for you guys who have rattle canned ur bikes how much time nd money did it take nd how well did they turn out



im just wondering cause my bike is all different colors nd my fairings need some work but i have a bby on the way and cant afford new fairings just wanting to kno if its even worth a shot

 

I painted most of my bike with Rustoleum Engine Enamel, black and clear. My sides are roll on Rustoleum only because I painted my bike that way the first time, I didn't have a spare set like I did with all the other pieces, and I didn't want to try and redo the design I put on there.

For a whole bike, not including the tank, I'd probably use 6-8 cans each of black and clear. Add in another three or four cans of Auto primer for the base, plus whatever sandpaper you need. Maybe add another can or two each for the tank. The good thing about this stuff is that it's gas resistant, so it won't come off if you spill a little gas on it.

I'd guess $150 to $200 total in supplies, and you could finish it in two weekends, one of which is sanding and prep.

My bike isn't professional by any means, but I think it looks pretty good. I'll buy some aftermarket fairings when I have the money, but for now this works nicely. If you really take your time with it, some great paint jobs can come from Rustoleum. When I repainted my back and front fairings, I left it unpolished because I liked the semi-matte look better than the previous gloss. You could conceivably shine everything up like I did with my tank, though.

 

how was the roll on ****

 

A real pain in the ***. It literally took -weeks- because you can only put two coats a day on, and since it's thinned down with mineral spirits it's -real- easy to sand through a day or two's worth of work. It's particularly difficult because you get a lot of orange peel during drying that you need to sand through. If you get frustrated and just paint over it, it'll show when you're done. Plus, you need to keep your roller clean (ideally using a new one for each coat), and you have a lot more supplies laying around cluttering the place up. All those extra rollers add up, increasing the total project cost such that you probably won't save much money using the cheaper roll on paint.

I'm sure a good product can come from rolling on (that link, for instance) but I didn't have the patience for it. I didn't see any degradation of quality going with a spray on, and I could lay down probably 8-10 coats if I really wanted it thick. In practice I did about 3 coats of black, then two coats of clear on top, and saved a lot of time and effort by rattle canning it.

If you have access to an airgun, you could probably buy roll on paint and then spray it on with the airgun. That'd be a nice compromise, but you're still going to want to clear it with Engine Enamel. My first tank paint job had clear rolled on, and when it got (literally) a drop of gas on it after filling up (after days of curing) the paint immediately came up. I'm not sure I can express how mad that made me.

 

why does it have to be rustoleum clear? arent there other clears that wont shrivel to fuel?

 

There probably are, and if so I'd imagine you could use those just fine.

I just wanted to keep my paint brand the same, and the engine enamel stuff is gas resistant.

 

hmm. ive used dupli-color for all my layers. (self etching primer, high build primer, color and clear) i havent gotten to my tank yet. but im now wondering if its not fuel resistant..

 

Get a tube of 2 part platic epoxy (it comes in a funny looking double syringe). Tape the seam then lay a light layer of epoxy into and cracks from the BACK of the crack (this will keep the epoxy from leaving a raised surface at the crack). Allow to cure for 5-10 minutes or whatever is suggested. It should not be bonded pretty strong but I always build up a nice raised bead along the back end (no one sees it anyway).

Fill the outer surface of the seam with a quick LIGHT coat of spot putty. You don't have to get crazy with it, too little is MUCH better than too much (also, try to not mess with the putty, just smear it on in one fast swipe, sanding is much harder than multiple light coats of putty, trust me here!). Sand lightly with dry 200 grit between putty coats. Always clean the surface with a lint free cloth and some solvent after sanding, even if you were wet sanding! You want the surface to be as clean and dry as possible!

Once your cracks are repaired sand through the clear and remove the decals. Then flatten the paint with the dry 200 grit. Try to leave a bit of paint, the bike is painted with an epoxy primer before it is painted and that paint is going to hold better than any spray can etcher you will find!

Hit the panels with 400 wet to smooth it off before you spray primer. I like the Dupli-Color Filler Primer but you can use whatever you like honestly the primer is just to help hide imperfections, so if you are confident in your filler/sanding you can get away with 1 or 2 coats. You can spray the primer pretty heavily because you will probably be sanding a lot of it off anyway if you are new to this. The paper you use will depend on how much work you are willing to do. The more prep you do the better the result usually, but it can be overdone. In other words, you could spend 20 hours sanding a panel with 2000 wet and making it smooth as glass but the end result will not really show all that effort. However if you use 200 dry, it will be obvious. Use your own judgement as to how much work it is worth to you. Buy single sheets of a few grits and do some test sanding and then ask yourself which one you REALLY WANT TO SAND THE ENTIRE BIKE WITH! LOL

You can use Dupli-Color or whatever you like for the base coat. Name brand enamel spray paint is pretty much all the same (just don't get the $0.97 Wal-Mart stuff! You need something that will harden enough to hold the weight of the clear).

I don't know about the Rust-Oleum high temp clear coat. It sounds like an awesome deal if it really does resist gas and sticks well to other enamels! Those pictures show an awesome finish and I am quite impressed. I may price it out and have a go myself when I paint my new bike.

I would suggest you take your panels to a local crash repairer and ask them to spray some clear on your pieces the next time they are running some through a gun. They will probably be willing to do it for a lot less than you think and it will be sure to LAST and stand up to gas!

If you don't have a place to take the panels, or you are unable to make a deal with someone to do it for a price you like. I suggest you buy a 2 part epoxy clear coat and spray it with a "Wagners" style house painting gun. You can probably get the clear and gun for under $150 and it will be well worth the cost IMHO.

Again, the final prep is up to you. The more work you put in the better it will look. If you have to do all the cutting by hand I would recommend a good quality wax and liquid paint sealant to save you some effort.

 

ta my buddy who paints for a living said if i do the prep work he will shoot them for a 100 nd that includes the paint nd all,put i dunno if im that good at prep work never really done to much of it

 

The actual prep work is **** easy... the part that sucks is the amount of time it takes to do it... if you are a patient person I say do it yourself... otherwise work for your money and pay someone to fool you into thinking they did it!