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Painting my bike. Info and possibly help?

2K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  Qballcustoms 
#1 ·
Hey folks. I'm painting my tank, rims and seat cowl, among other small stuff. I got a quotation from a body shop and this is what I got:



It's kinda expensive for me. So, I did a little windowshopping and found a small compressor with its gun for $70 bucks. Figured out that should be enough to paint at least the tank, rims and seat cowl.

My question is, how do I do this? I've done spray painting many times with rattle cans, but never using a compressor.

So I have a bunch of questions. Remove the paint first and get to bare metal for the tank and rims? Or remove only the clear coat and some paint? Do I have to use a special primer or something? Thinner? Can you recommend a paint for this project? Etc... Any info will help.

The colors are: Flat black for the tank, Gloss black for the cowl, and flat gold for the rims.

I figure that the brake calipers I can do with a rattle can, and I am debating If I wanna do the rearsets or not. Probably have them powdercoated in the future, but for now, let's leave them alone...

I will appreciate all help received.
 
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#2 ·
Methinks you're in over your head. 0:)

$70 for a compressor and gun has to be a hobbyist's airbrush. I would personally not paint anything larger than the rear master cylinder with that! Or maybe an R/C car body. My point is that the pattern on that thing is [relatively] tiny and your finished product will likely be poo-poo.

Though you're not doing production work, you still need to move a considerable column of air, and you need to move it through an appropriate gun. For personal motorcycle work, you can very easily get away with an LVLP gun and sufficiently sized compressor. But you need more than that. You need moisture filters/oil separators/blah blah blah, plus paint and all the expense and tedium that accompanies it. You're looking at an amount probably approaching what you've been quoted, if not exceeding it. I'm pricing these things out now and have crested $700 just for two guns plus the compressor (which I already have). You could probably get away with spending less, but perhaps my shopping list gives you an idea.

Pay the professionals, or buy the right tools and learn how to do it properly. Please stay away from rattle cans.
 
#3 ·
I see. In that case, the $70 setup will be crap. I already spoke to someone that can get me a decent compressor setup for $50 dollars per day (rented).

Assuming I have a decent compressor + gun setup.. What do I need to pull this off? In terms of paint, primers, sandpaper, tape, or any other doohickey that you can think off ..

Thanks.
 
#7 ·
As for the compressor, the CFM (or SCFM) is more important/harder to achieve than the PSI for the gun. So whatever kind of gun you use, make sure the compressor can supply it with the volume of air it needs. Both compressor and gun will tell you these numbers.

As for the paint? I can't help you there as I'm still in the research phase myself. But you will need all of the things you list above.

There's not much I can add that cheefar6 hasn't already said.
 
#4 ·
i did this once trying to save a buck, and it came out great, but i would never do it again. half of it was the texas heat though, just made it hard to work in a garage and a ghetto paint booth setup, so as to have no moving air.

i ended up coming in right at about 300$ buying expensive paint from House of kolor. i already had a 100 gal compressor and filters, but i bought the higher end HVLP gun from harbor freight (imho the thing works great for how cheap it is)

you will work your ass off sanding the original clear coat off, i dont recommend a polishing wheel cause you will create flats, i did it all by hand.

you def. need to set up a paint booth of some sort or you will be pissed at yourself with how much particulate ends up in your paint job. i just welded up some metal bars i had laying around and lined the whole thing with plastic foil, it was only about 6ft by 6 ft.

prepare some way to hold the parts and be able to get at all angles withough having to maneuver too much or have to touch anything.

the paint is all about how well you prep it, i recommend not rushing. you should find some abs plastic to practice on as it is tricky to get the right fluid motion and speed to prevent runs.
never try to put too much paint at once, just quick back and forth until you cover the area, then go over it multiple times or you will create orange peel and runs.

if you can afford it i would pay someone to do it, if you just want a new paint scheme for the track or are ok with slight imperfections, then id do it myself.

heres a before and after of how mine came out





 
#6 ·
Outstanding job with both bikes!!! Beautiful.

I want to ask you however, since I will be painting the tank, rims and cowl, not the whole bike, how much will I have to spend in paint, primers, clear coat, etc.?

Also what else do you recommend?

Btw that white is gorgeous.. :)
 
#8 ·
thanks man i loved that white 03 r6, looked even better after i powdercoated the rims white. the paint was also a candy white, would glisten in the sun id get compliments all the time. sucked that not a full week from selling it, it was totaled.

with $$$ its really up to you, from my experience the high end paint is definitely noticeable. i really like HOK paint and have used them many times for other projects,, but you could find paint for 200$ a pint if you want.

youll just have to look around and look at how much area they recommend for x amnt of volume. i think for your application a pint should be good.


the biggest recommendation i have is spend a little extra on the clear coat as that is really what will make it POP.
 
#11 · (Edited)
the paint depending on if you want some flakes or anything special... i would say anywhere from 20-50$ /pint would be good quality automotive paint for this application. then you will need reducer, probably another 20-30$ and like i said i tend to get the more expensive clear coats, 50$+ / pint.

ive never painted rims and that may actually require more paint as most of it will go to waste, only a small area of the mist will actually hit the parts, so really a quart is probably your best bet to ensure you dont run out. If you choose this route, make sure you follow the instructions very well when mixing the reducer, temperature/humidity really does play a large role.

id look into plastidipping the rims imho, i was very unhappy with the durability of powdercoat.


you can see why paint shops are so expensive, all the equipment to keept humidity/air circulation/temp, not to mention the heavy taxing for the chemicals used that need to be properly disposed of.

and yes you had it right, i usually do heavy sanding, alcohol clean, light primer, sand 500 grit, primer, sand 500 grit, and final primer, very light sand of imperfections, and then paint, any runs or orange peel you are unhappy with, you need to wait to dry and sand down, then cover the entire area again. then clear coat and your done.

as i said before dont over do your passes, you want LITTLE coverage per pass, just compounded over and over to actually get the right color and thickness of paint.
 
#12 ·
Ok!!! Thank you everyone for your great suggestions. I found out there is a guy charging less, and has similar quality. He showed me some of his work. $95 bucks for each rim (matt gold). Sounds good enough for me, and to avoid a headache.

I guess there are things you just have to leave to the pro's ... :laugh

Thank you guys!
 
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