paint

can somone tell me how to re-paint my kz1100...tank-fenders-.... whats the best brand and type of paint to use...either with a gun or a spray can.. and whatto prime it with .... i want to to last a few ears and hold up to fill ups....thanks all

sweat, sand, paint, wait, sand, repeat.
I used duplicolor and had good results.... the acrylic enamel takes a week to cure though...

Had a friend use House of Kolor and they have packages and all kinds of blah blah.... you could spend a year on their website checking out everything....but had good results... and i think that HOK has a good technical dept.

And from what I hear its all in the clearcoat and that they are all pretty much fuel resistant....but im sure someone will chime in on that

Just be comfortable about not being able to ride for 1-4 weeks.

FireFighterRon wrote:

can somone tell me how to re-paint my kz1100...tank-fenders-.... whats the best brand and type of paint to use...either with a gun or a spray can.. and whatto prime it with .... i want to to last a few ears and hold up to fill ups....thanks all

If by a few "ears" you mean putting your ear to the tank, that will be possible. If you mean "years". No way, first spill, bird dropping, fluid of any kind including rain, you're done.

Do you own or have access to a 5HP or better air compressor? If yes, then you will only HAVE to buy a Spray gun. All sanding could be done by hand,,,,, but your arms will grow bigger.

The Spray gun; I've used cheap guns, and I've used some not-so-cheap guns. Before the days of HVPL, my favorite was an $89 syphon feed from Sears. Try to understand what you can about a clean environment, proper temp and humidity, correct mixing, and a smooth application technique well before paint day.

Sanding; If you have a compressor, a DA sander is a basic essential, but on a bike when I want something true flat, I wrap sandpaper around a paint stick and use the cross hatch technique over a guide coat.

Here is my 21 step plan.

1. Wash with detergent. Don't eat chicken wings in the garage and always keep your hands clean from grease, oil, and wax,
2. Wipe down all surfaces to be painted with silicone/wax/grease remover.
3. Do steps 1 and 2 before ever thinking about sanding. Ignore this and you will grind contaminates right into the panel.
4. Remove paint where body work must done. If you remove all paint you might forget where the dent and dings are. 100-180 grit, but there will be 1000 opinions about this.
5. Do all body repair
6. All the paint does not have to be removed if it is in good shape. Your call. Mask areas where you don't want covered by primer.
7. Prime the entire surface to be painted. No need to prime everything if there is paint that is in good shape. I usually do prime everything
8. Depending on the color of primer, say gray, buy a spray rattle can of black sandable primer to be used as a guide coat. A guide coat is a dusting of the surface with a contrasting color so that when you sand you know the surface is flat when the contrasting color is all gone.
9. Now you need to make a choice,,, is this going to be a slam job or do you really want it flat and smooth like a pro job? I would start now with 220 wet knowing that much of the primer applied will come off. I used the paper wrapped around a paint stick.
10. When your guide coat is gone, or mostly gone, you'll find some areas that may need a little more prime to build up low spots. Prime away.
11. Switch to 320 Wet if you have it or 400 and use the paper in a paint stick again. If you did your body work correctly you should be done using the stick.
12. Prime any areas that are at bare metal or fiberglass and complete the sanding process using 400 wet wrapped around a soft hand sanding pad. No finer the 400. Remove old masking tape and paper, apply new.
13. You are ready to use a primer sealer,,, follow the directions. A good primer sealer will do two things. It will remove the possibility of bleed through from former paint if it exists,,, usually red will be the worst offender. Sealer will also reduce the sand scratches visible after the paint cures. It will usually hide up to 320 grit.
14. Use compressed air and a tack cloth to remove dust that has landed on the parts, paying close attention to getting dust out of crevases.
15. Mix paint per manufacturers instruction.
16. Spray paint per manufacturers instruction. Single stage Urethane or Acrilyc Enamel will take 2-3 coats, I lean toward 3. No sanding between coats unless you have a run and plan to use a clearcoat. (Hopefully you're not spraying mettalic your first time)
17. If you want to have a show finish, apply clear coat per manufacturers instructions. Let dry for a week. A profeshional may move to the next step the next day.
18. Water sand with 1000 grit using paper around a soft sanding pad, then move to 1500 wet, the 2000 wet.
19. Buff with a compound recommended by the paint manufacturer, or your personal preference. Remember to point a power buffer away from corners or you'll burn it off and you will be moving back to somewhere around step 13. Maybe just buff by hand.
20. Sit back and think of your mistakes, I gaurantee you've made some. I still do after 20 years.
21. Enjoy and plan your next paint job,,, there will be others.

If you aren't stuck on some fabulous color, go to www.paintforcars.com . I have used this stuff many times with very good luck and saved big bucks.

I hope this helps

thanks for all the steps.. it willl really help.... but what brand should u use.. or what type. ?

www.paintforcars.com/kits_5star_daytonabluemet.html



would this be a good paint for me ?

