Painting my Gas Tank

[a.kozak]

My buddy has a 2000 ZZR250 which has been dropped a few times now.
He's ordered some new fairings to put on the bike but they're a different colour from the originals.
The original fairings were a mix of black and red and he's changing it to black and white.
His only issue with the new fairings is that the gas tank is a combination of black and red and won't match.
We want to paint the upper half of the gas tank white so everything will blend.
Does anyone have experience with repainting their gas tank? Any tips or recommendations so we don't run into any problems?
We're thinking of using PlastiDip for a cheap solution right over the red but we're worried it might not look good or hold up over time.
Thanks for the help!

[alex.s]

how to paint:

clean, clean, clean, sand, clean, sand, clean, clean, clean, sand, clean, clean clean, paint, dry, sand, clean, paint, dry, sand, clean, paint, paint, paint, sand, clean, sand, clean, sand, clean, sand, sand, sand, clean, polish, wax.

[Joshorilla]

Well, I would paint the fairings to match the tank, the tank will get a lot of crotch wear and plastidip may rub off over a while.

[Daks]

Originally Posted by alex.s

how to paint:

clean, clean, clean, sand, clean, sand, clean, clean, clean, sand, clean, clean clean, paint, dry, sand, clean, paint, dry, sand, clean, paint, paint, paint, sand, clean, sand, clean, sand, clean, sand, sand, sand, clean, polish, wax.

Pretty much this. Painting my whole bike currently.

Get all the clearcoat off. You can use an orbital sander but make sure it's not manic because the tanks can have 14+ layers of paint on them and if you sand down edges, they'll get a faceted look that shows up after it's painted again. Evenness is key. It's safest to wet-sand but it will literally take days so it depends on how long you've got.

Don't go down to the metal.
Keep all water ever forever out of the tank. Clean the tank with clean gas afterward. Make sure no paint-chips fall in. They can clog your carbs.


I recommend sanding and repainting the entire tank for evenness and knowing it's all prepped well, and won't have sticking problems.

Use primer! White, preferably, because that red is going to show like hell under anything lighter than it.