I want to paint my 95 F3. I was wondering how much paint it would take to paint this bike and how much clear I am going to need. Any advice of how the process goes would be very helpful.
Where can I get the paint from, how much paint, what grain of wet sand paper should I use, and what kind of repair kit has anyone used for the cracks or fiber kits.

I want to say thanks for any advice in advance.

 

As far as the repair kits for cracks and holes I recomend bondos' fiber glass mesh with the resin/jelly sand it smooth than finish it up with bondos

 

....whoops hit done too soon)

Anyways after you sanded the fiberglass smooth use bondos' body filler and sand that smooth try to get a nice flat or curve surface depending on what part your working on. I have just finished the main part of bondo and fiberglass on my F2s' uppers cut the turn signals off and fibered over them also fixed a major hole by the windscreen and its holding up great. Just remember patience and really make sure it's right. But as far as painting I don't know cause I'm just gonna rattle can mine. Feel free to check out some of the pictures of my repaired uppers on my profile If it helps ya at all and good luck with the project.

 

For just the fairings you shouldn't need more than just a quart of base coat, but most of the reputable companies don't sell clear in less than 1 gallon increments. Some of the specialty manufacturers such as House of Kolors sell in quart size but you'll spend nearly as much for that quart after you buy reducer and activator as you would for one of the other manufacturers gallon with enough reducer and activator for a quart. I would recommend going with something like Dupont's Chromasystem. It lays down really well and wet sands and buffs with minimal effort. It is a bit costly, though most of the better lines of paint are. You can get cheaper stuff to work with, but you get what you pay for.

 

If your my money is tight you can get:
1= pint of color-----$40-100.
1= quart of reducer----$45-70.
1= quart of clear ---- $37.(with hardner). I can give you the model number just pm me. I use this clear for most stuff i spray. It sprays pretty easy.It buffs out pretty good if you into cut and buff paint jobs. I paint and airbrush often. If you reduce the pint, you will have enough(you might no think so)to do just fairings. if you want to do wheels and maybe swingarm go with a quart!

 

Well yea there are different other brands like shop line (used to be omni I think) and DuPont has one too but can't think of it right off hand...maybe Nason? Those are decent but I've found they don't always last as long. A rep for DuPont when I worked for Freightliner once told me that the lower quality lines from the big manufacturers were usually paints that had been in barrels for a few years unsold, so when they make more, they relabel the paint and sell it as the lower lines, so still the same exact paint as the better lines. The only difference is in both the UV additives breaking down over time that are better in fresh paint and some moisture gets in the barrels over time from condensation, which is why you sometimes notice a difference in how thick the paint is. A pint is a good amount for just fairings, but I also like to have a bit left over in case I fab other parts to go on my bike and want to paint them later. Plus, maybe fairings, wheels, frame, etc it you decide to do those the same color. I personally use the higher lines of paint due to the color options involved. If I'm painting a car a factory color I don't mind going with a lower line of paint, but if I'm going with something custom, there are better pigment options to go with using Dupont Chromasystem, Hot Hues, some of PPG's lines tho I usually don't get PPG, and just about anything House of Kolors. The last thing is if you are painting a lot of stuff, you get more consistent results from the better lines. Painting with the lower lines, you may get results on one job that are smooth as butter, barely any orange peel, great flow out. Then the next job mixed the exact same way in the same temps and same humidity with a different color may either run terrible because it comes out so thin or orange peel all over that takes hours longer to sand and buff. Yea, the higher lines nearly always orange peel a bit more, but you can get into a comfortable groove painting because it's always gonna be the same results. I know this isn't exactly helping the OP much, but it does give more in depth info as to what is different about each type of paint. By the way, I do go with above recommendation. Go with cheaper paint, especially if you don't do it all the time. We are talking 10 years before it starts showing age vs 12-15 years on a paint job that is well kept but sees a lot of sunlight, e.g. a bike that gets ridden. Only show cars see longer lifespans and only then if the garage is humidity controlled and heated.

 

hey guys, i just messed up the body on my bike. i was thinking of getting now set of plastics, but seeing as this is my first bike and i am likely to put it down again. i was thinking of just simply spray painting the kit so that i can easily touch it up as i got. is this possible or will this not work out? i don't realy care about making it look pretty, seeing as i'll probably scratch it up again. thoughts?

 

You can do it. There are many "rattle" can jobs that look great. But you can't touch it up as simply as you're thinking you can with a spray paint.


However, one option for what you're talking about would be truck bed liner. There have been more than a few people do that. And with that, you could simply pull the can out, paint some more on, and after it dried - you wouldn't be able to tell.

bed liner






But from now on Sean, you should start your own thread about it rather than bringing an old thread back from the dead.

 

Wow. I'm actually planning on using a turntable bed liner for customizing the bike, have you done it befor? As in have you painted your bike with bed liner?

 

Wait - How about Plasti-dip? That's the hottest new craze, and the prep time is is minimal. Furthermore, the wait time for finished paint to be usable is low, and if you choose you can peel it and start over with a different color, or make it very hard to peel.