So I was looking at the race bike Friday wondering how much work it would be to put the yellow plates on (bought it from an expert) and decided that heck, I might as well paint the whole thing since it didn't match my leath... I mean it had a few scratches. So out comes the heat gun and off go the decals Friday night. Saturday comes and I go to the paint store. With the wallet a few pounds lighter I am now in possession of everything I need to paint a motorcycle and some brief instructions on what to do. Now might be a good time to note that I have never done this before.
So every painted part comes off and gets scuffed with dry 320 sandpaper giving the existing paint a nice dull appearance. The existing plates were painted over the body with off the shelf rattle can paint so I needed to smooth the edges out with a bit of elbow grease. Once complete I had a scuffed fender, tank, upper, lower, and tail. I have a paint booth set up in the garage and a wet floor. Now comes the fun part. Using the spray gun.
Hint #1: Before using a spray gun for the first time, read the directions thoroughly. I skimmed them and totally missed the fact that to get a nice vertical spray you need to adjust the tip and the spray pattern. I primed with a round pattern and it threw too much paint in the wrong spots. I did get the primer on though and by the time it was done I was getting pretty good at this painting thing.
Hint #2: Do not listen to the paint counter person when they tell you to just lightly sand the primer with dry 320. Wet sand it smooth else your base coat will show every unsanded bump in the primer coat. After sanding though I was ready to put on my base coats.
Hint #3: No matter what the name infers, do not use masking tape for your color transition lines. It bleeds like a stuck pig. Instead use a professional auto paint tape.
Hint #4: Do not mask with newspaper. 4 layers of newspaper will bleed through when painting with a spray gun.
Hint #5: Take your time. If you get in a hurry you will screw up and put too much paint down or miss a spot.
Now to fix the bad lines I put edging tape down after the base coat but before the clear coat. I have no idea if this was a good idea or not. I will find out over time. The last piece of advice I can give is to not open the garage door for ventilation after applying a nice clear coat. The vibration will drop dust onto your nice sticky parts.
I am now waiting for the clear coat to harden while watching a taped WSB race. The bike should look nice even with it's flaws and un-sanded clearcoat. If anyone needs a flex agent (you mix it into your clear coat and prevents cracking when flexing) I have a ton of it left and would be happy to share.
See you at RA. I'll be the slow student on the blue and black SV with yellow plates. 8)
hehe.. yea.. there's a few things that could have helped you.
I used the blue paint 'masking' tape, and bought a 1mil plastic tarp to cut up and use as a mask over the bigger areas.
Don't tell me you had the garage closed when you painted/cleared?
Oh yea, pinstriping tape will be fine under the clear coat. That's what I used to pinstripe the border of my number plates.
Do you need sliders? I'll bring some to RA.
Pics! Pics! :D
The garage door was closed but the side door was open for ventalation. This was not a problem yesterday with the wind but today the clear cloat fogged the garage up firecely so I opened up the big door partially to get some more air.
The painting tape would have made a big difference. I am not happy at all with the lines, even with the pinnstriping tape. I had to use a wide one to cover the overlap.
Another thing I found was to be sure there is nothing inside your paint booth you dont want painted. I had my cell phone in there while striping and it has a nice layer of clear coat on it now. :P
Either way it was a learning experinece since I had never done this before. Besides, if I did it too nice I it would just be that much more attactive to the pavement and they would want to kiss that much more. :D
Nate
I'll post a pic when I get it put together. I have sliders right now but if I wear them down this season you will be the first to call.
