Nail polish for scratches
on December 30th, 2006
Last time I took my bike in for maintenance, the tech recommended that I cover up the many scratches on my bike with nail polish. I thought “nail polish?”, but once I got home I thought about it and it made sense that it would work. The nail polish gives the scratches a protective coating, prevents the paint from peeling, and prevents further erosion of the frame.
Above: Today, I got a chance to clean off the bike and coat the scratches.
However, I guess that not everyone thinks that using nail polish is the best solution. Here’s what this guy had to say:
Nail polish? Let’s get this right… rail riding the roofbars of moving SUVs, before trecking miles through the frozen Arctic wastes… then they go home and use their nail files to remove the rust, nail varnish to treat the scratches, and lipstick to cover unsightly marks on their seat covers? You guys are sooooo macho.
(That was sarcastic, if you couldn’t tell.) I read a few online message board discussions that dealt with this topic, and people presented several different solutions. Still, I think that using nail polish is one of the best (and easiest, and cheapest) fixes. I used clear top-coat nail polish, but I guess if you had colored nail polish you could use that instead. It would make the scratches less noticeable (you can still see the scratches on my bike, even though they are coated).
2 responses to “Nail polish for scratches”. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Steve Barner
Posted on February 17th, 2007
The reasons why many mechanics recommend nal polish for scratches include low cost, easy availability, great selection of colors (especially in red, less so in green!), very quick drying, hard finish. Moisture tends to use paint chips to sneak under the remaining paint and cause corrosion. The paint then holds the moisture in, allowing a miniature electrochemical reation to happily eat away at the frame. This can cause not only failure of the paint around the chip, but small stress risers that can eventually lead to a crack and frame failure. Though this is especially a problem with steel frames, aluminum is also susceptible. If you are really careful with a small brush, you can dab the paint in the chip without extending to the outside, as you did in the photo.
Real men don’t worry that using nail polish will reduce their studliness. Besides, as soon as you uncork the bottle, you’ll realize why chicks use the stuff. Ever notice how they wave their nails in front of their faces to dry it? It’s all about the fumes, baby!
Nick
Posted on February 17th, 2007
Thanks for your explanation. I appreciate the feedback.
I’m not worried about using nail polish… it works well as long as you don’t smear it.
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