rust stain in new paint

Had the Z1 painted yellow several months ago, clear coat and all. Couple of weeks ago, filled up with gas, drove 2 miles home, hot engine expanded the gasoline, forced it through the filler cap vent, gasoline brought rust out of the filler cap, deposited red/brown liquid on my tank, liquid sat there for a couple of hours. Now I have this nice rust colored shadow in my paint. Not real obvious but you can see it. Any remedies short of a match? I washed it and used a non cleaner wax, but it still there.

Oh, I did learn not to fill the tank to the bottom of the filler neck.

Thanks

Post edited by: CTSZ1, at: 2006/05/21 23:01

Hey CTSZ1 - I had an old yellowed gas stain on a silver tank that I cleaned last month. The stain had been there for years. I used a little brake cleaner spray on a clean, soft rag and it removed the stain. Remember, not brake fluid...brake clean spray!

I would suggest trying a very small test patch up the protruding part of the tank's neck where the cap will cover. You want to try a hidden area in case there is some strange reaction with the type of clear coat and paint used on your recent paint job.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

'77 Kz 650 Custom - (Miss July on 2006 Kzr Calendar-with last year’s restoration and engine project, a Wiseco 700) Newest rebuild includes Wiseco 810 kit, Kz750 cams, Kz750 intake valves, 750 GPz springs, Ported head, WG Mikuni 28's, Velocity Stacks, Dyna Ignition and coils, MAC pipe, 14 tooth front sprocket. Returning to original '77 Moon Dust Silver. Goal is to have a stock-looking, ultra-sleeper bike that will tighten up any loose dental fillings off the light and surprise other, bigger bikes.

Whomever painted it seems to have used a non-polyurethane clear.

Get some Turtle Wax *Polishing* Compound and a *soft* cloth - I prefer Viva paper towels actually - and lightly work it in a circular motion over the stain. Might also be a good idea to pick up an ultra fine glazing compound - Auto Zone types will know it as "Swirl Remover." Any type should do. Use that after the polishing compound.

The big thing to determine at this point is whether the gas in fact got through the clear and stained the paint underneath. If it hasn't, the stain will rub away with a modest amount of effort, depending how far it penetrated. If it has, there's not much to be done.

There are some questions to be asked about what kind and how much of the various components - paint, clear, etc., were used, but let's see if the stain is workable first.

reborn650 wrote:

....I used a little brake cleaner spray on a clean, soft rag and it removed the stain. Remember, not brake fluid...brake clean spray!

WHOA. :woohoo: Go *real* easy with that recipe', guys.

As a solvent, brake cleaner eats gas for breakfast. Your paint, reborn, had SET for years. CT's is pretty new, and as paint goes, has *barely* had time to set. Depending on what type of paint it is, he could have a yellow puddle on the floor instead of a paint job.

No sense in killing flies with sledgehammers just yet... There's less destructive ideas to try first.

I'm with Pterorsaur on both accounts. Start with some fine polishing compound.

Brake cleaner and fresh paint = disaster

O.K. guys, I'll defer to your experience on this one, especially, given the paint is so fresh....... But I had tried everything to get the old, old gas stain out and even Governor Aaaaahhnold coudn't have rubbed out the stain on my tank. A light dusting of brake clean on a soft cloth took it away with very light rubbing and it didn't appear to eat through the factory clear coat. Don't matter much now as I have the tank in with my buddy to spray a match to the factory '77 Moon Dust Silver.

Tonight I was detailing my Jeep TJ (I have put it up for sale-new Toyota FJ Cruiser on the way!) I had a bunch of road tar and some light scratches on the paint. I used Goo-Gone on a clean soft towel and it worked incredibly well, even on the scratches.

I will have to add this stuff to my collection of cleaning products.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Post edited by: reborn650, at: 2006/05/22 01:44

reborn650 wrote:

...But I had tried everything to get the old, old gas stain out and even Governor Aaaaahhnold coudn't have rubbed out the stain on my tank. A light dusting of brake clean on a soft cloth took it away with very light rubbing and it didn't appear to eat through the factory clear coat.

It's not that brake cleaner isn't an option in some circumstances, but it was a leap and a bound up a ladder - slipping a lot of steps.

