who's painted their XS?

[Bauer]

After much speculation, I think I have decided to paint my 80 special. One thing that has me hung up though, is applying the paint to the side covers.

Has anybody that has painted their bikes, had any problems with the paint wanting to flake off?


Priced out Dupont Hot Hues paint today, A quart of primer, paint, and clear, and all the necessary fixins would run me 256.94.


Im headin for the PPG dealer after I get over the dupont sticker shock.

[John]

I recently painted my 80SG, and all I did to the side covers, was to sand them with 220 wet or dry, and prime them with some Dupli Color Sandable primer. I primed and wet sanded them a couple of times to get a good coating of primer on them. I then sprayed them with two good coats of Acrylic Enamel. I wetsanded them again with 600 grit, and gave them a couple of coats of clear coat. I did the tank and the front fender the same way. So far so good.

[Bauer]

Thanks, thats kinda what I was figurin I was gonna have to do.

Did you stick with the factory colors. Or go something new all together?

[DiverRay]

Bauer,
I've painted a few bikes. The paint IS a lot of money now. Mid 80's, it cost me about $300 to paint my Seca 650Turbo. That was just the paint!!
I will be repainting both my bikes in the next year. I did the "spray can" on daily ride, the tank and fairing. Gas will remove the paint, so I plan on a color change with good paint, and use the compressor and a good gun. I used 600 for a start, and went out to 1000 for the last three coats of clear. Just wet sand, and do it lightly.
Ray

[Bauer]

PPG Omni paint is very easy on the wallet. Its not as high quality as your duponts and house of kolor paints, but it covers very nicely and holds up well.

Ive restored a tractor, as well as had several experiences with paint on vehicles, but neither brought paint on plastic, so I guess we do learn a new thing every day.

Thanks for the help.


Color possibilities right now are.

Gunmetal with basic silver flames
OR
Brandywine red with metal flake (similar to the 80SG new ruby red)

[jimboreeno]

Hey Bauer,
I am looking at painting right now so your thread is very interesting! My tank is silver/gray with some lovely rust spot accents! Since I am not willing to spend much at this time, I am looking at one of the color changing paint kits from Dupli-Color. Any thoughts or experience?

[prometheus578]

"Paint it black"

Did the spraycan color changin' thing a few years ago. Expect to use at least two kits of the stuff. Came out real nice... till the flaoting dog hair landed by the fuel cap. Hard to "touch up", as then that section has more coats and shifts color a little differently.

[Bauer]

Jimbo....

Never used to Dupli Color. I use PPG Brand Omni Line Paint. You can find it at any PPG dealership. (have a sign or something that says we carry PPG Paint)

We have no PPG dealer in Bismarck as the only one shut down last spring, so I chose my other option here, which was Dupont. As I said above, all I can say is OUCH.

I dont "recommend" Omni, as it doesnt cover "real" well. But it works and is cheap.


One tip, though im sure you know well enough, is get rid of ALL of that rust, its gonna rust itself back out if you dont get it all, even if you have to fill the pitts with bondo, GET RID OF IT ALL LOL

[LoserShoes]

A hint about painting plastic, when the RC Helicopter guys paint their plastic canopies, they do a thing called flashing. Run a flame, like a propane torch, over the plastic quickly before painting. Does something to the surface molecues causeing them to adhere to the paint. I've tried it a couple of times, and you can see a change in the surface as you run the flame across it.

Experiment on something that doesn't matter first of course.

Steve

[skids]

Good grief, be careful not to burn up youself and the garage!!!

Originally posted by LoserShoes
A hint about painting plastic, when the RC Helicopter guys paint their plastic canopies, they do a thing called flashing.

[skids]

One thing that I have experienced in my painting follies...never paint urethanes with hardeners over rattlle can jobs containing LAQUER, if you can help it. Laquers are often used on plastic parts by previous owners, so beware. The big problem is, the paint on the side covers can be harder than the plastic, which makes for some difficult sanding. I think that sealer helps a lot. Also, if you give it a thin first coat of pigmented paint with hardner, you will see where it is going to "checker" or give a wrinkle appearance, then you can sand it and shoot it again. Sometimes fisheyes are a sign of some impurity underneath (oil? silicon?) and reshooting will not prevent the fisheye from reappearing.

[grifff]

i've painted my side covers.. been painted for year now is all. sand sidecovers don't use stripper, primer, and i used basecoat clear coat.. np

[grifff]

I dont know how much money you have to spend, or have access to paint gun. For all the time preping to paint, it would be best to do it right. I had a freind that did base coat clear coat from a rattle can. The base coat was automotive paint from real paint dealer. His clear coat he bought at wallmart. After 1 year the clear coat is cracking and fading a bit... he did use cheap clear though. One thing about a good clear coat it is sandable. You can sand and polish it out to a good sheen.

[chevy45412001]

wet sanding

the main resaon to wet sand is to remove any imperfections and orange peel for that show car look buffing just brings back the shine.and i know many have used spray bombs with "results"you get what you pay for. just remember no matter what you use give yourself enough clear coats to mess with. at least three medium wet coats and allow good flash time between coats.as for cameleion paints watch out for dupont they get up to 300 a pint for that not including base coats or clear!as for spray guns don't overlook kmart walmart etc,they sell a hausfield campall that works rather well and taken care of will last you a lifetime.for roughly 69-75 bucks

[John]

My color, clear, and reducing/hardening products were all PPG Del Star brand. The materials were bought for SWMBO's bike, and I used the left overs. There was only enough for two coats of paint and two coats of clear. I couldn't wet sand all of the orange peel out for fear of sanding through the paint, so I just gave it a light wet sanding between coats, and prior to laying on the clear. It has good shine and the metallic really shines through. here's a couple of shots of it.




Click on the image to get the full size pic.