I'm going to be running around like a confused squirrel at RA but I will find you to say hi.
i also learned to paint in just the last 2 weeks. i went and got everything needed, and some very helpful advise. between a guy at work that used to paint for a living, the paint store guy, and another i know that was actually there when i was painting, it went real good.
my first project where the wheels on my 04 r6(somehow the rear brake line leaked and got on the rear rim), stripping the paint.
it annoyed me too look at, so since i was waiting for bodywork anyway, it was ideal to test on. only got a couple small runs in the clear on the rear rim, so not bad for a starter.
i did the new body work on friday night(i have access to a real spray booth). i was a little scared when i started, i was afraid to run the base like the clear on the rims. i got over that and got everything laid down nice, but i almost made a huge mistake. in the proccess of moving from white for the # plate, to blue base and then to clear, i forgot to remove the masking until i had a nice wet coat of clear on. it suddenly dawn on me and i proptly removed it with no real problems.
all in all, i am quite happy how it turned out, but i will almost feal guilty the first time i throw it down the track.
chad.
Super Dave painting trick number two...
I use masking tape. But I always shoot clear along the tape first. When the clear bleeds under the tape...well, it's clear. I put color down over that. I get nice lines that way without pinstriping.
Trick number one?
LOL, I take my bodywork to Gillette Body & Paint in Waukesha.
Hey MadXX, whats your comp #? Your racing RA right? I'm on a Blue & Black SV also, hoping I'm not tooo slow! Look for me maybe I can help with anything.
A couple other hot tips...
1. Buy 2 el-cheapo bathroom fans from home depot, and a large hunk of flexible vent tube (8 or 10 inch stuff). Rig this to a box and out a window or ceiling vent.
2. Use a canister respirator!!!
3. Avoid clearcoat. The stuff is NASTY on the lungs. This stuff should be sprayed in a professional shop using an oxygen supplied respirator. A canister respirator won't filter out the isocyanates (I believe that's the stuff), and this crap will kill you...
4. Make it look good at 100mph from 50' away... That's all that counts. I mean, I know Jack's cameras are GOOD, but I don't think they'll catch the dimples or paint runs :-)
If the clearcoat was making it REAL 'foggy' inside... you may have been spraying it at too high psi, and getting alot of overspray.
It should be sprayed ~30-35psi.
Quote4. Make it look good at 100mph from 50' away... That's all that counts.
I never realized my standards were so high. I have always painted according to the 80/20 rule. ;D
bah that's because you're slow and let people stand too close!
The PSI for spraying will depend on the gun and the mixing. I use an HVLP, so I'm usually between 4-10PSI. But at ANY pressure, you can easily overspray based on the pattern selected.
Dave. I know Todd Gillette and was going to do that but he has been busy with family lately and didnt want to bother him. That's a good idea with the clear. I will remember that one.
nocents. I dont have a comp # yet. I am doing the licence school on friday and racing saturday. (have a funeral sunday so I cant race that day) Be sure to wave as you pass me on saturday 8)
Jeff, thanks for the tips. I had the respirator but didnt know that it didnt work well for the clear coat. The funny thing is I was fine after spraying the clear but when I caught a whiff of the base coat thinner I got an instant headache.
Quotenocents. I dont have a comp # yet. I am doing the licence school on friday and racing saturday. (have a funeral sunday so I cant race that day) Be sure to wave as you pass me on saturday 8)
Don't sell yourself too short, I may be the one getting passed! (hopefully not tho!) I'll be there on Friday-Sunday.
edumike, I though that was it but couldnt pin it down. I started the pressure at 42 like I had with the base coat but quickly lowered it to 32 and it still fogged. I think it might have been because I had both a hardner and a flex additive in there making the mixture thinner than normal. It does look nice now that its hard.
If I sand it down and buff it it would look really nice but that wont be until after this weekend. I still need to change the oil and coolant out and get everything else ready.
for masking the edges of your # plates and color to color borders, buy a roll of 1/4" fine line tape. that it what it is made for. then overlay that with your masking tape. also, buy a roll of the paper that is made for masking off, it wont leak through onto your paint underneath.
QuoteA couple other hot tips...
You forgot to mention to never, ever, no matter what, DON'T kick your tool box. ;D
Or punch your ramp door with your throttle/brake hand.... :-X
....or use a kerosene heater while painting in a closed garage.....caught myself ALMOST doing this one just in time!! ;D