Should I Paint It or Leave It Alone?

I recently acquired a '78 KZ200 with about 8000 miles. The paint is in pretty fair shape, but there's a dent in the tank and the side panels have faded from the factory blue to a sort of aqua color. I'd like to repaint it, but I don't want to destroy the bike's value. In my mind, a new paint job usually means it's been in a wreck. I've seen these sell for as high as $1250 with factory paint. Any thoughts or words of wisdom?

See a paint-less dent repair company about the tank, and find someone who knows how to wet sand and buff the side covers. I bet you can get back to 95% that way. You can only have factory paint one time. What does the dent in the tank look like? Does it have a crease? Does the metal appear to be stretched?

testarossa wrote: See a paint-less dent repair company about the tank, and find someone who knows how to wet sand and buff the side covers. I bet you can get back to 95% that way. You can only have factory paint one time. What does the dent in the tank look like? Does it have a crease? Does the metal appear to be stretched?

It's a fair sized dent in the vicinity of the badge on the right side. There's a bit of a crease but no apparent stretching. I doubt paintless dent repair will work based on previous experience with those guys. I may be able to buff the side covers out, but I think the tank is either paint or live with it.

Got a picture of the dent?

I don't think new paint usually means wreck. Let's face it not many vehicle or anything for that matter gets through 30+ years with nice original paint even without abuse. Time is cruel. I would ask your intentions. Are you going to ride it or sell it? How important is it to you to be riding a perfect bike? If your intentions are to sell it I would guess that original to a collector is best but how collectible is it and how many collectors are in your area? I guess I'd say get it runni9ng great, ride it and then decide.

Proxy wrote: I would ask your intentions. Are you going to ride it or sell it? How important is it to you to be riding a perfect bike? If your intentions are to sell it I would guess that original to a collector is best but how collectible is it and how many collectors are in your area? I guess I'd say get it runni9ng great, ride it and then decide.

I was hoping my daughter would want to keep it, but she's already burnt the heck out of her leg on the exhaust and has lost some of her enthusiasm. I'm holding out hope that she'll come back around, but realistically, I'll probably end up selling it sooner or later.

Ignoring the paint issues, it's still not a concours quality bike. The polish on the engine cases isn't that good, there's rust on the wheels, etc. I'm just wondering if I spend a couple hundred dollars on paint will it increase the value or will it acutally hurt it.

Here's my two cents on the whole paint job issue. I doubt that the paint job will increase the value enough to justify the cost. I just spent over $300 on supplies to paint my KZ1000. I was using lower end PPG paint and I did 100% of the work myself. I don't see how you get a real paint job on that bike for much less.

I am no expert on KZ200's or your market, or how much you currently have in the bike. I doubt that I could get $1250 for one where I'm at. It's tough to turn a profit on these old bikes. You have to be very careful where you spend your money.

I doubt that painting it could hurt the value. Unless you went from a decent factory paint job to a spray bomb hack job. Somehow, I don't think that this model is extremely collectable at the moment. Never know what could happen in the future.

Before you do anything, watch a few ebay auctions for KZ200's and see what they really bring. Keep in mind that the bikes bringing top dollar will always have the owners manual, tool kit, maintenance records, original paint, original seat cover, etc etc. The collector is going to be very picky about the originality of the bike. Guys who know their stuff will spot a re-spray on a Z-1 from 10 paces.

This is where I miss Ronkz650 posting, he used to be death on re-sprays, but he finally chilled out

I have to agree with him on one point though, he always said he could spot a re-spray easily, and since I started paying attention to such things, even I can, and I'm not a painter.

I have a little over $200 invested so far in just primer, satin black for trim and wheels, and the POR-15 clearcoat for the polished aluminum. Have yet to purchase the basecoat and clear for the body yet, that's another $200, unless I do decide to spend the bucks for the Candy, then it'll be another $350 instead of the $200

Good paint cost big bucks, and this isn't even the expensive paint! I was looking at Flip-Flop until I discovered it would cost ~$1500-$2000 for the paint. :woohoo:

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testarossa wrote: Here's my two cents on the whole paint job issue. I doubt that the paint job will increase the value enough to justify the cost. I just spent over $300 on supplies to paint my KZ1000. I was using lower end PPG paint and I did 100% of the work myself. I don't see how you get a real paint job on that bike for much less.

