well the rattlecan stopped laughing when I slapped an 80 grit pad on the da. Of course since the engine cover was already f'ed up, I wasn't too concerned.

But I'm not going to use the same grit pad on the main fairings I'm using to prep a swingarm for polishing either

 

I just finished spraying my bike the other day.
All I can say is make sure you achieve the right velocity out of your gun and make sure that your gas tank is either completely full or completely empty when you paint it.

When I painted my tank, the clear coat somehow got ****ed up due to the fact that there was still liquid in the bottom of the tank. The gas inside the tank affected the rate that the clear coat dried (outside the tank of course) and now I have two different surface textures and I'm spending hours on end switching between polishing compound and 2000 grit.

 

Pays to give them a drain before you start mate, no water trap on it?
It sucks rubing back and redoing , but if your using 1k no big deal, 2k on the other hand

 

I got all my plastics primed but I don't know what other additives I need to add to the paint? Any help?

 

What kind of paint did you get and where from? If you went to a automotive paint shop, they should have told you the amounts to reduce it and such. Same if bought online.

If its a premix like Duplicolor from Pepboys / Autozone, nada is necessary. Just spray and pray Actually been reading up on this and its less exact science and more 'art'.

 

Well haven't bought the paint yet, but I'm thinking about buying the duplicolor. If I don't have to mix anything then I think I will go with duplicolor. Its my first paint job. Well see how it comes out, If not I'll strip and repaint again.

 

Going with the duplicolor paint system myself. I chose that because it's my first time painting too. And I figure its better to learn with the $21 stuff first. I'm already eyeing House of Kolor's chameleon paints for next year

 

You could also check out NAPA. They have 'crossfire' 2k paints that are pretty cheap. (Martin Senour/Sherwin Williams paint).
I've also used the 5-star Hybrid Primer (epoxy/urethane). It's good stuff. Sands and sticks well. It seems to stick to Polyurethane really well, too.
Just a thought.
I think the primer was like $115 for a gallon, with a quart of hardener. $36 for a quart. Not bad.
The paint isn't that much more.

 

I used duplicolor black for mine. Make sure you sand the **** out of everything.

 

look for a product called flex... it does exactly that to the paint... it adds the ability to flex and bend without cracking or chipping