Rub out metallic paints for clear coat?

I'm planning to use a metallic paint on a spare tank I bought - also have the proper clear coat for the paint. BUT, anticipating slight imperfections, can metallic paints be sanded with light abrasive papers or rubbed out with compound without damaging the metallic content of the paint?

Are you talking about before or after the clear coat. If before you can sand out the imperfections but you will have to recoat in order to keep the flop even. After clear coat you can sand and buff without affecting the metallic paint.

rustys wrote: Are you talking about before or after the clear coat. If before you can sand out the imperfections but you will have to recoat in order to keep the flop even. After clear coat you can sand and buff without affecting the metallic paint.

I;m talking about BETWEEN the metallic color coat and the clear coat - if there is orange peel or other minor blemishes in the metallic coat, can they be sanded or rubbed out, then the clearcoat applied - or will sanding or rubbing out the metallic colorcoat damage the metallic?

NO! If you don't know for sure what your doing then ask a painter.
Base coats go on dry and smooth. They look dull. You should not have any imperfections
if you sprayed properlly.
Then the clear coat brings out the shine. 2 medium coats of wet clear. Minor wet sand with 2000 and a buff. Looks like a show car!

I'm no painter for sure I dabble

I think what the guys are talking about is if you are using a basecoat clearcoat paint system you really need to prep it so its "ready to paint" clean the piss out of it spray your base give it time to dry which doesnt take long wipe it down and then clear

If your using a eurathane top coat paint then clearing is unneccessary but it can be done

depends on the paint you are using. but generally when you sand even a top coat metallic you have very little room for error you can use a paste called final sand and a grey scotch brite

I recently co painted a Harley its in my thread

Painted all the parts metallic silver base coat let it set for a few days (due to available time not for the paint to cure) used final sand on the entire thing laid our stripes as they are silver metallic then painted the black taped that off and did some airbrush work then covered the exposed silver in a light pattern then candied over it then cleared it the last few stages were all in the same session so...

the trick is to have it ready and to spray it all the same time if you can if not let the base coat cure then use fianl sand

i dont have a ton of experience with the newer paints but the guy who was mrntoring me has 30 plus years doing production and custom work and owns 5 body shops if he let me sand on silver metallic I am pretty sure the base coats are pretty forgiving

Just remembered on the fairing there was a little dirt in the silver metallic and he hit it with the DA in a few spots before I used the final sand.

So lay your base coat if its dirty or you get a bug in it let it dry color sand it then over reduce your color spray it evenly then clear it!

color also will play a factor but like I said I am not a painter just an enthusiast.

Hope this helps

If you have orange peel in your base coat you are spraying way to heavy, but if an imperfection does occur you can sand it out, but for a metallic you need to respray a base layer before you clear in order to get the metallic to look right again.

rustys wrote: If you have orange peel in your base coat you are spraying way to heavy, but if an imperfection does occur you can sand it out, but for a metallic you need to respray a base layer before you clear in order to get the metallic to look right again.

THAT looks like the simple reply I was looking for - metallics are different from plain colors, with suspended reflective particles that I sorta figured would not take well to any sanding or rubbing out...

Not looking for a way-out show type paint job, just as carefully prepped and detailed job as I can do out in the garage using Metallic Burgundy acrylic lacquer...

Thanks to all for the added info...

Hey Gary,

Are you by any chance trying to reproduce-ish the paint job on the ltd in your profile pic? Because I have the same paint scheme on my 440, and I'd be really interested in seeing photos of your progress. Especially if you're going to include the "stripes" on the tank.

Best of luck with it!

don't worry, it's not like you're painting a hood or roof.

Killman wrote: Hey Gary,

Are you by any chance trying to reproduce-ish the paint job on the ltd in your profile pic? Because I have the same paint scheme on my 440, and I'd be really interested in seeing photos of your progress. Especially if you're going to include the "stripes" on the tank.

Best of luck with it!

I'd like to reproduce the OEM tank paint scheme - but lack the skills to do the OEM style stripes - might talk to a local painter who I think does that sort of detail work, and see what he says - otherwise, will use custom flame decals to generally match the OEM stripes - rest of the bike is in a 50's style flame motif as it is. Main holdup at present, is locating some side covers for the same paint job - VERY hard to find, and priced like gold when they do come up for sale. I want to keep the current OEM tank and side covers original, and just swap in the tank and side covers that I do the paint job on...

I HEAR you on the side covers. It's been like puling hens' teeth trying to get a matching original set. I've got a used LMR tank and matching cover, with an NOS cover for the other side. Obviously not even close after having spent 30 yrs on a shelf instead of on a bike. I'm really interested to see how your work comes out.

I've also got a used ebony tank with the same motif, but with a silver dollar sized peeling section up top, and 2 NOS ebony side covers with NOS badges.

But until I can get one matching set in reasonable shape, I'm just going to go with a glossy black tank and the NOS ebony covers. It'd be really nice if you found a decent alternative to a paint shop job I just can't afford.

Best of luck, and don't be shy with the pics!

As to the side covers, I've even considered fabricating some up myself, perhaps out of aluminum - but out here in the sticks of eastern Oregon, some materials are hard to come by. Sorta thought about fabbing up a wooden form to use to shape my own covers - perhaps not exactly duplicates of the OEM ones, but a decent substitute if done properly.