From Turpehar;
1. Wash with detergent. Don't eat chicken wings in the garage and always keep your hands clean from grease, oil, and wax,


I knew it was the chicken wings!!

RonKZ650 wrote:

FireFighterRon wrote:

can somone tell me how to re-paint my kz1100...tank-fenders-.... whats the best brand and type of paint to use...either with a gun or a spray can.. and whatto prime it with .... i want to to last a few ears and hold up to fill ups....thanks all

If by a few "ears" you mean putting your ear to the tank, that will be possible. If you mean "years". No way, first spill, bird dropping, fluid of any kind including rain, you're done.

So any repaint results in such a fragile finish? LOL
I think he was asking about the "proper" way to paint.
Don't take offense Ron, just yanking your chain as I know you despize rattle cans.

Pugs

It all started for me back in about 1973 when I helped my cousin repaint his bicycle using the best paint we could buy. We had a bad rainstorm a few weeks later and the paint was "rainblasted" off, just like a sandblaster. I was about 13 at the time and even then I said WTF??? Few years later a friend had a Yamaha DT1 250 that was relatively crappy to say the least, but we decided to repaint the orange bodywork in blue. It came out great, we even clearcoated it, striped it like original. We thought not bad for 16 year old kids. Well first gas spill it was done. It was then when I said no more repaints, about 1976. I'd call on a bike that was "mint", first question was "Repaint"? Yes?? not worth going to look at at any price. Guy came in the shop with the nicest Buick GS455 I'd ever seen 20 years ago in bright red, came back 6 months later in pealing pink. Same thing on a Ford F250 in white/red two tone. Guy came in the shop in about 1985 and I would have killed for that 1978 F250 Supercab, 6 months later pink/white pealing POS. I dont get why no one else sees this out there.

FireFighterRon wrote:

www.paintforcars.com/kits_5star_daytonabluemet.html



would this be a good paint for me ?

Excellent choice. I've used the Base?Clear many times. Real nice. In addition to that kit you will need primer surfacer and maybe primer sealer.

You'll have so much left after painting a bike you'll be able to repaint it every few years for 30 years. But if you went to the local auto supply house, just enough to do the job will cost you as much.

RonKZ650...

If you're following all the prep work, using AUTOMOTIVE paint and AUTOMOTIVE clear coat then how can this go so bad, I just don't get it...

Your bike in your avatar is painted (seems factory paint job), was this painted with magic pixie dust... New bikes/cars off the show room floor are painted, what did they use so different...

I restored years ago a 1968 El Camino which was repainted to factory color... Still holding up strong with Sherwin Willams Automotive paint.

Professional painters, sure they're better at painting prep, no drips/runs then us but hell they use the same friggin paint.

I guess I just don't get it...

Old Man Rock

RonKZ650 wrote:

It all started for me back in about 1973 when I helped my cousin repaint his bicycle using the best paint we could buy. We had a bad rainstorm a few weeks later and the paint was "rainblasted" off, just like a sandblaster. I was about 13 at the time and even then I said WTF??? Few years later a friend had a Yamaha DT1 250 that was relatively crappy to say the least, but we decided to repaint the orange bodywork in blue. It came out great, we even clearcoated it, striped it like original. We thought not bad for 16 year old kids. Well first gas spill it was done. It was then when I said no more repaints, about 1976. I'd call on a bike that was "mint", first question was "Repaint"? Yes?? not worth going to look at at any price. Guy came in the shop with the nicest Buick GS455 I'd ever seen 20 years ago in bright red, came back 6 months later in pealing pink. Same thing on a Ford F250 in white/red two tone. Guy came in the shop in about 1985 and I would have killed for that 1978 F250 Supercab, 6 months later pink/white pealing POS. I dont get why no one else sees this out there.

You're missing a very important point. On every paint job there are two distinctive similarities. Point A, the starting point, and point Z, the finishing point. There are so many things in between that can be fudged or eliminated all together to which usually result in a crap paint job.

Examples;
1. Not precleaning the surface before sanding, with wax-silicon-grease remover. Crucial
2. Sanding with sandpaper that is too fine to create the mechanical bond. Crucial
3. Mixing incompatable components such as PPG paint with Sherwin Williams reducer. Crucial
4. Not allowing the proper flash times between coats. Crucial
5. Not using the proper temperature reducer. Crucial

I'm not being a smarty pants here guys. There are two reasons we do one or all of the above. Time, or, Money. For us regular guys it can be time and money; Our money and our time. For a shop, time is money in terms of labor, but the customrer pays for the material.

There are a lot of shops out there doing slam work (time = money) while not counting on repeat business. This is the reason why I cut my autobody career very short. I have a concsience and like sleeping at night.

If you don't know your way around the paint shop, buy a book and read it three or four times, practice some techniques, especially those that don't make sense. It will come to you. This is how I learned and broke into the custom paint areana, which I left in a hurry. Now it's a hobby.