I bought a 07' gs500f earlier this summer. I've wanted a bike for a while but never trusted myself not to do something stupid. Anyway after much research (THANK YOU GSTWINS) I decided on the GS. Now that the weather is turning bad and the insurance is cancelled till next spring(they were bending me over anyway) I've decided to do some cheap mods to personalize my bike. The first thing I did was the fenderectomy. Damn that thing was ugly. Next on my list is getting rid of the fugly turn signals. I have an LED integrated sequential tail light on order which will allow me do do away with the rear signals. I'm deciding on which gsxr integrated mirrors I want, soon to be purchased via EBAY, unless one of yall have a pair you wouldn't mind parting with. I plan on installing some flushmounts along with the integrated mirrors to keep my visibility high. I plan on getting a progressive front spring sometime. Anyway my question is regarding the paint code. I want to repaint the tail section solid blue to match the stock paint. Do I need to order the paint from a Suzuki dealer, or can I just take the paint code into an auto parts store and pick some up? If so what is the paint code? Also I need to pick up a new front cowl (dropped the bike in loose gravel turning into my driveway and the turn signal on a stick punched a hole in the fairing)
Thanks for all the help and support yall supply riders and potential riders with.
Joe
This sounds like a thread for adidasguy. Oh and welcome to the forums :thumb:
Go to colorrite.com and enter your make & model. Up comes all the paint codes. GStwins WIKI has some paint codes charts but I think it stops at 2006.
Clean the plastic of all waxes and silicone before painting. I've made made mistakes and had to redo some pieces. Get some junk pieces to practice on. Prepping is the most important step (cleaning, sanding, cleaning again and priming). Second comes waiting the proper length of time between coats - which depends on many factors not limited to temperature, humidity and how heavy the coat of paint is.
Practice and study. There are excellent tutorials and FAQ's on how to paint and what can go wrong on colorrite.com and eastwood.com
If you're only going to do the tail and nothing else, buy the paint and have a pro with the spray equipment do it. If you plan on doing more, by all means learn how to do it. It is an art and I've enjoyed learning about paints and suffered the frustrations of incompatible paints or uncured paint that wrinkled and had to be sanded off and redone.
The plastic can be repaired and new detail tapes applied.
Also think of buying an extra tail set off of ebay to paint. Then you can change the color of your bike with the seasons. (I have at least 4 sets of tails for my 1992 500E and change them just to confuse people and to feel like I got a new bike! My 2009 F is staying factory but will get a protective clear coat.)
My front fairing got broken around both turn signals. That breaks whenever the bike falls over. While the offending person backing out of a parking space did pay for a new fairing, I had the broken one repaired as a spare. The cracks were only around the turn signals and where the detail tape was located. The pieces popped back into place and was hardly noticeable. The plastic was welded then new tapes applied. Now I have a perfectly good spare fairing. Check into that, though the top fairing costs only about $130 plus the detail tapings.
Plastex is one of the best plastic repair kits. You can try that then buy the detail tape (if needed) from your dealer.
If you are wanting to learn all about painting, here are suggestions:
book: How to paint your motorcycle
DVD: Eastwood has Curing Paint Problems (very informative!) and others.
Colorrite has a DVD on using their products in the rattle can and touch up pens. Short, but well worth the $6.
Even if you end up with a couple imperfections, doing it yourself builds pride and a personal bond with your bike. While my painting I'd rate an 8 or 9 out of a 10, I love doing it and knowing that I can always do it again. Each time I paint or clear coat something I get better at it. (I ride my bikes so perfect 10 show stopper quality would not last. Ride a few weeks and there will be dirt, scratches and normal wear. That's when you learn to buff things and repair scratches!)
Hope this helps you and didn't babble so much I bored you.
PS: Here is one side of my repaired cowling - now stored as a spare. All it needs now is a little buffing if I had to use it. If you buy a new one, you can either repair the broken one or use it for test painting before you paint the tail. Look in the for sale section here as some people take their fairings off and sell them.
(http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb442/adidasguy/Assorted/Repaired_Cowling.png)