I need a bit of advise with painting the track bike.
The thing is, Im not to bad at getting a reasonable finish using either rattle cans (acrylic) or my small compressor and cheap hvlp gun (solvent). My problem is always that the finish is really "soft" with no durability. Do you think its a problem with how its applied or a material issue?
all about prep. sand off the crap paint unless its a good base and just sand it with 600 grit. If ya gotta start from the base then use the primer from napa, its the same stuff as i believe 2k primer they have for paint guns. Either way its great primer not the cheap rattle can shit by rustoleum or whatever. Let that cure fully. then sand 600grit. Spray your color, give about 10-15 min between each coat to let it tack up but not dry. spray about 3-4 coats of color, just depends on the wetness of your coats. Now on the last coat of color wait a little longer then spray your clear. 4-5 coats should be fine. There a rattle can of the professional clear out now. has a vile of hardener in it you puncture before spraying. The rule is spray one more coat than you want for clear, then when its dry you buff/polish/wax it. If you let coats dry you have to wet sand before spraying another. And remember to use a cleaning solvent to remove dirt/grease/etc before you spray a coat- unless of course the paint is still wet.
at the body shop i work at we paint sevral race plastics every year, and we always use base/clear by far the best and most durable finish .however if you decide to go single stage make shure to reduce and activate it exactly as the label says usualy 4 to 1 to 1 but not always hope this helps good luck
Location: rm. 187,psych ward,southern maine '07 ZX14R, '95 ZX7
Posts: 11,197
12R sighting ^^^
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dwillits
a beer-drinking, pot smoking, naked bike trashing hillbilly like you has an iPOD Touch ??--cobra
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry Soetoro
"Blah blah my bike is faster than yours around a technical track". Yawn. Well I on my feet can beat your small bike in a race of 100 laps around my couch
all about prep. sand off the crap paint unless its a good base and just sand it with 600 grit. If ya gotta start from the base then use the primer from napa, its the same stuff as i believe 2k primer they have for paint guns. Either way its great primer not the cheap rattle can shit by rustoleum or whatever. Let that cure fully. then sand 600grit. Spray your color, give about 10-15 min between each coat to let it tack up but not dry. spray about 3-4 coats of color, just depends on the wetness of your coats. Now on the last coat of color wait a little longer then spray your clear. 4-5 coats should be fine. There a rattle can of the professional clear out now. has a vile of hardener in it you puncture before spraying. The rule is spray one more coat than you want for clear, then when its dry you buff/polish/wax it. If you let coats dry you have to wet sand before spraying another. And remember to use a cleaning solvent to remove dirt/grease/etc before you spray a coat- unless of course the paint is still wet.
Thats the thing, i go through all the above stages pretty much exactly as you describe above but i always seem to finish up with paintwork thats really soft so it marks at the slightest thing. You can push your finger nail into it and it will mark??????????
Location: Chesapeake, VA '06 ZZR fighter, 05 VTX-1300
Posts: 14,553
Too much paint, not enough cure time. If you can, set up a space heater to help the paint cure faster. Not too close of course. I've had the same issues with paint that hadn't cured all the way. I went to remove fairing mounting screws and they were imbedded in the damn paint. Quite frustrating, but that's what you get when you learn by "trial and error" like me. Good luck.
Too much paint, not enough cure time. If you can, set up a space heater to help the paint cure faster. Not too close of course. I've had the same issues with paint that hadn't cured all the way. I went to remove fairing mounting screws and they were imbedded in the damn paint. Quite frustrating, but that's what you get when you learn by "trial and error" like me. Good luck.
Its the best way to learn, Ive made a few monumental cock-up in the past but always learnt from it.
Painting will indeed punish you for rushing. I've not learned to do "real painting" yet...just rattle can....but light coats have worked better for me. Some paints want the clear done quickly as well, within the re-coat time of the base. Perhaps some amount of fusion/activiation happens in such cases.
painting advise needed
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