If (I read you right) - if 29 year old factory paint hasn't set by now, it never will. Amazingly tough stuff it is, has made my life miserable more than once. And sometimes, when backed into a tough corner, it's worth a shot. I've used it a time or two myself.

But not on 2 month old paint.

Be it by compound or brake cleaner, there IS NO removing a stain on paint without excavating underlying material, the question is how much and the answer is only as much as necessary. It's much easier to take it off than put it back on...

Thanks for the replies, I'll give the ole polishing compound and soft rag a try. Hopefully that'll do it. If not I'll have a nice conversation piece built right into my paint.:blush: I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks

CTSZ1 wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I'll give the ole polishing compound and soft rag a try. Hopefully that'll do it. If not I'll have a nice conversation piece built right into my paint.:blush: I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks

You're welcome.

We've never gotten into the details on this paint job, but it's *clear* that you have a problem...

Oh, how I just crack myself up with puns sometimes...

Anyways, if you do manage to get the gas stain out of the clear and the underlying yellow isn't damaged, I'd seriously consider doing a light wet sand with #600 or so to even out the surface and having the tank re-shot with a good, professional-quality polyurethane catalyzed clear - DuPont, Martin-Seynor, etc....

It'll put a spiffy shine on that tank as well...

What Collin said about the "Goo-Gone"...that stuff is AMAZING!
I've never tried it on paint,but it sure does work well for cleaning glue spots off of floors when I'm installing lino,etc.(plus a lot of other uses)
Check it out...great stuff...

www.magicamerican.com/googone.shtml

Pterosaur,

As the Master-of-the-Obvious, I detect that you question the quality of this paint job of mine. I have to be honest with you and say that I don't have a lot of info at hand other than it was going to be stripped, painted, and clear coated. I also know very little about painting. The fellow that did it was recommended by a mc drag racing friend who has had him paint several bikes. That being said it doesn't say beans about my paint job. What are your suspicions?

Thanks

CTSZ1 wrote:

Pterosaur,

As the Master-of-the-Obvious, I detect that you question the quality of this paint job of mine...
Thanks

Well, _something_ ain't right in Denmark.

Let me preface myself by saying I'm not tossing rocks at anyone in paticular here, at least *yet*.

Obviously, due to the chain of custody, the painter is the usual suspect in cases like this. But you ain't out of the woods either...

It's possible that the painter used acryllic laquers. That could be because he had it lying around - it's a less expensive and much easier to shoot medium and it's also comparitively soft - and *porous* And it takes a longer period of time to reach a *final* set - it's typical for old-tyme laquers to require a good couple of months to reach ultimate hardness.

And none of that is either a crime or strictly unprofessional. He could be a specialist in vintage car finishes, in which case he shot what he got.

By that I mean that not knowing any better, you take a set of parts to a pro-guy, who isn't solely dealing with your job at any given point in time, and he was left with some *ambigiuous* instructions: strip it, paint it, clear it. And a base-yellow pj isn't a big dollar bringer. So, he did what he was told.

Not knowing that you didn't know much about paint, the job was delivered back to you with no particular information/instructions regarding type, setting, care and feeding issues.

So a couple of months go by, you think the paint is set, some gas dribbles on it, and here we are.

Okay, given that a plurality of the above is within the same ballpark with reality, I think a couple of things:

1.) Knowing that it was a set of bike parts, I can't come up with a good reason why somebody would shoot laquers - or cheap or out-of-date enamels. It's a potential tar baby.

...excepting if...

2.) Myself not knowing a figure up front, it's possible you may have requested a "Meineke" (the old muffler chain), the tag line being "I'm not paying a lot for this paint job!"

There's a couple of lessons in here somewhere - such as primarily, you get what you pay for (generally). Given that, always do enough homework to either a) totally trust the rep of the painter, or b) know at least enough to be able to make specific requests and ask for assurances on the job to be done.

I'm trying to walk a line here; it's obvious that somehow, somewhere along the way, some requirements were missed. I really don't know how, but these things happen. Without more details, the above is my best guess, and that's far short of definitively pointing a finger at any one party.