Painting my gas tank

[Jeffintampa]

Hi everyone, Happy pre fathers day!

Need some guidence please on painting the gas tank.
I sanded mine all down to almost all bare metal, primed it, sanded the primer with 600 primed it again, light sanded it with 1000, painted with Autozones Dupli color gloss black, 3 coats, wet sanded with 1000, 2 more coats, then 2 coats of clear (dupli color clear) wet sanded with 1500 and one more coat of clear. Let dry 1 week, wet sanded with 1500 rubbed out with Meguires mid cut, the Meguires polish, then turtle wax. Looked great!!!!! see my face in it as clear as a bell. first time gas got spilled on it........took the paint off to the primer with runs down the tank.

What did I do wrong? How can I re do it with out the same thing happening again?

Thanks
Jeff

[bikerphil]

You'll have to use a 2 part clear coat, one part won't be fuel resistant. This is what I use, about $30 for both parts.

[ccogswel]

You didn't list what kind of primer you used. But you need to use a good primer. But it sounds like the paint didn't really adhere to the primer all that well. Even with using the Dupli paint and clear it shouldn't had done that. And you may also had some pin holes around the filler neck too. May not have seen them with your eyes but maybe enough of one to allow gas to seep in and work it's way down.

Hate to hear that it happened. Hope the next time comes out better.

Good luck!

[old_chopper]

I used the smae paint (acrylic enamel) to paint mine then had a buddy shoot the good clear over it. It'll hold up fine then.

[SFSPECBIKER79]

paint

just painted this tank yesterday an this is whai used.

[jwhughes3]

looks good

its nice that you went flaky


turned out sweet.

john

[SFSPECBIKER79]

tank

going to do some flames on it next week when im off from work. thanks john

[SFSPECBIKER79]

clear

You'll have to use a 2 part clear coat, one part won't be fuel resistant. This is what I use, about $30 for both parts.

bikerphil, where can i find these products at? i would be interested in the qt. size, cant find anyone who sell this so far. found the straight urethane but not the overall type. thanks

[motoman]

Looks good!..........could of popped out the rubber bumper tank mount prior tho.......

[bikerphil]

bikerphil, where can i find these products at? i would be interested in the qt. size, cant find anyone who sell this so far. found the straight urethane but not the overall type. thanks

I get mine from my local Finishmaster, here's a link....

http://www.finishmaster.com/locations.cfm?state=FL

Yep, the good stuff always says on the cans "Not for sale to the general public".

[Woof]

Glad someone brought this topic up, it's too bad Lacquer products are not readily available it is such a forgiving paint to work with. Even though my tank isn't faded it does have a couple minor dings so sometime this fall I plan to strip, sand and shoot it with automotive quality primer and multi stage automotive paint and clear coat purchased at English Paint.

After all is said and done a quart of primer, pint of paint, pint of clear, hardener, reducer and and paper will probably cost around $200 for me to do it myself. But that leaves me with a lot left over for some other projects I have in mind like clear coating my 03 Acura CL's headlights. Nothing beats real automotive paint products, tough as nails and resistant to lacquer thinner which I prefer to use as a cleaner.

[crazy steve]

Hi everyone, Happy pre fathers day!

Need some guidence please on painting the gas tank.
I sanded mine all down to almost all bare metal, primed it, sanded the primer with 600 primed it again, light sanded it with 1000, painted with Autozones Dupli color gloss black....

As was pointed out, rattle-can paint just won't hold up to gas spills. You can get it to be more durable, but you have to 'bake' the finish; until it's fully dry, you'll have this problem. I did a tank back in the early seventies with metalflake (Cal Custom offered it in a rattle can at the time) and covered that with multiple coats of clear and it was over a year before the clear cured enough to stop 'marring' if I spilled gas on it. But even if you bake it, it still won't be as good as a paint with a hardener in it. I'll add that you don't need to use a base coat/clear coat system if you're only shooting a solid color. There's single-stage urathanes available that are arguably more durable, and certainly easier to touch up. Metallics, or multiple colors are better under a clear coat.

One other suggestion; when sanding your primer, don't go too fine on the sandpaper. The primer has to have a rough enough surface so that the color coat can bond to it. Generally, don't use anything finer than 400 grit when sanding primer. Too fine, and the color coat can chip off much easier...

[cywelchjr]

That's the other point, laquer paint which is what sounds like was used, will rinse off with gas like is was water colors for at least a month or two. As well, my understanding is that if you wish to put a 2 part clear over it, you need to either wait for it to cure fully (at least a couple of weeks) or bake it to get it to that cure point or you are likely to have bonding trouble with the clear over the top. At a year of age, my rattle can duplicolor paint job is finally fairly gas resistant, but when it was only a week old, I had a tipover that cause gas to spill out the cap and have a pretty much bare spot. I need to strip and repaint, but it's a good bit of work and I just don't feel like doing it right now, so I'm waiting for a good deal on a decent tank to do in it's place so I'll have a spare.

[Jeffintampa]

thanks

I know sometimes I think i can do anything or try. If i was to paint it again and bake it how hot and how long?

[cywelchjr]

Remember, even if you bake it, it will only sort of resist gas, and only if it's on the paint for a very short time, and it WILL mar the paint even then. Even over a year later, drips of gas will leave a little mark that is dull instead of shiny where the gas lands, even if it's only there for a couple of seconds. If you want it to be really resistant to gas such that it will stay shiny like the paint on your car, you will NEED to put a coat of 2 part clear on the outside to protect it. The good news is that there is a company that sells 2 part clear in a rattle can that is supposed to work pretty well. The product is available here http://www.spraymax.com/index.php?id=361&L=1 and is supposed to work pretty well. You press a pin on the bottom and shake it up well, and then you have 24 hours to spray before it's a can of solid plastic. I've thought about it, it's cheaper than buying a spray gun since the rest of my paint system I use on my bike is not available for a gun, it's rattle can only.