Decals over or under clearcoat

I used 3m's 7448 ultra fine hand pad to be specific. I have seen it discribed as 600-800 and 800-1000 ..
Either way i. used it wet on the lower seams and the fuel cap recess., where I was worried about cutting through the clear coat on the edges. .

I still haven't found a good way to tell different grit values. There are several rating methods, and they don't agree. I've seen some sandpaper with higher numbers, but with much coarser grit than other brands with lower numbers. Very frustrating that the entire industry can't just come up with one universal rating method.

I use the 7448 to prep for graphics and top clear layers and it works nicely. No scratch show through after final clear.

I finaly got to clear coat the tank today, Im Stoked with how its looking.
1 mist coat and 3 wet coats, I reckon i will remove at least one coat when i sand and polish to remove the dust nibs from not painting in a booth

That looks awesome!

Ok, so if I plan on having my pin-stripes under 2K clear, ...is it then a good idea that after base coats, to spray a coat of clear to assist with any potential problems with the pin-stripes pulling up base coat when trying to stick and re-stick stripes to get correctly placed. Please advise any info on this subject, much appreciated.

RLBuddi wrote: Ok, so if I plan on having my pin-stripes under 2K clear, ...is it then a good idea that after base coats, to spray a coat of clear to assist with any potential problems with the pin-stripes pulling up base coat when trying to stick and re-stick stripes to get correctly placed. Please advise any info on this subject, much appreciated.

I like to clear over the base coat with a couple or three clear layers. That way you can get the base coat sealed up within 24 hours of application like you are supposed to. Then wait a couple or days or a week and then color sand the clear to flatten any orange peel and remove dirt nubs. I use a gray scotchbrite pad. Then apply your pinstripes and let them outgas for a couple of days before applying your clear. That's how I do it anyway.

Nessism wrote:

RLBuddi wrote: Ok, so if I plan on having my pin-stripes under 2K clear, ...is it then a good idea that after base coats, to spray a coat of clear to assist with any potential problems with the pin-stripes pulling up base coat when trying to stick and re-stick stripes to get correctly placed. Please advise any info on this subject, much appreciated.

I like to clear over the base coat with a couple or three clear layers. That way you can get the base coat sealed up within 24 hours of application like you are supposed to. Then wait a couple or days or a week and then color sand the clear to flatten any orange peel and remove dirt nubs. I use a gray scotchbrite pad. Then apply your pinstripes and let them outgas for a couple of days before applying your clear. That's how I do it anyway.

You did a real nice job Ed

Dave

Beautiful work!!!!!!!!!!! Ed

I pretty much did what Nessism said,.
To get a durable long lasting paint job the base coat needs to be sealed with clear coat within a certain time frame,
Decals need time to degas. which you cant do if they are applied to the base coat

well that's my theory

Yeah, that paint job looks amazing!!

any decals on any bike if not laqured over will fade with sunlight,washing etc start peeling at edges etc YOU CAN EVEN APPLY ONCE LAQUERED,OR PAINTED WHEN DRY THEN LAQUER OVER i paint bike bits and cars,old bikes no problem newer stuff problems reacting and nightmare trying to match stuff up lol