DIY Painting Tips

[Timmy Tucker]

I haven't read this whole thread, but I did do a search w/ no luck...

Is there a paint that matches the gold frame color? I wrecked the bike about a month ago and the battery spilled all over the frame and engine and totally wrecked the paint. Gonna black out the engine cases, but want to keep the frame the original color for now.

Thanks

[ducpainter]

I haven't read this whole thread, but I did do a search w/ no luck...

Is there a paint that matches the gold frame color? I wrecked the bike about a month ago and the battery spilled all over the frame and engine and totally wrecked the paint. Gonna black out the engine cases, but want to keep the frame the original color for now.

Thanks

I've never found one.

[ducpainter]

A question for the professional painters.  Do you polish everything? I have painted a few bikes in my garage using PPG and Omni products. Whatever is still legal in California at the time.  And now I'm getting to the point where there isn't always a run or spec of something in the paint.  But there is a general kinda ripply,watery surface to the clear when I'm done.  It's not orange peel or fish eyes or anything, but it is still not a smooth flat surface.  It polishes out fine.  But I'm wondering if I need to concentrate on my technique and gun settings or just invest in a good polisher and pads.  So far I have been doing all the sanding and polishing by hand.

I sand and polish, but only for dust.

[Timmy Tucker]

I've never found one.

Thanks. Thats what I was afraid of. Anything close enough for a touch up? Probably gonna sell the bike this winter and get an S4R/S4RS. Don't wanna sink the time/$$ in a complete tear down and repaint.

[ducpainter]

Thanks. Thats what I was afraid of. Anything close enough for a touch up? Probably gonna sell the bike this winter and get an S4R/S4RS. Don't wanna sink the time/$$ in a complete tear down and repaint.

Is your gas cap gold?

How close is that to the frame?

[Timmy Tucker]

Gas cap is gold. Hard to tell at night, but it appears to be a slightly brighter shade of gold, if that makes sense. Probably close enough though. The bike's pretty rough as it is, not too worried about an exact match.

[ducpainter]

Gas cap is gold. Hard to tell at night, but it appears to be a slightly brighter shade of gold, if that makes sense. Probably close enough though. The bike's pretty rough as it is, not too worried about an exact match.

Have the cap scanned.

[Timmy Tucker]

Never thought of that. Thanks for the help!

[Ddan]

So.  I got it in my head that I'd paint the wheels and frame of the SS track bike red, instead of the mix of white frame and rear wheel and black front wheel.  It's kind of important that I maintain one of the rattiest bikes in the garage so I didn't want to put an enormous amount of time and effort into this, but I did want it to look decent.  Rattle can is the product of choice.  I cleaned and scuffed the wheels, smoothed out the chips and dings, masked off the bearings and rotor mount areas and had at it.   I used an adhesion promoter and Rustoleum Sunrise Red as that is supposed to be a very close match to Ducati red.  Well, first I find out that the temp and moisture recommendations sorta matter, as it took 5 days for the first coat to dry.  No big deal, I've got time.  I get ready for the second coat and as soon as I start spraying the first coat starts wrinkling and lifting, everywhere.  Fack.  I figured I hadn't let it cure enough and the solvents in the new layer of paint made everything go to hell.  Things sat like that for a while before I could get back to it but I had better control of the environment so there were fewer problems, but still bad spots appeared during subsequent coats.  I was basically done screwing with it and it was 'acceptable'  so I top coated with Max 2K 2-part clear.  Again, an 'acceptable' job.  Then I dropped the wheel and scuffed the shit out of it.  Fack, again.  I have just finished sanding with 220 w/d to get it ready for a re-do, and I get this:





It's peeling off in sheets.  Is this still from the original non-cured problem, or am I doing something else wrong?  

[DarkMonster620]

I have no idea what painter is going to tell you but, did you chemically clean the surface so that absolutely no grease was on the surface? Did you actually 'matted' the finish so almost no clear from OEM paint was present?

Most probably you will have to resand to base color, use 380 or 420 grit wet, then smooth out with 800 clean with a good solvent let dry base coat with your adhesion promoter or base coat and let dry and check for irregularities, if you don't mind them leave them if not sand them with 1000 grit and then  color coat . .

That's what I would do after my experience with my and others bikes

[Ddan]

I thought it was very clean.  I sanded the original surface, which I believe is powder coated.

[DarkMonster620]

I thought it was very clean.  I sanded the original surface, which I believe is powder coated.

but how did you clean it? when I am done with sanding, I use water and dishwasher soap and dry with a towel then I use a bit of brake cleaner or thinner on a rag to wipe clean using nitrile gloves so no body grease sticks to part . . .

But you will have to resand the color to get the surface reprep'd

[ducpainter]

How long did you wait before applying the clear?

I thought it was very clean.  I sanded the original surface, which I believe is powder coated.

Stock wheels are painted...at least they were on that old clam.

From the work I saw before you got it there was no powder involved.

[Ddan]

How long did you wait before applying the clear?
Stock wheels are painted...at least they were on that old clam.

From the work I saw before you got it there was no powder involved.

3-4 days between last coat and clear.  That wheel isn't the original, it's I believe post 2000 or so

[ducpainter]

3-4 days between last coat and clear.  That wheel isn't the original, it's I believe post 2000 or so

I'm pretty sure all rattle can stuff needs 7 days.

You realize you could end this pain.