I would suggest against using lacquer if you want your job to last more than a few days. Even if you take great care with the prep, I still find the laquer is seriously brittle. I have gone the matte route on the last couple of bikes I have done, used the toughest rattle-can matte I can and given it as many coats as possible. This seems to be a lot more durable. I hate getting a beautiful finish with the auto lacquers and then having it ruined the first few lamp-posts you chain your bike to.
Does anyone know of any really durable clearcoats you can use if you just want a bare metal bike? Lacquer on bare metal is obviously a stupid idea, but it got me to thinking that there must be some more bombproof straight-to-metal varnishes that would do the job, even if they were paint on.
I would suggest against using lacquer if you want your job to last more than a few days. Even if you take great care with the prep, I still find the laquer is seriously brittle. I have gone the matte route on the last couple of bikes I have done, used the toughest rattle-can matte I can and given it as many coats as possible. This seems to be a lot more durable. I hate getting a beautiful finish with the auto lacquers and then having it ruined the first few lamp-posts you chain your bike to.
Does anyone know of any really durable clearcoats you can use if you just want a bare metal bike? Lacquer on bare metal is obviously a stupid idea, but it got me to thinking that there must be some more bombproof straight-to-metal varnishes that would do the job, even if they were paint on.