?? re Frank's rattle-can article

[Del]

I?m going to try to paint my 650G following Frank?s article. It will be my first time painting a bike.

As I read through the article, I wondered:

1. The number of cans of paint needed for each level don?t seem to match;
primer = 2 cans for 3 coats;
color = 4 cans for 3 coats;
clearcoat 4 cans for 4 coats ? why the difference?

2. If you sand the parts in a 5-gallon bucket, do you actually hold the part under water while you?re sanding, or just dip the sandpaper in the bucket to keep it clear?

3. My sidecovers don?t seem to be painted; they?re just black plastic (urethane?). What preparation should they have for painting?

4. If I wanted any decals or stickers, they would go over the color, but under the clearcoat, right?

Thanks,
Del

[bgmart450]

Re: ?? re Frank's rattle-can article

I?m going to try to paint my 650G following Frank?s article. It will be my first time painting a bike.

As I read through the article, I wondered:

1. The number of cans of paint needed for each level don?t seem to match;
primer = 2 cans for 3 coats;
color = 4 cans for 3 coats;
clearcoat 4 cans for 4 coats ? why the difference?

2. If you sand the parts in a 5-gallon bucket, do you actually hold the part under water while you?re sanding, or just dip the sandpaper in the bucket to keep it clear?

3. My sidecovers don?t seem to be painted; they?re just black plastic (urethane?). What preparation should they have for painting?

4. If I wanted any decals or stickers, they would go over the color, but under the clearcoat, right?

Thanks,
Del

I did this one so I can help a little.

1) I dunno, I only used one can and my clear coat came out baaaad.

2) both you can sand under water or partially submerged or just over. I did some with a hose trickliing over the part as well. I think the main thing is to keep both the paper and the part wet. I couldn't tell you if its only to keep the paper from clumping bits of sanded material out or if it has anything to do with friction as well.... I just know that all 3 methods I used worked ok seperately on different parts.

3) mine were black too, as well as black underneath. I sanded mine to remove the shiny coating on them. It can be a real pain to keep holding them against the light to see if you got it all... The rear triangle bit behind the seat was black too, but when sanded the black came off revealing a light grey color. At least it was easier to tell when I was done.

4) dunno, didn't use any.

I will say this.... I did this maybe 2.5 years ago and my paint is cracking inplaces, esp on top of the tank. The clearcoat smeared like crazy when I dribbled gas on it after 2 days of curing in the TX summer sun. When I have a place of my own (soon) I'll be stripping down my bike and repainting with our compressor and automotive paint and clearcoat. (like my wife's bike got :P)

[AOD]

When I painted mine with the ColorRite paint www.colorrite.com their directions said to apply the clearcoat 20 minutes or so after the final basecoat was put on and still tacky.

You do this to make sure the clearcoat bonds well with the basecoat. After many clearcoats you're supposed to buff it like no other...and I did, for hours on my fender. It looks great...but it's a lot of work.

If you apply the basecoat, let it try, apply the stickers, then do the clearcoat, your results will be different, but it may work out. I'm just not sure what's going to happen when you buff on the sticker area.

~Adam

[DMPLATT]

I have been looking into this as well. What I've figured out was this:

IF you are painting the clear coat right after the top coat, then YES - you need to apply while the base coat is still tacky.

If you are NOT and you let the base coat dry, then you need to wet sand the base coat so that the TOP coat has a surface to adhere to.

The DECALs are still my dilema. What someone told me was that you could put on 3 or 4 coats of clear. Let it all dry for a week. Then wet sand, put on the decals and then a couple more coats of clear.

[rodcwer]

DAVE I put my decals on the color and then clearcoated that works the best no matter what kind of paint you use 8)

[Del]

Thanks all.

The decals/stickers are not for sure; it was just an idea that tickled through my mind.

Now all I need is to get over to the garage and pull parts.

Del

[Anonymous]

I did my bike over the summer. Best advice I can give is to take it slow and don't impatient. Also, do it when you have the time to devote all of your attention to it. I made sure I followed the directions on the paint cans exactly as written as far as dry times, etc and it came out very good. Only thing I didn't spend enough time on was buffing it out to a nice shine so that could be better. I may fix that this summer. As for gas making the paint run, I coated the parts with heavy duty automotive wax twice a few days apart. I did spill a little gas on the tank, but it did not hurt the paint at all.

[bgmart450]

I did my bike over the summer. Best advice I can give is to take it slow and don't impatient. Also, do it when you have the time to devote all of your attention to it. I made sure I followed the directions on the paint cans exactly as written as far as dry times, etc and it came out very good. Only thing I didn't spend enough time on was buffing it out to a nice shine so that could be better. I may fix that this summer. As for gas making the paint run, I coated the parts with heavy duty automotive wax twice a few days apart. I did spill a little gas on the tank, but it did not hurt the paint at all.

That is what I should have done. I think I rushed a little and didn't wax before I tried to put gas in it the clearcoat globbed up and you can still see it today . Or I didn't wax enough. I waxed the wifes bike for 4-5 coats before I put the parts on the bike let alone putting gas in it.

[AOD]

The DECALs are still my dilema. What someone told me was that you could put on 3 or 4 coats of clear. Let it all dry for a week. Then wet sand, put on the decals and then a couple more coats of clear.

