The Paint Guide

[MrGraffixx]

WOW, just found and signed up for this site today. Found all kinds of great information and since I have been a custom painter for 23 years now, I love seeing people write about paint and give just enough information out so people can try to to it themselves before going to a professional. It makes people respect and appreciate what we do even more and they also dont seem to gripe about the price now knowing how much work it truly is.
There was a lot of stuff you guys talked about that was good but I would have to say the biggest mistake you talked about was using primer over old paint. Not only does primer your bike making it a lot more heavy but, Old paint is the best primer you can have if it is in good condition. If your ever in a paint store of any kind, pick up a gallon of paint then go pick up a gallon of primer, The solids in primer are sometimes over 10 times more heavy then actual paint. The only time you would use primer on a factory painted bike is if you can not feather out the edges of 2 colors connecting such as the Hayabusa paint scheme. I also see the this thread was started in 03 and the piant technology is so far advanced sinc then that it makes some of the other things you said obsolete. And before I forget, do not EVER try to forc dry the plastic on your bike, not only are you taking a chance on warping the plastic, you are also not giving it time to adhere to the surface because unlike metal, plastic shrinks and expands in weather so to force dry it, it will not dry in relation to the pastic.
I dont want to be a know it all here but it looked like some people had contraversy over flex agent. To understand why felx agent was invented in the first place, would answer all questions. Car bumpers were mandated to absorb a minimum of a 5mph impact. Because of this, flex agent was designed to help the paint stretch with the raw SOFT plastic. Flex agent in NO WAY needs to be used on hard plastic such as what is used on our bikes. If you look at almost ANY type of car today, you will see that the colors on bumpers do not match the color of the car and this is because of the flex agent. Other chemicals have been incented that changes the way paint lays down called, flop adjusters and gradually, the colors are starting to get closer in relation the color of the car itself.
I also never saw the actual air pressure that you said needed to be exiting the nozzle on an HVLP, just so you know, almost all guns today, even the cheap knockoffs from pep boys come with regulators and it is fine for 65 pounds of air to be on the intake but A.Q.M.D. will not allow us to shoot with more then 18 pounds at the nozzle.
I could write a book here about color sanding and how to use a good high speed buffer to rub your bike out after color sanding but I think it would be easier just to answer any questions you guys might have. I dont have a lot of pics on my website of bikes so I will have to get with my web guy and get some up there.
This really looks like a great site and I am looking forward to being a member.

 

[cb919]

thx for all the great info, I am going to start gathering materials and supplies.

 

[Jay Willie]

...maybe I can just use some stickers out of my kid's cereal box....

 

[Bansh]

I have a couple questions?

Do you have to wetsand after every clearcoat? How long should you let the paint dry before sanding?
Clearing over stickers? Friend told me to put some clear fingernail polish on the edges on this sticker I have, because the edges keep rolling up. Well I put the polish on the vinyl sticker and the sticker shrivled up like an old lady on prune juice!

TIA

 

[Hayabusa_Heaven]

Great paint guide, i went for the easier option, send the bike to a painters, choose the design and then pick it up a few months later after handing over a big cheque lol

I love busa's in white, think by far the best colour for them. I went for House of Kolor Candi Whine Red for the frame, forks, swingarm, disc centres and suspension linkages, with a pure white with very faint red flip in it with a slight glitter in the paint, unfortunatly you can't see it that well in the photo's but im happy with it. I also had all of the writing airbrushed in an old english font and my tattoo's airbrushed on the tank.

 

[417busa]

WOW! When I began reading this thread I was,well,curious and amazed at ALL the different opinions and ideas that everyone has. I also have been an automotive refinish tech for 25 years,Dupont, PPG, ASE,and ICAR certified,painting cars has pretty much been my life for as long as i can remember. Auto refinish has been my career since I was just outta high school.
To get right to the chase,heres another opinion to add about flex agent from another career painter. From what I have gathered everyone is somewhat right. i personally HATE flex agent, for the simple reason that ANY damage done to ANY vehicle,{auto or motorcycle} that will damage your paint will more than likely damage the surface under the paint as well. The longevity and durability of flex agent seems to be the BIG QUESTION here.Any flex additive that you add to your paint WILL prevent the paint from completely curing. Thats how its able to flex without the cracking,flaking and peeling that normal paint can not handle without cracking or chipping.From my personal experience it seems to also lessen the "shine" that you get when not adding flex agent to your paint. Substrates all have different qualities which become very obvious when refinishing. I have painted plastics and metals at the same time and the colors will come out totally different because of the substrates and chemical makeup of those substrates.EVERYTHING affects paint and the way it lays on materials.From how you mix it,to how much humidity is in the air,Air flow,air pressure,temperature,what youre wearing,what kind of deoderant you use,what you had to eat,the kind of gun,kind of paint and nearly everything imaginable affect the way a paint job lays. I think flex agent can be useful for some things i.e. rubber bumpers on vehicles and many other areas that endure certain situations. So I really believe flex agent is waste of money and time,because as i said before, anything that damages your paint will,more than likely,damage the substrate that the paint is on.Painting anything takes a whole lot of patience,trial and error and maybe even sometimes,just starting over from square one to get your desired finished product.Only advice that I have for everyone is,take your time,use quality, name brand products and expect the unexpected. Good Luck!

 

[Kevin Jones]

A fun one is trying to deal with someone else's laquer job that is peeling off and trying to sand it and keep it from going all the way up in order to save your decals. I may not be able to do this. As soon as you remove the loose paint, the edge separates. If all else fails, I will just paint and get the Ukraine guy's decals and reshoot the clear over them when they come in in a couple of months.