Fuel Tank Clear Coat

[mjpxs11sh]

man, did i mess up! i inadvertently removed fuel petcock with gas in the tank on top of an old sweatshirt, and when finished reinstalling them, i found the clear coat on my black/blue paint started peeling. im not a painter, so im not sure if the whole tank needs repainting. its just the cc, paint underneath is ok. doesnt look too bad after i peeled off loose cc, but my bike is mint and now i could just beat myself to oblivion.

[scoot]

Well I'm no expert, so don't listen to me, but...

I'm painting a tank currently, and what I've picked up is that you are not to wet sand or color sand metallic paint as it will become blotchy and uneven. Instead, with the metallics, you shoot on the clear coats, then sand that to get rid of orange peel, develop smooth gloss and such.

If yours is that metallic blue, maybe peel all the loose topcoat, then shoot several coats of new 2k urethane clear over the tank, then sand the tank to remove the ridges.

If that doesn't work ,strip the whole tank, do it all over.

scoot

[cywelchjr]

The problem is if the clear coat peels, that means that it didn't adhere to the color coat. You can get two kinds of bond between coats of paint, a chemical bond, usually achieved when the previous coat is not fully cured and the next coat actually melts slightly into the previous coat. This is often considered superior, but requires that both coats be of the same type of paint, and that the time between coats be very carefully controlled, as either tool early or too late won't get a good bond, the other is a mechanical bond, which is gotten by allowing the previous coat to fully cure and then sanding the coat to provide a rough enough surface for the next coat to grip mechanically, much like the first layer of primer does.

When the clear coat peels, one of two things, either the bond between the layers didn't get made as well is it should have and it was able to come loose OR, sunlight caused the underlying color layer to oxydize and this broke the bond between it and the clear coat, usually caused by not having enough UV protection mixed into the clear coat, which is a balancing act as it affects as I understand it the clarity of the clear coat and how well the color comes through but if it's not enough it can cause it to delaminate later. This can happen with both lacquer and 2 part paints.

[mjpxs11sh]

thanx guys. took it to a painter and he says he'd repaint the whole tank for $250-275. idk what to do. guess im stuck between a spotted tank or spend too much $. for the time being ill just deal with it.

[scoot]

I just remembered seeing a thread here the other day where member OEM4ME was offering to repaint tanks for specials at some excellent price. Might be worth it to get in touch with him.

scoot

[mjpxs11sh]

a recent one? i thought he bugged out cause of some post conflict. hes great and experienced. he always posts to assist everyone. thanx scoot!!!

[cywelchjr]

He's sticking around and he's looking into doing basically OEM paint jobs for at least specials for like cost or thereabouts. The deal sounds almost too good to be true, if it was anywhere else I would be wondering about it.

[mjpxs11sh]

thanx CY. i sent him a pm. waiting to see if he responds.

[fredintoon]

man, did i mess up! i inadvertently removed fuel petcock with gas in the tank on top of an old sweatshirt, and when finished reinstalling them, i found the clear coat on my black/blue paint started peeling. im not a painter, so im not sure if the whole tank needs repainting. its just the cc, paint underneath is ok. doesnt look too bad after i peeled off loose cc, but my bike is mint and now i could just beat myself to oblivion.

Hi Michael,
so long as the paint underneath is still good, try going over it with super fine wet'n'dry paper then fizzing it over with that 2-part clearcoat in a spraycan.
Those cans ain't cheap and once the 2-part is mixed you've only got a half-day at most before it's unusable but it'll cost way less than paying for a repaint.

[mjpxs11sh]

hey Fred. i just dont want to make it worse. its kinda ok with the exception i know its there and its buggin me. its in storage or id post a pic

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Explanation

Hey, I dont try to make money off fellow XS1100 members, I feel it is a brotherhood to me. I have given other members everything from complet nice headlight and turn light OEM parts to help with removing a jammer, to small stuff like new grips and emblems, whatever I had that could help, paid the postage too, to help a brother. I was thinking of trying to help out at some expence to myself, or try to at least brake even. CY is correct, this would just cover my paint and mat cost, nothing for paying my crew and my time to pack and ship. And yess, I did say I would stop posting a while back as I was told many members wanted me to get off the board, and you don't stay where your not welcome, but some great guys and gals got it that my warped sense of humor was ment with good intentions and I got phone calls emails and PM's and even invites in person, asking me to stay on and continue to try to help. I got to say that touched me deaply after feeling rejected and haveing a sincer desire to help other members A walk in customer wanting a 2k 3 stage single color OEM style job for a tank and two side covers at my shop would be $250.00 bucks + and all refinishing dings and fixing small cracks in plastic parts would be extra I am getting the feeling that some think I was trying to help me out, so I dont want to give that kind of impression I put a hold of on this, and keep my post down to a min. as suggested by some, PM me if I can help with anything else, dont know much, but will share all I know if I can help anyone

He's sticking around and he's looking into doing basically OEM paint jobs for at least specials for like cost or thereabouts. The deal sounds almost too good to be true, if it was anywhere else I would be wondering about it.

[tom clisham]

I enjoyed the pix.

What can I say. Glad you're still here.

[cywelchjr]

Hey man, don't be a stranger. You know that even though you and I have sometimes butted heads a little, it's always been misunderstandings that we were able to work through, so stick around, we need you around here. We need all of us around here frankly, including most of the guys doing chops (I make exception ONLY for those who cut up the bike and then give up, not for those who finish the bike and then ride it).

[mjpxs11sh]

Clear Coat Peel Pix

took some pix of the tank

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i379/mjp1031/GEDC0192.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i379/mjp1031/GEDC0191.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i379/mjp1031/GEDC0190.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i379/mjp1031/GEDC0189.jpg