I got new decals, but then it went wrong, sort of.

[chrissinc]

Ok I bought some new decals which look great but here is the problem. Suzuki in their infenant wisdom decided to clear coat the decals so when I removed them I pulled up a thin layer of clear coat with the decals so that there is a depression and noticable line between where the old clear coat ends and the new decals begin. Opps! the line between the bare paint and the clear coat is fairly noticable. Is there a way to fix this a bit? say sanding down the line between then adding a thin layer of clear coat to blend the two? Is this a crazy idea? I'm going to try and find the factory decals but I fear they are long gone and super expensive. I got a whole kit that looks great for 5 pounds. I'll order another one just like it in case I screw it up. Any suggestions?

I've been also noticing that the clear coat is starting to flake slightly on the line if I clear coat just outside the line will this seal this up a bit. I don't have to have it perfect but something that won't flake would be nice.

[philofab]

paint

If you have any painter friends they should be able to sand the clear off and spray it with a new coat. I took a faded 40 year old chopper tank and sanded the nasty clear off of it and resprayed it. After I sanded and buffed it, it looked new!

[Orbatos]

I am currently figuring how to approach the same issue.

[chrissinc]

Ok this is what I'm doing but its very tedious but works. Basically I'm taking a bit at a time to work on. WHat you do is sand down the edges just enough so that the line disapears or is faded well. What I usually do is soak some 600 grit paper and wet sand the edges GENTLY for a little while. Then I stop and take a terry towel and use McGuire's scratch X and rub the edges to kill the fine scratch marks and clean and whiten the line that seperates the paint and the clear coat. THen I put on some more clear coat on top to get ABOVE the original clear coat then sand it down so it's level with the original clear coat or the two levels are blended enough to not be noticable. It definatly works, but is a bit slow. Also since my bike is white once the old clear coat is off and the new is applied you can see that it's faintly a brighter white than the original 20 year old clear coat so it's not as perfect for what I'd like but you have to be 6 inches away and really looking to tell the difference. I guess I know now what my bike looked like new! :-)


THis does work but the thing is you have to be patient. I also taped up the area of the new decal, just outside the edges for some overlap and sprayed a couple of coats of clearcoat to protect and shine the decal. The problem is the original decal was super thick and then clear coat was sprayed on top of that. Dumb!! They obviously don't do that anymore because if the clear coat gets a little ding in it on the decal it will peel the clear coat off like crazy, but 20 years ago I guess they though it was a good idea at the time.

As it looks now with the new decal a few layers of clearcoat over the decal and somewhat half sanded I'd give it an 8 out of 10 for looks. With it all done and another couple of layers of clear coat on there and sanded smooth it will probably look 9+ out of ten. Obviously with new decals and untouched clear coat it would be 10 out of 10 but the next decal I do I think I will pre-sand the lines down and add clear coat before I put the decal on and that should look even better. The trick is to sand GENTLY a little bit then rub hard with the scratch X so you gradually get it smooth.


Normally I would sand the entire tank down but it has other decals on there in perfect condition and the general condition of the clear coat is excellent all over the tank so it's not really worth it.