Painting Question

[Prafeston]

I need any advice I can get on a nice looking poor man's paint job. I was thinking about just finding a color I like in Duplicolor Spray Paints. What's the procedure like though. Sanding and such...clear coat? What about painting the frame and engine...what paints should I use? I know alot of you guys have repainted your bikes, would just like to hear about some of the ways in which you all have done it and what kind of a dent it put in your wallet?

[Kasumi]

Well i've never done a poor mans paint job except on exhausts which isn't really poor mans its just the only way. But the expensive bit of painting a bike is finding someone with the skill (so labor costs) and the cost of the equipment. If your buying paint and mixing it yourself and spraying it yourself its actually cheaper than going out and buying enough rattle cans to do the job. However as you have explained you don't have these resources so your going for a rattle can job.

1.) Remove all the parts to be painted, use fine wet and dry sand paper (ask your store clerk for help choosing the best paper, i do it by touch so don't know what grit im using etc.. just very very fine basically) You can find painting specific sand papers in the paint section at the store, Using it dry, sand back all the clear coat, getting the stickers off and roughing up the original paint.

2.) Switch to using the fine wet & dry WET, sand all areas until it feels baby soft smooooooth to the touch.

3.) Clean the are, wipe all the excess water off and fine sanded particals. Then use a clean rag, not one which is going to leave dust all over your new surface and wipe the whole surface down with cellulose thinners (also found in paint section with any luck!). This will dry itself off so long as you don't go dousing the thing! Next is primer time.

4.) On to the primer, you want to make sure you follow instructions on the can, the primer is well shook up etc. etc... This is the bit you need to get an eye for, you want to be close enough to the painted areas to be putting the primer on, but you don't want to be too close or you will be getting runs which involve sanding back again. Your looking to do smooth strokes left to right stopping the can at each end (not grafiti style with constant spraying or you will block the nozel with running paint and get flicks, your aiming for a sort of swish and off, swish and off). So apply your first coat, your aiming for lots of THIN coats not one thick one or it will look sheite. So put your first thin coat on. Let it "flash off" just dry to the touch, then apply another thin coat, when you have an even finish you want to leave it 24 hours to set.

5.) 24 hours later and back to some more prep. Prep is the absolute key to a good paint job. You want to be wet sanding the primer till again it feels baby soft and smooth again. As before wipe the whole surface with cellulose thinners to make sure its clean for painting. Now onto the painting its just the same as priming except your using colour. Follow the instructions on the can, hopefully you will have practice from the priming and back to the swish and off motion doing lots of thin coats and letting it flash off between coats. If you don't let the paint flash off your not putting layers on your just building up one big blob which will run and you don't want that. Layers! Don't worry if you make a mistake you can sand it back out again just do your best. Basically the more times you sand the better its going to be. Ok so you've got your paint on there, its looking lovely, leave it to dry for 24 hours then check it out for imperfections, if your not happy rough the surface up with some wet (wet and dry) again and paint again. So its now drying.

6.) 24 hours drying time passed, Paint is looking good. If you used matt paint then your done, just apply your stickers and go, Im not sure if you can get matt clear coat but i doubt it as its there to put a shine so i think you just put stickers on the matt (ive never done a matt job before. So you used metalic im sure you are going to anyway. Now you need to sand this back, very very very fine wet wet and dry your just wanting to make sure its smooth, a quick going over. Clean down with thinners again, NOW APPLY ANY STICKERS, make sure when you have put your stickers on you don't leave glue smeared around, if you have wipe off with thinners. Now apply 2 coats of laquar (clear coat) - MAKE SURE ITS petrol resistant! Nothing worse than clear coating something and it turning yellow when you spill abit of petrol on it (personal experience) So applying 1 coat then leave it to flash off (flash time for most stuff is 15 minutes but it should be ok to touch without coming off on your fingers) then apply a second coat. 24 hours to dry, then feel free to polish it.

7.) Should look lovely now! Nice and shiney and metalic! The key to a good paint job is preparation, lots of sanding, making sure its smooth and surface is clean, and just practice really. If you go wrong sand back and do it again, imperfections made at the beginning will show at the end if you don't take your time and do it right.


If i think of anything else il add it! Hope i have helped, i can't sadly help with what paint to choose as i never do spray can jobs, we just buy cellulose paints from the paint store direct and mix them ourselves. So go to your motor store and ask them for advice over which paint to choose!

[ben2go]

Here you go.This may help.I know it's being done on a car but it can work on a motorcycle also.

http://www.rickwrench.com/paintframeloader.html

[Prafeston]

I saw this post a couple weeks ago. Thanks for the link though.

[Absolute Rescue]

I just did that $50 job on a '90 foxbody mustang. I must say it came out better than I expected. I probably could have taken more time than I did but overall I am very happy with it.

[Prafeston]

Did it seriously only cost 50 bucks. Cause it would probably be cheaper for a bike. Less to paint. That's all roll on paint though. Think I could do the same procedure with rattlecan? I might rustoleum the frame and duplicolor the rest.

