Hi everyone, just painted the cans on my 696 dark. Thought I would share:
The heat shields:
These guys are easy to take off, just be careful of the washers. Do not paint them and be careful of when they get stuck to the metal/paint, you might rip them if you are not careful. Use finger nails or a thin blade. And don't tighten to much or you will crush them.
I used a degreaser (Simple Green) and mild soap (hand soap) and water to clean, let them dry for about an hour.
They take the paint pretty easy with no other prep. I did four coats every hour or so. Pay special attention to the edges, these will chip easily so add a fifth coat on them if needed. I also applied two coats to the underside. Let these dry for 24 hours before using.
The Cans:
These were a royal pain on the first try but this new paint was much better. I did five light coats
Clean with degreaser and mild soap and water.
Sandpaper - Use at your discretion. I very lightly roughed up them with 250 paper (I know, I didn't have finer, but like I said, lightly!). Go the length of the cans. You should barely see the scratches. Don't forget to clean them off after this, a microfiber cloth works great here.
Tape the edges - When doing the edges, try to get the masking tape into the spaces, that way you can paint the edge without fear of run off. This takes a bit of patience. Note, clean the parts you'll mask well or the masking tape wont stick. After covering the edges, use a paper towel to cover the holes and the rest, tape these to the edge tape, this should keep it in place. Careful when lifting, get a good grip or you'll rip the tape right off and have to start over. Masking does take a bit of time so be patient here.
Paint - The fun part, go in long strokes, the length of the cans. Go light the first time, dont worry if you can still see silver, you should. Cover both cans at the same time and let dry for about an hour. Same for the second and third coats. Be careful to not start spraying on them, spray to the side and move the spray on to the cans. Careful when you change directions also, if you spray the same place (usually the bottoms/tops) to many times, you'll get a run or two.
After the third coat, examine and apply the fourth, focusing on areas you may have missed. Apply a fifth/sixth if you wish.
Make sure you got the edges too by spraying down in a circle on both ends.
Let them sit for 24 hours and carefully remove the masking take, reattach, dont over tighten and you're done!
The tools:
The tools you need to get the cans and heat shield off
Three cans of Cool IT Thermo Tec Hi-Heat Coating (I only used two, third is for touch ups)
Degreaser - any will do, I used Simple Green
Mild soap and water
Paper towels
Microfiber cloth (optional but very useful)
Latex gloves (optional but keeps the hands clean, girls don't like paint under your fingernails) - Careful with wet painted parts
250 or finer sand paper (optional and you really should use 400)
Paint mask - trust me, you'll need it
Masking tape
A place to paint
Lots of newspaper to mask things you don't want sprayed
Patience that you wont get to ride her for a day or two
Total cost: Less than $50 (Paint is about $10 each at an autoparts store or online)
Total time: About 6 hours excluding 24 hour drying time
Before and After:
[moto]
