Fresh paint

[Dakota Kid]

I need to paint my tank and side covers before spring. Can I get a decent finish myself with shaker cans and patience, or should I fork over the $400 I've been quoted by a local body shop? I believe the body shop would go down to bare metal, then prime + base + 3x urethane clear coat.

In either case, should I expect to replace the petcock gaskets while I have the tank off?

[donebysunday]

I need to paint my tank and side covers before spring. Can I get a decent finish myself with shaker cans and patience, or should I fork over the $400 I've been quoted by a local body shop? I believe the body shop would go down to bare metal, then prime + base + 3x urethane clear coat.

In either case, should I expect to replace the petcock gaskets while I have the tank off?

Your bike is how old ? Order the parts for the petcocks so you have a rebuild kit for your SG, sealing to tank O-ring and the 5 hole washer for the selector. Silicone grease that 5 hole washer and look here for the petcock rebuild post.
Will it be a rider or a museum piece ?
Have you the $ to do a custom restoration.
I've had custom paint on a number of bikes, looks great, always seems to get scratched or damaged in some way. So if I plan on keeping it I rattle can it, can turn out pretty nice taking care and much work.

[IanDMacDonald]

As this has been discussed in MANY threads, the short answer is "YES". I've done at-home shaker can jobs, along with HVLP gun-spraying, and they both came-out looking great. WORDS OF CAUTION: PREP IS EVERYTHING!!! There are sites all on the web regarding "doing it right". Question is whether you have the patience. Some sites say to wait weeks in-between coats!!! What I did was strip it down to bare metal with aircraft stripper, wore gloves and cleaned it with denatured alcohol, "ghosted" a self-etching primer, re-shot the primer for a few more coats, let that cure for a day. Came-back and wet-sanded it through all the numbers. Cleaned again with alcohol. "Ghosted" the color, came-back 20 minutes and shot the color three more separate times. Waited a day and wet-sanded it through the larger numbers, making sure not to go through the color. Wiped with alcohol again and shot three layers of SPRAYMAX 2K URETHANE (BEST STUFF EVER, USE NOTHING ELSE!). Let that cure for a week and use your 2000, 2500 paper on that. Rubbing compound, polishing compound, and ur done!

If you use another clear coat other than what I mentioned, go ahead and find Greg's thread on what happens when gas got under the fuel neck.

Many more will chip in, other's will refer you to some great sites I've used as a road map. Good-luck, and remember we love pics!

[natemoen]

Rattle can works. As Ian said your prep work is want makes the difference in it working or not. If you don't have the time or the patience to do the prep work and then do the painting and the sanding and paint and sand and paint and sand repeating that over and over then fork over the cash and have someone else do it.

[jetmechmarty]

$400 should get you a job that people will notice. It should be the best products and slick as a baby's bottom. It's not likely that you'll get those results doing it yourself. That is, if you actually get what you're paying for.

I stopped at a body shop this past Thursday and got an estimate, just for the heck of it. I was told $300 for black with red flake as original, using the latest PPG products.

I had an XS650 tank and sidecovers painted recently. They are done in black with purple flake using the latest and greatest from PPG. A friend of mine sells the stuff. I think I paid $100 or $150 and he did all of the work for free. I know, right?! He laid it down well and it looks good. It won't win any awards because it wasn't color sanded to a mirror. It looks good enough to make me happy.

I had my XS650 painted by a pro in 1985 after I crashed it. I think they used acrylic enamel, but I can't be sure. It could use a respray, but it looks pretty decent even now.

Good paint is expensive and professional labor should be worth the expense. That being said, I have seen some very nice rattle can jobs. Just don't expect to get the same durability out of it that you would from a professional job.

[crazy steve]

The big difference between a rattlecan job and 'pro' paint is generally durability; 'real' paint will last longer. Now as with everything, there are exceptions. I've done rattlecan and been very happy with the results. The real key is the right prep work and using quality paint. But all else being equal, a gun-applied paint job will hold up better over the long run. If you have the spray gun/compressor and know how to use it, the cost difference is minimal.

[Jeffintampa]

rattle cans

I painted mine that way and it seems like every time I get a drop or two on the tank and once had an some get on the tank. The cans clear did not hold up to gas. I took my tank off sanded it and primed it. Took it to a paint shop and they charged me 75.00 to paint it

[tcoop]

With the proper prep a rattle can job will come out great. I have done a tank with automotive paint

and rattle can (the overspray has been cleaned off )

using the SPRAYMAX 2K URETHANE. The spraymax creates a nice hard shell that seams as good as the more expensive paints.

Both were stripped down to the metal three coats of primer four coats of color and three coats of clear. Both came out looking great (IMHO), the big difference is the cost. Even doing the work my self the first one was a little over $200 where the second one was around $50.

[vanimal5k]

Rustoleum

I painted my tank and sidecovers last spring using Rustoleum Apple Red. It cost under $9 for a quart and around $5 for a quart of mineral spirits. I think it came out just fine.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=448630698619788&set=a.171184923031035.1073741825.100004185847619&type=1&theater

[donebysunday]

vanimal5k Came out great ! How's it holding up ?
That's how I did my HD back in 1967 .

[vanimal5k]

Holding Up

So far so good. I painted it this spring, so only one season. Plan on using it on my 81 this spring.

[mrhammer2u]

I need to paint my tank and side covers before spring. Can I get a decent finish myself with shaker cans and patience, or should I fork over the $400 I've been quoted by a local body shop? I believe the body shop would go down to bare metal, then prime + base + 3x urethane clear coat.

In either case, should I expect to replace the petcock gaskets while I have the tank off?

TRUST ME,.....fork over the $400.

I tried to shaker can. Had to repaint literally 3x. And yes I followed directions. It never came out right. I probably spend $200 in materials (sand paper, primers, paints, clears, bondo, etc).

In the end I paid $750 for a body shop to do mine. I added some graphics which is why $750.

Plus the paints and clears they use are so much more durable.

[IanDMacDonald]

TRUST ME,.....fork over the $400.

I tried to shaker can. Had to repaint literally 3x. And yes I followed directions. It never came out right. I probably spend $200 in materials (sand paper, primers, paints, clears, bondo, etc).

In the end I paid $750 for a body shop to do mine. I added some graphics which is why $750.

Plus the paints and clears they use are so much more durable.

With all due respect Hammer, maybe you followed the wrong directions, because I have done a few bikes with aerosol cans, and they still look great years later.

[DiverRay]

I agree, If you can put the proper clear coat on after the rattle can, it will hold up. I'm going to be trying some 2K clear from Eastwood, as it's the only thing left I can still get shipped to Can'tAffordYa. The CARB (Cal Air Res. Board) will not let ANY good paint in now. If I want to have someone paint something for me, I need to have it done out of state so it will last...

[mrhammer2u]

Ian,...I get it. But if it's your first time it's a B with an itch. Now that I've done it many times, I could probably get it right. The OP is saying he can get a professional paint job for $400. He will spend half that and 3x the time if he tries to do it himself and that's "if" he gets it right the 1st time. That's my $.02