Home Tank Painting

[Anonymous]

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience in painting a tank and taillight fender area with an AirCompressor painter. I'm buying an air compresser soon, and I was looking at all of the attachments, and I've always wanted to paint my tank.

If it is possible to paint it well; what sort of prep work do I need to do, just sanding and priming? Do I need to strip all of the paint off first?

My plan is to paint this winter, I have a quote for 300 bucks to paint the tank and rear plastic piece. It's wicked expensive, I could buy the compresser, paint and attachment for less than that.

Thanks in advance

Matt

FYI, It's a '78 GS400

 

[bgmart450]

We painted our 450S this spring just before we got them both on the road. We bought a compressor this past winter and got automotive paint. It was NOT cheap the paint was a Dodge Intense Blue with metallic flake ($110 if I remember right). Well over 300$ in total spent, but after the first use it gets cheaper.

All in all it came out decent, not shop quality, but WAY better than the spraycan job I did on my E.

We stripped the tank to the metal and the plastic bits to the original un painted base. We used a flexible primer on the plastic bits and a metal primer on the tank and fender.

We then hit the parts with 4-5-6 coats of paint. I then I hit the parts with all the clear coat we had. I did that in coats as well, tho no rubbing in between coats. After we waited for 2-3 days we rubbed it with super fine wet sandpaper and waxed the heck out of it.

I am sure there are things during the entire process that would have improved the results, but overall I am pretty happy with the outcome. Plus I think we learned alot. We'll do better next time.

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