Prepping for paint...

[Anonymous]

Greetings all,


I'm looking at painting some body panels and tank. My first question is, how the heck do I get these stickers off the tank and panels?! Second, what do I need to do to the old paint on the panels and tank to prep them for painting? Does the paint need to be stripped off completely, or is it possible to just rough them up with sandpaper? If you can do it by just scuffing up the paint, what grit sand papers should I use? I don't have much experience doing a professional job painting, especially on ABS plastic...but have plenty of experience stripping rust and paint and painting over it to keep it from rusting all to hell

Mind you, I'm going to practice on my Yamaha and hone my skills there before I go to the Kat. I've called around, and I think it's rediculous that they want to charge me a thousand bucks to paint a bike! Maaco would do it for $500 but refused to do the tank!?


Thanks for any help you can provide,
Josh

[Anonymous]

Hey Big Bad....look on the homepage...in the garage....tips on painting/repainting....haven't done it yet but seems to be some quality info there...

[HiSPL]

I sanded right through the decals on all my panels. By that time you have roughed up the original finish enough to hold new paint. I also had some small dings in my plastic here and there that needed bondo before painting. After all that sanding I just shot new primer on top of old paint and bondo alike.

[argonsagas]

I used an electric heat gun to remove mine. I was careful with it and waited just until the bubble appeared before scraping. Worked great in some parts, but I also took away some of the plastic in other parts.

It was excellent on the tank, but a heat gun is NOT recommended on side panels.

[Anonymous]

What I did on mine was use an air-operated D/A sander with 80 grit on it. I sanded the tank to bare metal and used metal etching primer. THe side covers I sanded to bare plastic, as mine had a lot of checking in the original paint. You may want to go with a finer grit for the front fender, though, if it is rubber. I just took the decals off of mine at first, then I decided to do the whole thing. When I got done, it looked really rough. I used DuPont's Uro-prime (catalyzed type) and sanded it smooth. The sander marks have not come back yet, so I am confident that they will not in the future.......

I would not use a razorblade to remove the decals, as you usually gouge whatever is underneath, and create more work. I would just plan on sanding it down bare. Besides, it is a bike, and there isn't nearly the work involved as a car, right???

[Anonymous]

Hey Big Bad....look on the homepage...in the garage....tips on painting/repainting....haven't done it yet but seems to be some quality info there...

Very good tips.....I used it as my guide for re-doing mine

[administrator]

Sanding is the safest way to get through the decals on the sidecovers. Any other method would probably damage them. Heatguns are not recommended on plastic.

--- Frank ---

[Anonymous]

Sanding...

Would you suggest only hand sanding, or would a disk or random orbital sander be fine?


Josh

[Anonymous]

would a disk or random orbital sander be fine?

What I did on mine was use an air-operated D/A sander with 80 grit on it.

Another name for a D/A is dual-action, or a random orbital.

Just be careful not to turn the disk up on edge, try to use the flat part of the sander. This will help keep from gouging the plastic....

[Anonymous]

before sanding off those decals, IF you want to reproduce them later for a restoration.
A buddy of mine ownes a sign shop and looked at my stripes and said no problem. I need to razor a small color sample and take a rubbing (use transfer or real thing paper, like the packing stuff or gift wrap stuff for clothes) tape it over the side of the tank and use a pencil edge, pref a thick carpenters pencil, to take accurate sizes and curves etc. along with the color sample, my sign making friend said easy case to reproduce.
Hope this helps, any sign shop will do..
Bob

[metalfab]

Take a lot of photos for reference if you want to restore it to a factory look. Heat can be used, but I would discourage it on plastic. I would use 80 grit and sand by hand to remove stickers. As far as the paint goes you don't have to remove it unless it is cracked or peeling. The object is to feather it and make a smooth surface for the new paint. Old paint is a great base for new paint.

[cowboyup3371]

Holy necothread Batman. This post is almost 20 years old and I’m sure the name anonymous is synonymous with long gone

[metalfab]

Back from the dead.

[oldGSfan]

I sort of like necrothreads. Hmm. Maybe I need therapy. Yes, yes I do need therapy.

[Steve]

It's one thing to revive a "dead" thread with some new insight,
but answering a question that was posted 20 years ago is just a bit strange.

.