Spray paint. Does it last?

[scootertrash]

I stripped/primed/sanded/painted it. I had to do alot of maintenace on this thing as well.  My brother is a painter and I am attending college to be a painter as well.  I used good automotive paint and a sata jet digital paint gun.  Clear coated as well obviously. 

[adidasguy]

Eastwood's 2K Clear is one of them that's fuel proof. I use that, too.

There are some clear coats that are fuel-proof. Check Eastwood, Dupli-color or Colorrite for fuel proof clear coats and paints. Sufficient curing time makes a difference (can be a month or more for full hardening). Polishing and waxing can help to protect even the cheap paints.
Junior's seat/tail, headlight fairing and front fender were all rattle can: primer, undercoat, 4 coats of translucent color (to get the right color depth) then clear coated with 2k.

Everything under the sun has been spray painted for over a century. Only reason it won't last is if it is applied wrong or the wrong type of pant is used.
What choices do you have? Brushing on paint? You can't powdercoat plastics. You can't powercoat on detail lines and graphics.

A better question than "does it last" should be "what's the right way to do it on ___________".

Prep is most important. Time between coats and wiping with a tack cloth between coats also very important.

[skirecs]

ill be matte black painting my tank with rattle cans sometime this week

well see how it goes

[adidasguy]

Spend the time and extra money to get the good paints from one of the places mentioned before. You can get fuel proof paint and black is easy to get because it is used for engine parts and all over car parts. Don't buy the first matt black you see on the shelf at Home Depot - it will run off with the slightest drop of gas.
Eastwood has fuel proof black. Duplicolor has some too. You can get fuel proof clear coats, too.

[bombjack]

Funny that this thread got active again now 6 months after I asked the question. 

Anyway, I finished painting the bike one month ago. I chose rattle cans because I had a lot of experience with that, and knew how to get a good result.
I don't have any pictures, but I'm very pleased with the result, and I hope it lasts. The top layer is fuel proof clear coat.

It's not very hard to do a proper paint job, all it take is preperation and patience.