Tank painting for noob

after i type this, im going to go to my basement and take all the paint off my tank. I want to paint it high gloss black, but im not sure what paint to use for the tank. Also, does anybody know of a website with a good paint/polish tutorial?

You gonna spray "real" paint or go the rattlecan route??
If you're gonna go with rattlecans, search back thru the Paint-n-Body topics here and look for posts by
ronboskz650sr and Barneyhyphen.
These would have been.....lemme see....Sept/Oct timeframe, I believe. Good write-ups and great results. I know there's other guys that have done great work, just names escape me at the moment.
Also check out this site:
www.autobody101.com
Theres ALOT of info there AND a good tutorial thats a downloadable .pdf file. Good stuff.
ANYBODY in this forum will tell you the same thing..."Preparation is the key". Surface prep cannot be overdone.
Just dig back thru here and you'll get ALOT of good info. When you get to specific issues and questions, fell free to ask and you'll get good advise and answers.
Dont be afraid.....dive in. Ya never know til ya try....

Post edited by: indykaw77, at: 2005/12/07 05:36

del

Don't forget to read all my great advice on this subject too

I just painted my tank two tone black and gray metallic. I used the dupli-color rattle can stuff that is rated to 500 degrees. According to the can it is also fuel and oil resistant. I haven't tested that though. I sanded to bare metal and then applied three coats of automotive grade 'filler primer.' Allowed full cure between coats and smoothed out with 800 grit. Then I laid on a coat of color (black) and smoothed it out with 800 grit. Then another layer of color and smoothed that one with 800 to get the orange peel and any runs then with 2000 until it was all smooth. I did a third coat of black for good measure and just hit that with the 2000 grit (by that time i had figured out the paint well enough that runs and orange peel were not a major problem). One that was all cured and smoothed out I masked for my gray and shot that on. Then I hit the edges with 2000 grit just to smooth them off a bit. Then came the fun part. A soft rag and 3M automotive polishing compound. A few hours later I have a mirror shine and a sore elbow. Add a little Macguire's wax on top of that and I called it good. I should have pics soon, I am waiting on Christmas for my new laptop. The old desktop is circling the drain and the USB ports have croaked so I can't upload right now. I had great luck with that dupli-color though.

PS Thanks for everyone that offered advice when I was doing that. That paint is thick, not like anything I have worked with before. Great results though.

Post edited by: sputnic81, at: 2005/12/07 01:39

Hey, thanks for the tips and the links fellas. I just shot a coat of duplicolor sandable primer from a can just to see where i need to apply more putty. This was after sanding with only 80 grit, so everything is very rough. Sputnic, is this "filler primer" you used thicker than regular sandable primers, or are they about the same?

I paint cars for a living,I can tell you most rattle can paint will get ruined by spilt gasoline, you should use a good urethane finish, for prep 80 grit will come through sooner or later. I would sand and fill the tank then use a polyester primer surfacer and let it dry for a couple of days then use a soft block with some 180 to put a good flawless surface then reprime with a urethane primer surfacer when dry wet sand with 600 or 800 then apply a basecoat color followed by several coats of urethane clearcoat, this can then be wetsanded with 1000,1500 and finally 2000 grit then buffed to an extreme luster followed by atleast 7 coats of paste wax. Basecoat is easy to apply the clearcoat is a bit tricky if you are not used to it

i cant agree more with agawam. rattle can looks goos for awhile but if you want durability save up for the paint job.rattle can paint is made to be all purpose and dont have the required hardeners to resist gas and brake fluid.deffinatly dont skip the urethane clear and wax.

I don't paint for a living... I sell, rebuild and repair bike carbs so I take them off and put them on a zillion times a day, it seems. The tanks on my carb test bikes get gas all over them all the time. I had my first bike professionally painted and after dropping the tank a couple times, it will need repaint if I want to make the bike pretty. I decided not to worry about gas, oil, nicks, etc on the second bike and went to Walmart and got 6 cans of PURPLE KRYLON. After sanding and priming, I shot the tank and other body parts with the Krylon. It doesn't look great but if I get a gas stain, another quick shot of Krylon will make the tank look just like it did before the gas stain... If you want the paint to hold up over time, get it professionally sprayed or spray it yourself as the sprayed paint has hardeners that rattle can paint can't use. Some of the folks have worked hard and achieved INCREDIBLE results with a rattle can but I am not sure this paint will hold up for the long run.

For pro painting, maybe some of the pro painters on this site will try listing themselves up in the "LINKS" section... even if only an email address. I wouldn't mind finding someone here who would be willing to shoot some body parts with leftover paint from an insurance job... For this, I now use Corolla Autobody in San Antonio and the owner charges me $150. I wait till he has an insurance job and has bought the paint. They normally do fancy low-rider stuff so the insuance job paints are more sedate and to my liking. The guy will do two tone and apply pinstripes for $150 but no bodywork for that price. He applys a base (color) coat and clear coat in standard auto paint... I am not fond of the candys or change-color paints used on most of the low-riders for a bike.

I have a friend who builds/restores classic cars. He invited me to use his booth, suit, and urethane clearcoat for free! If you have a friend in the business, this allows you to pick any color you want, and use the urethane clear with hardener for the gas protection. As he stocks the clear, and uses it for almost every job, the only paint he buys for a customer is the color. That makes the clear an alomost disposable item to him because of the quantity pricing on it, and the small amount I would need. With enough work, we can paint our motorcycles with our own color, for cheap, and use the free clear on top. This just presented itself to me and my son one day at the gas station when this guy was standing next to us, drooled on our new paint and offered it up on his own! I think if you do a high quality rattle can job, and take it to a shop, they'll be impressed enough to do something similar for you at reduced cost. Just a thought.

i used the purple krylon on mine too. it's in the pics section for kz900 been 3 years and the paint is just oxidized a little

Well if someone needed their stuff painted I would be happy to do some, I have a great repore with my paint store and get a lot of missmixes and leftovers from them for nil, I have atleast a thousand cans of mostly basecoat in a wide veriety of colors or can have a standard color mixed. I am in Massachusetts(near springfield)you can PM me or e mail if interested