything suggested and see if I get a result that I can live with. If I make it worse or nothing seems to work, I can always repaint at some point. Again, thank you all for your help. GB

[xs11lover]

Gale, I'm in the same boat with a tank from a 79 special. It's red and has been setting in a field for 3 or 4 years. The tank is in great shape, believe it or not, but the clear coat is shot and all white and checked on the top. I tried some mother's mag wheel polish on a small spot and it seemed to work a little..........I'd guess it's a little more harsh than buffing compound, and less than sand paper..........either way, I'm thinking it's a crap shoot. I was going to give it a try at some point and if I mess up the paint, I'll strip it and polish the silver tank, clear coat it and call it the Led Zeppelin. Good luck

[fredintoon]

I have a 78 with orig. maroon paint and peeling clearcoat. I like the color and would like to remove the clearcoat without removing the orig. paint. I am hoping there is a way of freshening the somewhat faded orig. paint before clearcoating over all again. - - -

Hi Gale,
there's no way to fix that, no way at all.
The only choices are to repaint it or live with what's there.
As the bike is 33 years old you can tell folks that you are maintaining the bike's patina to keep it's antique value.