new paint

[kmart64]

My Kawasaki G3ssd has a lime green tank and lime green side covers which are PLASTIC.

I was thinking of painting them white, how should i go about doing this, I don't want to f**k it up.

[StarGate]

My side covers are plastic also and I painted them the same way I did the tank. Sanded them down, primed, wet sand, then applied the color and clear. This was my first attempt at painting a bike too.

[kmart64]

what kind of paint, sandpaper did you use, and could you provide step by step info if you remember it.

BTW, The kz1000 looks amazing for a first time paintjob

[StarGate]

I used a custom mix automotive paint and clear coat from the local paint store. Do you have the compressor and paint gun needed to do that sort of paint job? As for sandpaper, I used everything from 200 to 2000 grit. I have a couple of friends that own/operate automotive body shops that gave me instructions and answered questions for me but I did all the actual labor so that helped a lot.

[kmart64]

i have a compressor, but no gun, what i was thinking of doing was getting some automotive spray paint from wal-mart or auto zone, sanding it, and painting it.

or do you think that would turn out bad?

[herk]

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[StarGate]

While it wouldn't be my first choice of how to go on my bike, I have seen some pretty good rattlecan paint jobs. A lot of the end result will depend on how good you do the prep work to get it ready to paint and the clear coat after it's painted. If you did all the prep and paint you might get a paint shop to do the clear coat and buff for you for a reasonable price. You might check with any local paint shops and see what they say.

[zeiss150]

I have a lot of experiance painting motorcycles and cars (relativly speaking) If you want to keep the bike and have a really nice paint job USE AUTOMOTIVE PAINT! The rattle can stuff from the local auto zone wont work. the paint doesn't have harndner in it so it will always be "soft" If gas comes in contact with the paint it will "swell" and "bubble". Real auto paint is mixed before used.

As far as the paint gun goes... you can get one for about $40, now a $40 paint gun is a piece of junk but it will get the job done. A pro gun would cost $300 and up!

For a real quality paint job get "2 stage" paint" From PPG It costs more than the other no name stuff but its the best. 2 stage paint means there is a "base coat" and a "clear coat". The 2 stage paint will give a deep rich look to your paint job.

For the best paint job spend 90% of your time on prep! The better your prep job the more awesome your final paint job will be.

step 1... bondo if needed... a very thin coat of bondo on your parts will smooth out any defects on the surface. If your parts don't have any dents or dings in them then skip the bondo.

Step 2 ....primer, you want to use "High fill latex" primer, or "Primer Sealer" The high fill primer can act as a bondo, filling in any small imperfections. Spray on and let dry compleatly. Get your primer at the paint store also... no rattle can stuff. Once the primer is dry sand with 125 grit paper then use 400 grit. If you sand off to much you will have metal showing if that happens you will have to reshoot the primer, NO METAL can show!!!! I like to finish sand the primer with 600 grit, it will give the primer almost a satin finish 600 grit is a "wet Sand" paper, soak your sand paper in water and cover the part in water then sand. Dont go above 600 grit because there won't be enought "scuff" on the primer for the paint to stick to.

step 3... Use a tack cloth and or "prep clean" to clean the surface of the parts that you are about to spray. If you are spraying in your garage make sure you wet down the floor and keep it as dust free as possible. Dust is your enemy!

Step 4 ... PAINT! Make sure you use a "resporator" not a paper face mask you need a quality resporator they cost about $30. If you new that you could have avoided getting canser 20 years earlier by spending $30 ... wouldn't you? Painting isn't hard its all about technique. you need to move the gun fast enough to lay the paint down smooth enough but not to fast because it will go on "dry". If you go to slow it will "wrinkle" if that happens STOP. let it dry and go back to step 2 (resand and start over) always spray past the part that you are spraying. spray the color in straight lines. each line should overlap the last line by about 30%. once you have an even coat of color paint down then you can spray in multiple directions to eliminate the "lines in the pain" (you'll know what that means when you do it). The color coat will dry in about 15 minutes, you should put on at least 2 coats, I like to put on 3 coats.

Step 5..... clear coat. Clear coat is harder to spray than the color base coat because you can't see it as well. you spray it in the same manner as you did with the color coat. The most important part of clear coat is to make sure you don't spray it on to thin because then it will be "dry". You also do not want to put it on to thick because then it will "sag" Sagging is when the clear coat sort of ... saggs, bad times. you should put at least 3 coats on ... wait at least 15 minutes between coats. Let the clear coat dry you will be able to touch it in 3 or 4 hours.

