what color to paint it?

[80elevenspecial]

i finished sanding the gas tank down to bare metal, and primered it and cant decide what color to paint it. i guess it was orginally red then the guy who had it before me painted it black, i was thinking maybe silver, then black flames over the sliver? any suggestions?

[TopCatGr58]

Have you thought of a name for it yet? Does it seem to have a personality, or a particular trait? Colors have been assigned certain emotional values, like Red for Hot attention getting.
Blue for cool and controlled. Green for earthy and mellow!?

Yellow and Orange for warmth. What fits your mood?! The only person it has to please it YOU!

[chevy45412001]

Warmth?

Orange =warmth? I think it says hay dont shot i'm not a deer.Just my 2cents.lol

[buffalo]

How about this idea... First spray silver, then paint flames with a darker charcoal color, then cover the whole works with a transparant candy blue or red. Depending how heavy you put the color coat on will alter how much the flames stand out.... but it's your bike, do what YOU want.
If you want to follow the crowd, just paint it black like 90 percent of the bikes out there

[80elevenspecial]

Originally posted by buffalo
How about this idea... First spray silver, then paint flames with a darker charcoal color, then cover the whole works with a transparant candy blue or red. Depending how heavy you put the color coat on will alter how much the flames stand out.... but it's your bike, do what YOU want.
If you want to follow the crowd, just paint it black like 90 percent of the bikes out there

i like that idea!!! im going to check into it more see how to go about it and do it

[Bikeboy]

Paint jobs

Hi fellows, I too want to repaint my xs. As you know paint is very expensive these days. Gone are the days of repainting your bike a different color every other year, just cost to much. A good paint job cost around $250-$350 for the paint alone,if not more. If you have someone paint it for you, your looking at $800-$1500 depending on how many colors, what type of paint, how much prep work does your bike need, and who paints it. So before I repaint mine, it sure would be nice to see some other xs's with nice paint jobs to get some ideas from. So I know some of you guys out there have some really good looking xs's you could post, so that all of us who are wanting to repaint could get some ideas. PLEASE

[randy]

Bikeboy,

Duplicolor offers quality automotive paints in a wide array of colors, and clearcoats.

GM Medium Garnet, six coats with four clear laquer coats. Total laid out under $100 including primers, papers, polishing bonnets and compound.

Check it out:

My XS

Randy

[Bikeboy]

Paint not good

Sorry Randy but I used the Duplicolor primer,base coat, & 4 top coats, not gas resistant. Called the manufacture they said there product was not gas resistant, only there Mirage paint was to a certain degree. But even it would not hold up to gas being spilled on it for long, you would have to wipe it off quick.

[randy]

Thanks for the tip. I'll be careful.

Randy

[chevy45412001]

paint prices

I dont know where your getting paint for a motorcyle for 250-350 dollars?I've painted whole cars for that price,1991 blazer and 1978 corvette only costed about 250 for matterials,paint activater clear and reducers.If you add primer masking tape paper etc might be round 325 or so.For a whole car that is. I painted my bike with less than a quart of paint.Includes both fenders ,both side covers ,tank back rest back of licence plate,Know i dont know what type of paint your using but you do not need this four coats of this or five coats of that.On the paint side you just need coverage for your color,on the clear side you can usually get by with three med coats.not dripping wet just shinny coats.when you apply a whole bunch of coats you could be asking for trouble,as the paint could check or crack latter in life. One of the reasons for this is the paint doesn't cure for up to a month sometimes,(the solvents in paint evaporate when it is fully curred)the reason your not supposed to use harsh chemicals or waxes for up to a month affter it is painted,would seal the paint from curring. If your just starting to paint i'd stick with a single stage paint,no clear.Its easier to do and not as expencive.Spray it on to get coverage let it dry throw it on and go,and three coats usually does the trick,four coats if you want to wet sand and buff.If you get the results your looking for from that latter you could put clear on top of the single stage to get that depth look.And same thing applys,usually three coats will do the trick,and thats enough to wet sand and buff. But hey this is just my thoughts,sorry for the long post but i think a lot of places b.s. people thinking that this is hard job just to get your business.and your 800-1200 paint job.

[Bikeboy]

Paint prices

Hi Mike, don't want to sound like I'am a no it all but, I also was a spray painter for a few years. Your profile said you do bodywork, then I'am sure you know that there are many types of paint. You also know that unless you work for a bodyshop or auto dealer,you will pay retail prices for paint and supplies. The type of paint I was referring to was urethane enamels. Not 3 coats of a single stage enamel, which is the cheapest way to go. And your right it don't take that much paint to paint a motorcycle. But when ordering custom colors they usually won't mix up anything smaller than quart's. I like House of Color paints, they have alot of solid's in there paints, so they don't fade as quick. So here's a brake down of cost, using quality paint. 1- qt. expoxy primer $21.99, 1- pt. expoxy catalyst $15.99,1- qt. primer sealer$15.99, 1-qt.base coat (color) urethane enamel $28.91, 1-pt. KU-100 catalyst $30.45, 1- gal. reducer $34.99,1- qt.clear ( top coat) $23.99, this comes to $172.31,not including shipping, add another $26.00, that's using UPS. Now your up to $198.31. All of this is to paint one color. Add another color, add $29.00 more. Add metal flake $35.00. And thats not to mention, sand paper, body filler, masking tape, tack cloths, surface cleaners, retarders, or Candys. So this is how I came up with the figure's of $250.00-$300.00 for paint supplies.

[chevy45412001]

Exactly

That is why i dont use house of color.Way to many products to buy for one color of paint.

[randy]

Hey, Chris, Do you have any photos posted?

Randy

[Bikeboy]

Here ya go Randy

Answer too your question Randy is yes I do have some photo's posted, but not sure where they are. You might do a search, not sure how to find them. So here is one took about two months ago. This paint job was done with Dupli Color rattle can this past winter. Waited about 2 months before I put gas in, spilled a little on the tank, an before I could wipe it off, it started melting the paint. So I will be repainting her this fall. I have all the equipment, aircompresser, spray gun. I just wanted to take the cheap way out, didn't payoff.

[randy]

Chris, the pics didn't show, but maybe you could send me the link.

Strange that you had that problem with Dupli-Color. I've painted two bikes in the past with their products and haven't had that problem. If I had encountered that problem, of course I wouldn't recommend it.

Not to say that I'm a know-it-all, and I've NEVER been a professional painter, but based on the results I've had and the fact that they've been making automotive paints for a long time, it's hard to believe that their product would be so inferior.

Maybe you got a bad batch?

Randy