Quote:
Originally Posted by Monkeytofu
Saw this on the random pics on the forum main page, close to what you're going for. |
Hey, that's my bike, in the last color I had it in. It's different now.
That is a three-stage pearl urethane paint job, you won't get that out of rattlecans no matter how hard you try. I know, I tried. I ended up taking paint and body classes at my local community college, it wasn't too expensive and it taught me how to use real paints with real sprayguns.
I honestly wouldn't recommend rattlecan paints at all. They can never cure as hard as catalyzed urethanes, they don't hold up to UV and weathering at all (expect chalking and fading within a year of application, no matter how perfect you think you put it on). It's the nature of using solvent-carried spray can paint that evaporates to dry. Also, whatever you paint with a rattle can will never hold a quality paint again. If you decide in the future to do a real paint job, you'll have to strip off all of the rattlecan paint.
Unfortunately, the biggest expense in painting it yourself using good paints and a basic HVLP gun is the compressor. HVLP guns eat up a lot of air so a compressor that can supply a minimum amount of air for spraying small stuff like bike parts is going to run a couple hundred bucks, and even then you'll be spending a lot of time waiting for the tank to refill.
There are some options, though. If the goal is to get a long-lasting paint job you have to use quality paints. You can get a quart mixed to match your car at most local automotive paint suppliers, check to see if you have a Sherwin-Williams outlet in your town. Take them something like the gas lid from your car, clean and polished first, and they can put it in a machine and get a good match. They can also look up the mix code and mix a quart from that, that will get it really close.
Once you have the paint, clear, and matching catalysts you can buy the equipment to paint it yourself, or pay a shop to paint the parts after you've prepped everything. Prep is key no matter what. The slide-type decals on the tank are under the clear coat, this is to protect them from any spilled gasoline. All the other decals are vinyl on top of the clear and can easily be removed. Remove the vinyl decals on all parts aside from the tank using a heat gun on low or a hair drier on high, you want to heat the area carefully until the decal becomes stretchy. The adhesive will let go before the vinyl will tear, but barely. Much hotter and the plastic will deform permanently, so it's better to pull the vinyl when it's a little less stretchy.
Once all the vinyl's off, you will need to sand the tank in the area of the decals to get those off. Those are wet-slide decals rather than adhesive so they're very thin. I've tried sanding them off without damaging the paint underneath and it's virtually impossible. Sand that flat area until the decals are gone, bare metal will be exposed. Get a can of etching primer from a quality paint supply, I use Sherwin-Williams for instance, and prime that area immediately. You'll need to put a few coats on, then wet-sand with 400 or higher to blend the edges in with the painted areas.
For all other painted areas, the only prep you need to do is to use a grey Scotchbrite pad (different colors are different roughness, so use grey) until there are no shiny spots at all, anywhere. Anywhere it's shiny the paint will peel. So, work that pad down into the corners, around all edges, etc.
Once all the pieces are prepped you can then either paint yourself, or pay a shop to spray it. Trust me, a good shop will be appreciative of a quality prep job and the cost of spraying should be very reasonable.
Single stage colors are the easiest and cheapest to spray, the clear is basically built into the color.
Two stage, that's base color with a clear over it, is more expensive because of the extra materials, but generally yields a longer-lasting paint job.
Three stage paint jobs use two base color coats, generally a solid or metallic first followed by the translucent main color, with the clear being the final third stage. Those are the most expensive to do, not only because of the three different materials, but because applying a translucent color evenly is a major PITA and someone with a good eye for doing it is worth paying a lot more money. That orange candy in the above photo took me all night in the paint booth and was one of the hardest jobs I ever did.
Anyhow, hope some of this helps.