Clear coat paint over stickers?

[MX?]

Hi all, this may well be a stupid question.....but, is there a limit as to how big a piece of sticker can/should be painted over.
Being a mug painter, I've painted up the old XL tank/rear guard in Acrylic metallic which will need a clear top coat (Express Clear).
Question is, is there any problems/special prep work needed for painting over stickers (not decals) the ones in question are the normal Honda wing emblems for the tank and a fairly bid Castre sticker (100 x75) on the guard.

[LWC82PE]

always best to do a VERY light mist coat first and let that dry first. with those sort of stickers they should be ok with 2pack. only ever had issues with some transfers from oveseas and it might take a couple of goes  to work out how to do it so the clear doesnt react with the it. i have used the honda wing stickers from MCS on elsinore CR and XL350 tanks and put 2pack clear over top no worries, but like always it depends on the person painting it and the type/brands of paint and the climate/temperature. dont rush it and put it on too thick would be my biggest tip. After doing it several times you know what works an what doesnt. its a paint though when compaies change the formula of a certain clear with out telling you and then you get a reaction with the decal.

[Ji Gantor]

You may find that over time the clear will go yellowish. Most clears are epoxy or have a plastic base and as we know there is no UV proof epoxies nor plastics. The yellowing shows up worst over white or silver.

Ji

[bigk]

The acrylic is your problem, too much solvent to evaporate before it dries and it will fry your stickers. Trust me, I've been there. Two pack enamel is the go for clearing over stickers. Check with your paint shop fisrt to see if they can supply something that will go over the acrylic base coat.
Cheers,
k

[LWC82PE]

i would steer clear of of acrylic top coat anyway. as soon as you spash a bit of fuel from refiling it wont do the acrylic paint any good. 2pack is fuel resistant. ive seen many tanks done with acrylic on top and it doesnt last long and you end up with the petrol damaging the finish.

[MX?]

Thanks for the replies, the Express clear is a 2-pack paint. (4:1 clear & hardener - no thinners) recomended by the paint shop to save the acrylic silver colour from petrol as you say. Was mainly concerned that the clear may affect the stickers, like affecting their adhesion and/or curling them up or some other disaster! I gather you can't clean the stickers either with Prepsol or the like (without also cleaning off the printing of the sticker)
Sounds like the light mist coat first is the go, so here's hoping!
The Honda wing stickers are actually the genuine article from the mid-70's. I've had them sitting in a folder with a heap of other stickers just waiting for the day to use 'em....only taken around 30years to get to it.
Couldn't see myself paying $130 odd bucks for the correct XL250 decals and probably destroying them first time out, so they'll have to do.
Even found an old Maico "M" sticker but I only had the one.

[Ji Gantor]

If the stickers are not on yet, why not spray the clear coat first then place them on after. That way they should be fine. Those that are not already on the bike parts.

[LWC82PE]

i would be very carefull about using old NOS stickers. several time i have been supplied NOS decals to put on tanks and they were just crap and fell to pieces. One of these were NOS SR500 stickers. The clear shouldnt cause them to curl up. yes you should be able to give them a ligth wipe over with de-wax or similar, but if they have been stored in clean eviroment and havent had dirty fingers on them there shouldnt be problem. As i said befpre apply one very light mist coat over decals first and allow that to fully dry for a day or so then hit it with a few decent coats.

[LWC82PE]

refering to your other post
2 pack clear is ok over acrylic, enamel i dont think so. how long did you leave it between the fist coat and the second?

[MX?]

Maybe only 5 minutes. I was mainly concerned with the sticker side of things.   They were looking fine (and still are) so I thought might as well give it another hit. Seconds later I'm thinking "that black looks a bit funny in spots" just before it started "crackling"
Just trying to work out WTF to do at present..........Really don't want to start over with the silver and stickers, so I think perhaps let it dry properly then sand out the black outs, re-mask or design them and repaint in black acrylic, then try again with the clear.

[LWC82PE]

only 5 minutes! theres your problem. i would of left it about a day perhaps i should of told you exactly. you can soemtimes do it in less time if you have had some history of using that exact paint and decal and know when its ok to hit with second coat. to be on the safe side when using an unknown decal and clear combo i can leave it up to a week or more. had many problems with getting Indian Chief tank decals to not react with the clear and went through a couple sets and they were expensive.

[MX?]

Well, that's been a learning curve 
Anyway it probably turned out for the best. I've done away with the blacked out panels and bought some voilet paint instead.....just have to run some black pinstripe around voilet, add a coat of clear and then a satin black top panel and all's well in XL land. 
At least it should look a bit more like an XL now. Though I might have to put the old tank back on for the first coupla races. 
Hate to scratch it.