Painting my tank

Xtina

Xtina

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I'm short on cash and want to repair/paint my tank myself. It has a dent so it needs bondo and some good sanding. Does anyone know what kind of paint I should use? Preferably from a place that can colour match paint?

Thanks
X
 
If you don't have experience painting and doing the work yourself, you're not going to save much money since you'll need a professional to fix the repair after you attempt it.

Y
 
Ah crap, what happened to your sexy bike? To bad Gilligan is moving he would prob do it.
 
Xtina said:
I'm short on cash and want to repair/paint my tank myself. It has a dent so it needs bondo and some good sanding. Does anyone know what kind of paint I should use? Preferably from a place that can colour match paint?

Thanks
X
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Hi Xtina! If you take your time and do it right no one but yourself will be able to tell! I did my front nose cowl and no one can tell unless i show them! Buy the ColorRite paint from the Canadian supplier http://www.dpars.com/colorrite.aspx perfect color match to your bike!
 
Doing stuff yourself isn't really that bad. If this is your first attempt, try to pick up an old piece from a cycle salvage or dealer, don't spend a lot, get a broken piece of plastic. Then you can sand down, use filler, sand, prime and paint and see what works before you attempt your bike. Just make sure you spend the money and get decent paint, CT stuff is terrible. My buddy used the NAPA spray bombs that they custom fill on his truck after replacing the rocker panels and cab corners and the paint sprayed quite nice for a spray bomb. The ones that shane'srr posted the link for look pretty good too.
 
Oh noes! You just put on a new fairing kit, didn't ya :(?

Hope it's not too bad a ding. Sheeh...that sucks!
 
If you are trying to match a proper base/clear paint job you will NEVER do it with a spraycan. We just did some 2012 stuff for Honda and even with the paint codes Dupont didnt have the paint. They colour matched a piece of stock fairing and it still wasnt exact. Closer but not exact. When it comes to paint didfferent people have different opinions of what is good and what is acceptable, you are the only person to know where you stand. Most painters look at stock paintjobs as garbage.
If I get paint work that has been rattle canned I charge extra as it needs to be stripped and epoxy primed before you can shoot base over it, sometimes saving 50 cents costs you a dollar. If you have a dent in the tank some can be quite a PIA depending if it is on an angle (usual unless something was dropped on it). Also if its a deep enough dent dont try to just fill it with a big lump of bondo as it will shrink as well as likely vibrate out causing a crack in the paint.
I am not even a real painter do mostly track stuff but have learned a few things along the way, I shoot likely 100 sets a year. Leave the rattle cans for the BBQ. IMO. It doesnt cost that much more to do it right. You will never be sorry to have a good job , but can be very sorry and be reminded every time you look at it for a bad one.
 
Alot of newer bikes are a tri-coat paint, and experianced painters can have a hard time matching this type of paint.

and with the new canadian laws, all base paints are now water based, which making it virtually impossable to match

Same tri-coat paint code, sprayed out of the same gun with the same air pressure will render a differant shades with the water/solvent based paints.

do not use lacqure primer or paint on a gas tank, gas spillage will soften the paint

lacqure = dries
urethane = cures

if you do not have a air comp, paint gun and good ventilation. or material you may want to take it to a shop.

Dent puller
bondo with hardner
assortment of sand paper 80-600 grit
etching primer
epoxy primer
paint (single stage or bc/cc) with hardner and reducers

buying all this stuff is pretty expensive.

however doing it yourself is very satifiying.

if you have any questions send me a message.
 
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Unless you're experienced with this type of painting and are setup for it, I won't even try. Also, the tank is probably one of the hardest parts to paint.

If the dent is minor consider decal(s). All kinds of interesting decals, maybe even tasteful flames to match your fairing ones.

Another option is a tank cover which wraps around the entire tank.

Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk
 
db ninja said:
and with the new canadian laws, all base paints are now water based, which making it virtually impossable to match
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Not so, although VOC rules are getting tighter you can still get 90% plus in solvent base. I buy it all the time, Nason (Dupont) through Napa just bought a quart of Synergy Green the new 2011 GM Metallic Green they use on the new Camaro. The SOAR test mule and the new Grand Bend Pace bike are going to be this green should be pretty cool, might try some black accents with it. Granted there are more and more water borne but solvents are still around. I did but water for my Ducati just to try it (to the tune of $178/qrt almost crapped myself).
 
The napa in niagara only sells water base tricoat colors,
Dupont stopped making tricoat colors solvent over a year ago(so i was told) when i bought paint for my guards red r1(water only)
if i could of bought the paint in solvent i would of. I hate spraying water base paint
Maybe Nason doesnt make tri coat colors... I think thats there Chroma line

The only solvent paint i can get is low voc urathane
but unfortantaly only single stage which = boring (for me) lol



The body shop where i use to get my paint from (I know the manager) ;)
switch over to water over a year ago which forced me to buy else where.
which sucks because they have a dupont mixing station ( can we say custom colors lol..)
 
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db ninja said:
The napa in niagara only sells water base tricoat colors,
Dupont stopped making tricoat colors solvent over a year ago(so i was told) when i bought paint for my guards red r1(water only)
if i could of bought the paint in solvent i would of. I hate spraying water base paint
Maybe Nason doesnt make tri coat colors... I think thats there Chroma line

The only solvent paint i can get is low voc urathane
but unfortantaly only single stage which = boring (for me) lol



The body shop where i use to get my paint from (I know the manager) ;)
switch over to water over a year ago which forced me to buy else where.
which sucks because they have a dupont mixing station ( can we say custom colors lol..)
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Water base paint is now law. But you can drive states side and still buy your base clear

FYI

My father owns a shop as well. He's water based now.
 
09SV650S said:
Water base paint is now law. But you can drive states side and still buy your base clear

FYI

My father owns a shop as well. He's water based now.
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Thats the great thing about living in niagara

I jump over the river now for my base... so far, no problems
 
db ninja said:
Thats the great thing about living in niagara

I jump over the river now for my base... so far, no problems
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Ya we make the drive once or twice a year. But only buy the tinted we need for our personal vehicles.

To hard to keep every colour going lol
 
rafiki911 said:
Ah crap, what happened to your sexy bike? To bad Gilligan is moving he would prob do it.
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There was always a tiny dent in the tank that I wanted to fix and now that I've replaced all the fairings to gloss black, I wanted the tank to match.
 
Since the previous owner painted the tank matte black (used to be orange) and did a s*** job, anything I do can't be any worse.
 
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Xtina said:
Since the previous owner painted the tank matte black (used to be orange) and did a s*** job, anything I do can't be any worse.
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Your right, try it your self.
you are unhappy with the tank now, worse case you are still unhappy with it.
chances are you can make look better, spraying it with gloss black.



If you lived a little closer i could prob help you out.. im painting a bunch of black in the next couple weeks..
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