Touch Up Spray Paint / Paint Options

[pres589]

Paint on a couple smaller portions of tank is screwed from gasoline over-exposure; can I get 1992 Suzuki GS500 "red" in a spray can?  I figure, sand down the bad areas, primer then paint over with red, doing my best to fade in and out of the old to new areas.  Or, if this idea sounds horrible (and I have to admit I'm not totally in love with it) what would you do if you didn't have access to a real shop and a spot to spray your own paint?  The only other thing I can think of here is talk to a Maaco about what I want done, have the tank media blasted, then carry it in and have them wipe it down and spray it. 

[LimaXray]

Touching up just a few areas will look like crap.  If you're gonna do it at all, you might as well paint the whole tank.  Some people have preped and painted the tank themselves with regular rattle can paint with good results. 

Maaco would probably be your best bet; if they'll paint a whole car for under $400, I'm sure they'll paint your tank for dirt cheap.  Maybe not the best paint job in the world, but probably better than any rattle can job.

[pres589]

Yeah, I thought about this, and talked to a guy I know about who he uses for paint projects on his motorcycles; he used to import BMW copies from the USSR and restore them for resale and still has a few left to do.  In any case, he's got a guy in a town about 30 minute's drive from here that does work pretty cheap and can handle paint matching and seems to do good work.  It sounds like I'll have a well painted tank within a week or two for around $100 to $150, will have to discuss this with the painter tomorrow over the phone.

Man, there's a couple previous owners I'd like to speak to after digging into the bike; the one that couldn't seem to re-attach the battery vent tube so I've got some white powder forming in the battery box area.  The one that wanted a red GS500e instead of a purple GS500e and painted the thing with some kind of crap paint and polished 'till it was smooth (orange peal out the ASS on the tail plastic, purple paint on the back sides of lots of stuff, this also explains the odd decal situation on my GS) and especially the previous owner that decided vacuum hose and zip ties were good ways to channel fuel to the carbs.  Doesn't look like the carbs have ever been touched though, so I may have lucked out there. 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

www.colorrite.com

they stock all the OEM colors in spray cans or in regular cans. You'll have to look up the color code though.

[FearedGS500]

its going to cost you more for the paint then the labor most body shops that i know of have to order the paint buy the bucket ( more less enough to do the whole car regardless if they only have to paint a fender )  if that guys is gonna charge you 100-150 take your bike to maaco and see how much they will charge to do the whole bike . its small . not as much work in volved .. they say they will do a car for like 300 here in texas .. but thats for like just base line paint . nothing fancy think maybe a thin layer of clearcoat . look around be for  you  just get it done

[pres589]

Maaco also won't sand anything at their base line pricing; they're spraing paint on existing surface that they wipe down with thinner.  I don't trust that to being with, especially with the not so great paint that's on there now.  I figure the sides look pretty decent now, so match the next biggest part decently (the tank) which needs a bunch of clean up work after I wrinkled it all with gas, and leave the paint alone for a couple years.  Then, either sell the bike, or have the money and time to really do the thing right.  I don't have much of either at the moment.

[pres589]

www.colorrite.com

they stock all the OEM colors in spray cans or in regular cans. You'll have to look up the color code though.

Mine is a non-stock red, it's hard saying what this color came from.  After pulling the plastic and tank today I've discoverd an awful lot of Suzuki's purple metallic hiding behind things; a previous owner has repainted it.  The $100 to $150 job involves optical matching to the tail plastic so everything should come out fairly close to one another.

[pres589]

For those of you playing along at home, the paint turned out to be a Ford color called "Performance Red" and was used in 1993 on the Mustang.  This was discovered through optical matching.  Also, the painter believes that no activator was used in the paint, and there's obviously no clearcoat on the stuff so it's ability to resist fuel contamination was pretty non-existant.  $200 to have the tank media blasted, primered with an etching layer at the metal, the same color coat, and then a clearcoat that's said to withstand dirrect exposure to fuel for hours without staining or other damage.  It's about $50 more than I had figured on but should hold up well, I've see the guy's work and it's good stuff. 

This is exactly why, after I asked about touch up paint, I decided against it.  There's no way I would have ever guessed this stuff was a 1993 Ford color.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Dude. All you had to do was post a pic. My first car was a '93 Mustang LX (2.3L I-4, 103hp at the crank, like 10 a the wheels... slower than even the GS )

I miss that car...

Freakin sweet that your bike is that color though. If I still had the car, I'd get mine painted to match!

[Chuck]

Dude. All you had to do was post a pic. My first car was a '93 Mustang LX (2.3L I-4, 103hp at the crank, like 10 a the wheels... slower than even the GS )

My current car is that car.  I believe it's actually 105hp.  Not a lot for a Mustang, but the handling makes up for it.  Once you eventually get it up to 70mph, you don't have to come back down for the turns.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Dude. All you had to do was post a pic. My first car was a '93 Mustang LX (2.3L I-4, 103hp at the crank, like 10 a the wheels... slower than even the GS )

My current car is that car.  I believe it's actually 105hp.  Not a lot for a Mustang, but the handling makes up for it.  Once you eventually get it up to 70mph, you don't have to come back down for the turns.

Hell yeah! My friends made fun of me, but I LOVED that car. Put a flowmaster on it, it SOUNDED amazing. Looked amazing too. Just didn't accelerate so well.

Pics?

[pres589]

Dude. All you had to do was post a pic.

Here's what the thing looked like the day after I got it home;

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Wow dude, she's beautiful!