[Absolute Rescue]

Mine came to $62 I bought a gallon of paint a few foam brushes, a pan, a roller and 4 replacement rollers, and a gallon of thinner. Don't think there is any way to do the same procedure with a rattle can. The idea is that by cutting the paint with 50% thinner is that it will "level" not leave high and low spots. There really is no way to do that with a rattle can. I would just rattle can the frame probably be a lot easier. Might be worth giving the roller method a shot on the plastics and tank though. I only ended up using a half gallon of paint to do the Mustang (4 complete coats). I'm almost positive you could do a GS with a quart, and be a lot cheaper than the $62 that I spent. Its a pretty easy process you just need to be patient. Believe me I'm not the most patient person in the world but i was able to make it turn out pretty well although I'm sure I could have done more sanding.

[GeeP]

Kasumi's writeup pretty well covers it.  I'll only add the following:

The cellulose thinner he's talking about is likely Acetone.  Use acetone to clean off the bare metal surface prior to painting, but do not use it between coats.  It will eat the paint.  Go to a NAPA store and ask them what you use between coats, there are some special solvents available for this but I don't remember what they're called.

For wet sanding, 800, 1200, and 1500 grit are what you want.  Available at NAPA or Autozone

NAPA's Martin Senour line of rattle can paints is actually quite good and actually sprays and flows like automotive paint.  I've used them on some small bike projects when I couldn't be bothered to dirty up a spray gun.  Unfortunately, none of them are fuel-proof to my knowledge.  This isn't the end of the world.  I painted my bike with a single-stage paint because I was in a hurry.  It isn't fuel-proof and has blistered around the petcock under the tank.  I'm careful to avoid dripping gas on the finish and I've had no problems so far.

If your tank has any kind of paint damage, it would probably be best to strip it first.  If you only have a few tiny chips, a little bondo sanded out will fill the problem areas.  Be sure to scuff the whole tank until dull with 800 before priming.

Try to paint in a dust-free area that you can keep around 72-75F.  Go to wal mart and buy a bunch of plastic tarps to tarp off an area in your garage as a "spray booth".  This will help keep the dust down.

Wear a respirator with the proper cartridges!

Ventilate your workspace well and make sure your heater won't blow you up.   

[Kasumi]

Sorry GeeP is correct, you need to use the right thinners for the paint your using, I use cellulose thinners because we paint using the new cellulose paints (HIGHLY poisonous so you definatly need to be wearing a respirator with correct cartridges)

Ahhh the good ol' days where if you painted without a mask you just got high and usually fell unconscious without good ventilation. Now if you don't wear your mask you die 

[Prafeston]

Yeah, I'm worried I won't be able to paint over winter. I'm hoping to get a few days over break that get close to 50F and I'll crank the heat in the garage. If not I may have to put the paint job on hold til I get some warmer weather.

[Kasumi]

Just get a cheap electric heater that you put in a cold room, put it in the corner of your make shift paint booth and crank it on full.

[jordanearl]

you can easily paint a bike for $20, an thats with duplicolr paint.  2 cans of whatever color is more then enough, plus sandpaper

[Jace009gs]

If your painting the frame you need about 1/2 a quart of base/top and 1/2 quart of primer. Plastics/tank 3/4 a quart.


I personaly would say go get a ($45) HVLP gun because you can change nozles (if you have an air compressor). Your finger will get very worn out with the rattle cans, and their spray fan is only about 1-1.5" wide...on the plastics and tank if you medium to no skills you will get a line effect in which ever direction you are painting. HVLP lays down a 6-9" fan and your finger isn't tired and you get even coverage

On paint, use oil base and get the recommended thiner and spend the $15 on the little 6oz of hardner. That will be the difference in 10 years if your paint peals off or flakes or chips.  Put down etching primer (best defense against rust) and 2-3 thin coats of paint and vola. Yea get a quality respirator either way, them rattle cans have some toxic stuff in them, and with an HVLP, well DUH.

I used dupont on some car projects...but its not cost effective on a motorcycle. ($120/gallon)
You can see my post on my FZR600 project that rust-oleum worked very very well. and they sell flat black, glossy black and red, yellow, blue. For basic one color no effect jobbies it can't be beat. $45 for a gun, $8 a quart (x3)= two bikes painted

O one other thing I'd pay to have someone sand blast the frame. Stripping and sanding just takes to long, and to much effort, and to much mess. So after you get a good clean surface then brush/roll on a heavy coat of primer then do your shape sanding then a spray coat of primer, then your colors, then clear if you need it (depends on paint). Also leave the bolts in all the holes when you go to paint, makes assembly alot easier....

I went one step further than tarps, I got some 2x4's and built a 7' tall frame with 3 walles and stapled the drop plastic to the outter edges. I didn't get overspray on anything in the garage. The hardest part was getting a stand or jig made to hold the frame so I could run the passes by at different angles and all...then a drying rack.......Don't rush it wait till a couple of warm spring days come by to lay down your color coats, get it sanded and primed and ready for the spring over the winter.

sorry to write a book

[Prafeston]

No thanks alot for the advice. I'm keeping everyones thoughts in mind and will eventually come up with my own and of course I'll document the whole process so everyone can either see my amazingness or learn from my mistakes...haha.

By the way I'm an Art student and I've worked with spray paint before so I'll probably say no to the spray gun. I don't want to drop more money. I did see an attachment at wal-mart that goes on the rattlecan that makes it more of a motion of a windex bottle rather than having to push down with the index or thumb.

[Prafeston]

How much would it cost to have the frame sand blasted do you think?

[ben2go]

Just the frame $75 to $150.Depends on what media they use and weather they seal the frame.