Hi Tom, I too have started to do a restoration on a 1972 Burgundy Continental! Such a great color and bike. Its rough but has been in the family since new. It's very sentimental to me so I am taking my time on the restoration. Hope you don't mind a few questions.
My preference is to restore the original paint as best as possible. I am very familiar with paint restoration on cars and have all the supplies and tools. However, this paint is not responding to typical polishing compounds and before taking any more aggressive steps, wanted to do some research. The sun damage is so bad that the decals washed off with a gentle automotive soap and boars hair brush. Replacing the decals is not a concern. However, I wish to move forward carefully on restoring the paint and since you resprayed yours I am interested to know how thick was the top coat? Did you have to sand it for a good amount of time with heavy sand paper or did it cut down to primer or metal easily? Specifically, I would like to understand how thick the paint is on these vintage Schwinns? Can they be wet sanded with say 1000 grit to remove the oxidation? Followed by 2000, 3000 and a proper high quality polishing by hand or DA? Like i said, i have used this process many times on automotive paint with fantastic results, just 1st time working on a vintage bike.
If all fails to get it decent, I may consider a respray. I too searched and was unable to find a color match so curious what you ended up with or if you're still looking.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cheers,
Galco
Hi Galco!
First of all, let me say I'm not an expert! This was my first restoration, and I made my share of mistakes. So take what I say with a grain of salt.
My first attempt at restoring the finish was to use a scratch remover. ScrathX by Meguiar's, found at AutoZone. As you found, it was ineffective.
My second attempt was to touchup the scratches and bare areas using primer and color coats with a small paint brush and 1500 grit sandpaper. I was very unhappy with the outcome, so that's when I decided to strip it and repaint.
I removed the original paint using Blue Bear Paint & Urethane Stipper, found in my local True Value hardware stoe. It's a soy-based gel, so it's maybe not as harmful to the environment.
It took several applications to strip all the paint. I used about half of the 32 oz container. I lathered it on as thick as I could without it just sliding off. I found it worked best to leave it on for about two hours, but you can leave it on even longer. I then removed the gel and paint using a brass brush. All in all, it took me a couple of days to get it down to the bare metal. I can't say if that's because the paint was really thick, or the stripper worked poorly. Maybe a combination of both.
I've read here and there that Schwinn paint was applied in several coats. My suspicion is that there is indeed a lot of paint on the bike.
Once stripped. I primed it with a flat gray Rust-Oleum Filler Primer. I thought it came out really well.
For color, I was looking at Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes, specifically,
Marlboro Maroon Metallic. I was afraid it would be quite costly, so when I found the exact same color offer by
Harpy Motors on Amazon Prime, I ordered it. As you can see in the pics, it's not an exact match by Schwinn Burgundy. It looks great, don't get me wrong, but it's not Schwinn Burgundy. I needed three 12oz cans, one for each color coat. I also ordered the Clear Cost with it, but I only needed one can of that.
I'm considering repainting next spring with one of the many metallics offered by
House of Kolor, which I hadn't found when I ordered the Maroon. I like Mayan Magenta, Brandywine, and some others. It's tough to know what the real color is from a picture, though.
I hope this was somewhat helpful! Good luck with your restoration!
Tom
Only thing left to add are the down tube decals!