I would go this way if you wanted it to look it's best.

[QuaiChangKane]

Advice? Buy a sh@@@@@@tload of paint.

I just went through ~17 cans of paint, 12 cans of primer, a package each of 180- and 240-grit, and two packages of 600-grit. I bought some 1500- and 2000-grit, but decided it wasn't worth the time.

I'm about 250 bucks and 60+ hours into a rattle-can job - including stripper, tape, wax, polishing compound, masks, rags, bondo, and plastic sheeting. I've still got about 3 hours worth of work left to just clean up my shop...


It's not a job for the weak of heart. I wish I had the time to do all of the work consecutively - it's easy to forget blemishes you were intending to fix in the base coat, only to have to sand them out of the top coat....


Coat and re-coat your primer as many times as you can stand it, and wet-sand the hell out of it. My paint came out great, but the bondo work fails to impress. I'll have to do the tank again, but not any time soon. I decided against clear coating - with the money and time I have into the bike, any more would be rediculous. I might as well have had it professionally sprayed for 500 bucks.

I polished all roughness out of the final coat, and waxed the hell out of it. I'll wax it again this weekend before I take it out, and expect to keep it waxed regularly. But the paint looks great - if not completely professional, then at least far better than it ever did.

As for decals, I was thinking about this myself. The only way I'd be truly satisfied with decals is if they were deep under the clear, resulting in a smooth final surface. That would take a LOT of clear, and a LOT of time. Not worth it for a rattle-can job, IMHO.

Bucket sanding - get yourself two buckets. Fill one half-way with warm, MILDLY soapy water (keeps your hands from greasing up your parts). Cut a full-sheet of 400- or 600-grit wet paper into quarter sheets, and drop 'em all into the bucket of water. Place both buckets on a large sheet of cardboard - sit on one of 'em, and sand your parts in the open, dipping the paper liberally into the bucket of water. If you don't put the cardboard down, you'll have paint or primer drips from the wetsanding everywhere. Reuse the paper until it stops working, basically. I had several sheets that I used on multiple non-consecutive days. Water is a miracle for unclogging sand paper. Rinse the parts completely after you're through under the hose or in a utility sink.

I took all of my plastics down with either 180-(to smooth scrapes and scratches) or 240-grit paper and an electric palm sander (GO EASY, or you can involuntarily re-contour your plastics!). Then I sprayed several coats of primer, and wetsanded any graining or sanding marks out of the primer with 600-grit, followed by a few more coats of primer and more wetsanding. I shot 3 coats of paint over this, and didn't notice any difference if I wetsanded or didn't between paint coats, so I stopped wetsanding between coats. I let all parts cure for at least 3 days, then buffed them out with Turtlewax polishing compound until they were smooth, followed by a liberal coat of Carnuaba wax. The hardest part of the entire paint job was getting the fuel level sender out of the tank. In other words, none of it was difficult, just time intensive.


I had to hit all four AutoZones in town to get enough paint to keep my project going, including a couple of trips back for more paint after they restocked. Pre-order your paint!!!

It was all an experiment to see how well I could spray a bike. I'm very happy with the results, and I now know that I won't be painting another bike myself any time soon!!!


Good luck with yours,

-Q!

[AOD]

Painting plastic was pretty easy, except for the buffing because it flexes easier, but I think I'm going to save the tank bondo and painting for a shop someday.

[Anonymous]

OR....

You may want ot hit your local body shop.... If you can do the prep work and hand in primed and taped bodywork to them and pick a colour they have in there "extras" cabinet (all shops have paint leftovers). You could get an almost bodyshop quality finish (prep imperfections still show) at the cost of what some rattle can jobs end up at, if you make a mistake and need to re-sand and repaint etc... more $$$.

I've done the body shop thing and they charged 175.00 (Honda cb900 all bodywork). I haven't totaled the rattlecan job I started in the summer (GS560g tank still to go) but I'll bet it will still be 100.00 or so when done (at least).

Talking to your local shop is cheap so there is no layout of funds... then decide if they will work WITH you or not.

My 2 cents....

[Jethro]

I have found a shop that will do everything for about $4-500. That's with stripping the old paint and some minor tank body work. It can't be worth doing yourself for that kind of money. This guy said he'd do 3 coats of color and about 7 coats of clear. Decals are no problem, as long as I provide them. I'd freak if I spent countless hours painting a bike only to have it get messed up by some spilled brake fluid or gas.

[Del]

I appreciate all the responses.

My main objective is to be able to say that I did it myself. If I do a lousy job, then I'll take it to the pros.

I removed the plastic bits yesterday - front fender, tail section, and side covers. I'll see how they come out before I tackle the tank, or turn the whole job over to a shop.

Thanks again,
Del

[beby99]

Del...

The thing you have to remember is that spray paint (rattel can) has
NO hardner in it. This is why gas drips will eat into the paint. I have
found that by using a High Temp Clear Coat helps with this problem.
It's suppose to be resistant to oil and gas. Also you should never
mix laquers with enamel. If your using a enamel base then use a
enamel clear coat. Here's a sample of my spray can job.


Good luck
Bret