Step 6 COLOR SANDING Color sanding is another term for finish sanding. the clear coat when it dries will have an "orange peal" texture to the surface. In order to have a mirror finish to your paint job you need to get the orange peal off. Wet sand your with 1000 grit, 1500 grit and then 2000 grit. Make sure you do your sanding on a warm day in the shade and have a big bucket of water on hand. Keep the parts wet whenever you're sanding. 1000 grit will take off most of the orange peal the 1500 will take off the scratch marks from the 1000 grit and the 2000 grit will take off all the scratch marks. DONT SAND NEAR OR ON CORNERS YOU WILL SAND OFF THE PAIN AND HAVE TO START ALL OVER. If you are sanding and start to see color in the water (a milky white color is normal) then you have sanded through the clear coat and you messed up big time GO BACK TO STEP 4! this process will make your paint job look dull and you will feel like you just ruined all of your hard work .... don't worry you can fix it!

Step 7.... last step Polishing. You will need to buy a polisher (Ebay $50) well worth the money. buy 2 different liquid compounds, "course and fine" you should also buy 2 differnt buffing pads "course and fine" start with the course pad and compund then use the fine pad and compound. Keep the buffer moving, do not hold it in one place you will "burn" the paint. there is no need to press hard on the paint LET THE BUFFER DO THE WORK. Buff untill you don't see any scratches on the surface.

CONGRADULATIONS you have a professional quality paint job! Its a lot of work but it will last forever and you will be able to say, "Yeah, I painted that"

Good luck, I hope this helped

Matt-

[herk]

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[StarGate]

Nice looking bars Herk. Thats about what I had in mind with slightly less rise and more of a (parallel to the ground) grip position. What did those bars come off of or what model and store did you get them from? Is that the same brake mc that was on the mini ape hangers? Were your front blinkers always mounted there or were they on the bars when you had the ape hangers? I want to move mine out like that but with shorter stems.

Nice writeup on the paint zeiss150. The only thing I noticed you didn't put in there that my body shop buddies told me to do was laying down a tack coat to start the painting. Also saw one thing you said that my buddies didn't tell me about which was don't go above 600 grit when sanding the primer. That makes sense to me that it needs texture to grip to so I'm gonna go fuss at them for not telling me that.

[kmart64]

Thanks Guys, I just realized though that I'm going to a vocational school all year round these coming junior & senior HS years. They have an autobody repair shop there, & i could just ask the teacher to do the work for me.

[StarGate]

Most schools like that have you to do projects for a grade. Maybe you can work your bike in as your project.

[zeiss150]

Yeah... I forgot about the "tack and wack". A tack coat is a "light dusting" of paint. It dry's in about 1 minute so by the time you are done putting on the tack coat on all the pieces its time to paint for real.

You can sand above 600 but the mechanical bond that the paint would have would be very week. You would pretty much be relying on a chemical bond at that point.

the guy that taught me how to paint, he would just sand with 400 ... untill he started seeing scratches in is finished paint jobs. now he sands with 600.

I did a car once where I sanded the primer with 800 .... It turned out flawless but I don't know if that was such a great idea... time will tell! its been a year and the car still looks beautiful.

[herk]

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[StarGate]

I lost one of my rear turn signals on a laydown a few years back so I modified mine. I have a twin bulb tail light so I put a divider in between the 2 bulbs then added a lighting module from a bike shop that makes my brake like flash and when I turn on a signal, that side of the tail blinks. If I apply brake and turn signal at same time the light blinks on the side I'm turning to and has a steady brake light on the other side.

The replacement MC is my biggest holdup on going to a diff set of bars.

[herk]

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[StarGate]

I found one that I wanted to bid on and the guy couldn't tell me whether the MC would sit level if mounted on a level section of bar so I never bid on it.

[SpectreMan1]

What no rollers and a 6 in brush? come on! LOL Just kidding there was a kid in my automotive class last semester that painted his car with house paint and a roller he said it was ratrod style I said ok 1st rat rods are grey/black not white or in this case household eggshell color and it doesnt involve a roller and a brush!

[herk]

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