I am no expert on KZ200's or your market, or how much you currently have in the bike. I doubt that I could get $1250 for one where I'm at. It's tough to turn a profit on these old bikes. You have to be very careful where you spend your money.

I doubt that painting it could hurt the value. Unless you went from a decent factory paint job to a spray bomb hack job. Somehow, I don't think that this model is extremely collectable at the moment. Never know what could happen in the future.

Before you do anything, watch a few ebay auctions for KZ200's and see what they really bring. Keep in mind that the bikes bringing top dollar will always have the owners manual, tool kit, maintenance records, original paint, original seat cover, etc etc. The collector is going to be very picky about the originality of the bike. Guys who know their stuff will spot a re-spray on a Z-1 from 10 paces.

A little background. I got the bike on trade from a friend for some work, including paint, on a Vulcan he owns. Although it had set for almost 20 years, I had very little trouble getting it to run. Unless I run into unexpected problems, I think I can have it road ready for under $400. This includes the money I'll spend on my buddy's Vulcan, paint for the KZ, new battery, etc. KBB value is $435.

I recently saw this bike sell on ebay for $1225:
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...me=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT
It was in St. Louis and I'm in KC, so the markets should be similar. The ebay bike is probably in better shape than mine, but it makes me think mine should do better than book.

As a hobby, I flip bikes out of my garage. In a former life, I worked as a mechanic and in body shops, so I have the basic skills and most of the tools I need. I also have most of the paint and supplies (I use Dupont 2-step urethane) I'll need left over from previous projects (primer, sealer, thinner, clear, etc.). That's why I believe I can paint it for under $200. If I use the same color as one of my previous projects, it may be close to free. Below are a couple of pictures of recent project bikes just to show off a little

End of the day, I'd still be happiest if my daughter would take an interest and keep the bike, but I wanted to get your input before I spend time and money on paint and actually hurt the bike's value. Thanks for your help.

Well if you already have the paint on hand, then you are a lot of steps ahead on the money. Sorry, but I was assuming that you would be getting the bike painted. I have done the same thing. I painted a GS750 at the same time as my KZ1000. Only difference was I bought a pint of base for the Suzuki. So that paint job cost me $40 over and above the supplies that I had in the KZ. Forgive me, I didn't mean to slight your painting skills.

By the looks of the other bikes you pictured, if you painted those, then I'm sure you can do a professional job. One thing I just noticed from the ebay add that you linked, is that slight mismatch in color between the gas tank and side covers seems similar to your bike. Probably a difference in the primer under that color between the metal and plastic pieces.

It's awfully hard to judge the market on those bikes. There is one other for sale now on ebay with an opening price of $1500 and no bids. No other comparable bikes. Considering your ability to paint it yourself, and the fact that you already have many of the supplies, I doubt that you can do much harm to the value. It make me sad when someone takes a bike with a 90% factory paint job and then spray bombs it. I have no hate for a custom paint job, lord knows Kawasaki never put my paint scheme on a bike, but a decent factory paint job is worth salvaging if possible.

A few years back, they were going for big money when gas was near $5 in Chicago. My buddy sold his for somewhere around $1200 to $1400, and it was repainted with rattle can.

In my opinion, you won't get the money back for the repaint. You'll spend more on your time than what the bike's value will go up by.

You could list it with original paint, then tell the buyer you are willing the paint it if he wants to spend more money. That way, if the buyer wants original paint, you won't hurt the deal.

If you just want to paint it to see if it will look nicer, you could try to wait and get some body parts on eaby and paint them (or paint yours if the ebay parts are better original). But the wait could be long for KZ200 parts.