I was sick of looking down and seeing a dent in my tank, and I was getting pretty tired of the faded red and white paint, so I decided to paint the whole bike. Since the dent was on the tank it needed to be filled, needless to say, it's my first time doing both. I sanded down the old stripes and logo and prepped the dent to bare metal for the bondo-glass (bondo w/ fiberglass embedded). Here's what I have so far:

After first bondo application (shows how bad the dent was):


Bondo done:


Prepped:


Primered:



I got the curves right, but apparently the bondo wasn't as smooth as it felt or looked.

Do I have any recourse here? The bondo says not to use on top of primer, and I need something thinner. Can I just use some spackle or something since it's getting 3 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear?

Good prep is 90% of a good paint job.  I've never had a problem with bondo sticking to primer.  You can try putting a skim coat of bondo over the holes but your better bet is to knock out the bondo and try again.  It looks like you had air bubbles in the bondo.  That is probably do to your miking technique.  Look at it as trial and error, you get better with practice.  Little pin holes can be filled in with spot putty.  Here's an old thread on the subject:  http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50784.msg574583#msg574583

-Jessie

I agree prep is 90% of a good paint job. Why don't you try to get some clay filler stuff? its a LOT smoother, and you can see it like primer, put the clay mix on. sand it. prime, paint, paint, paint some more, Clear coat, clear coat. inbetween sanding. and letting it dry. I'll do a Tut soon. Also for metal, if your bare metal, use an epoxy or etching paint, Spray paint is what I use because I dont own a gun.

Thanks for the input guys. The bondo is in there pretty good, and apart from the uneven distribution, I'm happy with the shape (took 1 hour of delicate sanding to get right). I found some glazing putty made for small dents and I'm going to try that first as it's less cumbersome then digging out the bondo or sanding it down. The problem with either of those is, the dent left a portion of the tank right below the gas cap a little raised from where the dent creased. It's not noticeable the way I have the bondo in, and the lines drawn, but I don't think I can recreate the lines as accurate as I did. Layering the stuff helps, but is it really just building up and then sanding down to shape, or is there a secret I haven't learned yet?

I sanded the tank back down to the bondo to do some touching up, and picked up some spot filler to make it ultra-fine.








There's something aesthetically pleasing about bondoed gas tanks.

I usually use a spray filler before painting. Put a guide coat on the tank, hit it with the spray filler, which fills up all those nasty holes, give it a final sand to get rid of any high spots and find any low spots. The guide coat under the spray filler will show up as you sand if you have any high spots etc. Then prime and top coat.

Could you throw up a link or the name of the brand? Now that I've got the shaping issues dealt with, I wouldn't mind checking out what you're talking about. I figure one more layer of glaze, a final sand at 400, and I'm ready to primer again.

I assume Shaddow is referring to filler primer.  I have used Dupli Color band before with no problems   

-Jessie

Quote from: Dizzledan on January 05, 2012, 08:52:11 PM
Could you throw up a link or the name of the brand? Now that I've got the shaping issues dealt with, I wouldn't mind checking out what you're talking about. I figure one more layer of glaze, a final sand at 400, and I'm ready to primer again.

You are going to want to get finer than that....
When I did the old GS it was 80 -> 160 -> 400 -> 800... I was using an electrical orbital sander and using a damp rag to clean off the tank between sanding...
I used JB Weld instead of Bondo on my gas tank tho... Wanted something that was gas resistant... Also went down below any rust and the JB Weld is suppose to be a rust preventer and will seal any leaks.
I posted a lot of pictures http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=57206.msg648146#msg648146

When sanding primer I've heard 400 is fine. The paint needs a hold, that 400 gives it a nice tooth.
However color and finish and clear sanding yea finer and finer. Just what I've heard, no experience painting at all ... atleast not good anyway.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on January 06, 2012, 08:07:38 AM
When sanding primer I've heard 400 is fine. The paint needs a hold, that 400 gives it a nice tooth.
However color and finish and clear sanding yea finer and finer. Just what I've heard, no experience painting at all ... atleast not good anyway.
Cool.
Buddha.

Most of the primers are highly permeable materials... You can sand all you want but the paint will still adhear... The primer is your filler layer so it is what you want to be the smoothest and most blemish free...
The "tooth" is how the primer bonds to the underlying material.. Since some of those materials are not permeable at all, the primer relies on a physical adhesion instead of a chemical adhesion. Thats why you don't want the material being painted to be sanded incredibly fine, or why you use an etching primer instead.

P.S. I would do multiple thin layers of primer instead of 1 thick layer... Sand inbetween each application to get a smoother surface for your base layer.

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on January 05, 2012, 09:00:09 PM
I assume Shaddow is referring to filler primer.  I have used Dupli Color band before with no problems   

-Jessie

That is close enough to what I was talking about. You can also use spray putty http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/3M-Spray-Putty-4L.aspx?pid=220346#Description and block it back to be sure.

I'm still working on the tank, and by that, I mean nearly perfect for a rattlecan paintjob. So today I decided to start painting the other parts. The idea was to lay a central black stripe, and then 'brilliant blue' for the rest. I put a metallic blue sparkle on top of everything. You can't tell from the pics, but it's absolutely gorgeous. The sparkles make it like a candycoat in the light, lighter at some angles, darker at others.






Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions. I didn't think that painting would be this hard and time consuming, but I'm definitely glad I did it. I'll drag out the good camera and take some better shots tomorrow.

After everything dries and sets up (month or so). Apply SprayMax 2k Clear. That will really protect everything and make it like glass.

Is that okay to put on over the other clear coat (rustoleum) I put on? It's clear and reflective, but it still has that orange peel effect going on (first coat, haven't sanded yet)..

I've put it over everything - Rustoleum (I use it for metallic clip-ons to match the instrument holder), Colorrite paints, even cleaned tail pieces for added shine and protection.
Being a 2 part urethane, it won't react with what you have there.
If you're putting on a number of clear coats already, you should be OK.
Nice job!

Cool paint scheme   

-Jessie

Painting is done!

Only the rear grab bar and rear fairing center piece have been clear coated completely. I wasn't happy with the $5 rustoleum clear coat spray, so I'm waiting on some Spraymax.

The metallic paint is very cool indeed. The flash from the pictures, makes it look blotchy, but in person, it changes with the contours of the parts.

First coat of clear went on the tank. Here is what I've got. Do I sand before the last clear coat or after? It's spraymax 2k urethane.

fyi: you didnt have to wait for it to fully dry before going onto more coats.
Just 15 mins between clear if you had the time to go over it all.

hopefully that will save u time on the rest of the coats.

I did 4 coats on each part I painted without letting it fully dry. (pretty much everything minus the engine!)
But I did follow the directions I read and let it go for 15 mins at least between coats.

and everything came out Great!
with the same clear.

heres the link I found to be most helpful for me
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=264901

and http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_2_part_2k_aerosol.cfm
Cheapest Spraymax clear coat I found on the web. (if you purchased it online)