Orignal Paint - prevent future rust?

[MCSNEEKER]

Hey - I have a Murray boys bike from the 70s I am restoring. I'm not looking to repaint the bike as I like the old look. The problem is the paint has light rust and is starting to flake at some of the corners. Any suggestions for stopping further deterioration? Can I just do a clear coat over the top? Or are my only two options to leave it OR sand it down and repaint it?

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[LowpowerD]

Hard to tell what to do without seeing pics.
You can hit it with clear. Or you can do what I usually do, rub the whole thing down with car wax and #0000 steal wool. Be gentle with the steal wool and generous with the wax.

 

[dragnusa]

If your trying to keep the old look to it id clean it real good with dawn dish soap and then if theres any flaky rust id chip it off then find something that will soak into the light rust. And yes I clean almost everything in my shop with dawn its a great prep tool

 

[gcrank1]

Ive been pleased with the way 'SOS' blue soap pads work, and they may be not too harsh for your project (they really do a nice job on rusty chrome!). They will probably scrub that surface rust off those spots and get you down to good metal. If you need to go 'deeper' a Dremel with a wire brush will spin them out pretty nicely (wear eye protection, those wires coming off at speed can........ 8) ).

 

[MCSNEEKER]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm getting it clean. I'm going to try to wax for the last touch to avoid putting any clear coat on. Maybe someday I will repaint and then clear coat.

By the way... I used the aluminum in water trick to clean the chrome and it worked great. If you haven't tried it, its definitely worth it for light rust.