wats up everyone? im getting a new rear fairing,im doing the tail swap on my 04, but the fairing is sivler. my bike is balck and yellow. i want the tail black,can i use spray paint from like an auto store? what do i have to do with the silver paint on the tail,sand it?? i've never painted any body work and have no idea how to go about doing it. im not looking for the best paint job. im not the kind of guy that has to have a spotless,absolutly clean bike. trying not to spend to much money either.

 

Iam spray painting my plastics where I have done some epoxy repairs, from the last owner [s] one of them laid it down and did a half *** repair job, Iam working claas poor so Iam doing all that I can do myself, [they do make rattle can paint for plastic,and you will want to get your self some sand paper, and go to town, Iam sure you'll want to rough it up w/ course like 100 grit then work up to some fine like1000 use some primer then paint it black]. again thats what Iam doing, or if you got the money you can have someone that knows what thier doing do it for you, i'll let you guys know how it all turns out when Iam done with my bargain paint and body

 

usually painting consists of 3 steps - primer, paint, clearcoat.. this is to get a nice shine and protection to the paintjob.. cool thing is - if you got a compressor and just buy a sprayer for like $30 and get alittle paint, you can have so much fun haha.. (bikes are so much eaiser then cars.. you dont have to mark off the windshield.. you just take off the fairing haha).. you can do an easy spray paint job if you like - it's the same, but i recommend you get a clearcoat can too (i think they have them)..

give me like 5 minutes and ill get some how to sites on to spray paint, or paint..

but to the question, yes you need to sand it (need to get it rough so the paint sticks really)..

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ok, this aint the best link and it's the ugliest car ever and paint haha.. but http://www.psychopanic.com/spraypaintcar.php

black is easy to do.. you base coat it, then sand, paint, *sand, paint again*, then clearcoat (* you can, put a couple of layers of paint to get a nicer finish.. watch the orange peel and watch for overspray, will cause dripping*).. clear coating a couple of times gives it a higher gloss finish, kind-of like a nice reflection.. you have to clearcoat, sand, clearcoat (always sand to get the inpurifsions out of the work, it also makes it rough to let the next spray stick to it)..

you will need to sand in a "X" way too, stroke digonially bottom-left to top-right, then stroke digonially bottom-right to top-left.. all this gives the finish product a better look, actually your tail will looks 10 times better then your front haha..

but experiment, read up alittle bit on painting.. but it's a fun hobby to do, especially on bikes..

I do wish i had my "how to" videos, but i think they are at the summer home... it's a great video but sorry =/

 

not sure why all the lines, hope my bike dont turn out as bad

 

city worker has got the right idea, forgot what grid size they were.. you coarse it first (100 grit), then paint it with the primer, then fine grid it (more like 800 grid, i think 1000 might be too fine).. then re-paint...

wow i just looked at that link i put up.. bad link, my bad.. let me keep looking for a better one

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http://www.modelairplanenews.com/how..._painting1.asp

 

yea, lots of good painting web sites available. be sure you use a de-waxwer / de-greaser BEFORE you sand the fairing. otherwise, you just embed any wax/silicates deeper into the surface. can cause major problems with the basecoat / clearcoat. i painted my fairing this past summer after a drop. i just started sanding it down without the proper cleaning; needless to say, i had to start over and do it right the second time.

if you are going for an (nearly) exact factory match. go to www.colorite.com. otherwise, take a sample piece to an automotive paint store and they have a machine that will analzye and come up with a fairly close (but not necessarily 100% exact match). be warned though, automotive paints are very expensive - AND DEADLY; be sure you have proper ventilation and a good respirator that can handle the automotive paints. usually those types of respirators are only good for a matter of hours so don't open the package until ready to use, then put them back in a sealed bag when you are done for the day.

HVLP is the preferred spray system but you need a compressor with high CFM output. the HVLP guns are fairly inexpensive but a high output compressor is not. for all the money i put into painting my fairing, i could have probably bought 3 new ones from ron ayers. but i did have fun and leaned some new things.


here is a link to a very good auto painting forum: http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

here is the color rite web site: http://www.color-rite.com/



gw

 

hey i got a question about drops.. what happens when you get get some deep scratches in the fairings? just bondo it? because i dont know how plastic really works, I usually work with metal...

 

you can use that. that is what i used (the 2 part stuff). however, what was highly recomended is a filler named Evercoat. here is a link: http://www.evercoat.com/productCategory.aspx they have a lot of products for every application.
you can get it at an automotive paint supply store. it is what the pros use. like i say, i've never used it but if i have to do anything in the future (god forbid), then i'll give it a try. the thing they said about Evercoat is that it has minimal shrinkage when it dries.

gw

 

its gonna be a pain. me and my buddie painted his suzuki 500f using cans. this is what we did. sanded the whole thing (god it took WAY more work than i thought it was going to) after it was finally smooth. primer, light sanding with a real fine grain to get the "Fuzzies" off it. then put down a few good coats. then color wetsand it with 1000 i think we used. let dry then spray the hell out of it with a clear coat. used about 11 cans of that. the bike came out looking WAY better than i thought it would. it looked perfect actually. then more sanding... alot more sanding. i'll see if i can get some pics off him when we finished. right now we're doing the same thing with using White paint, but this time we're goign to use a gun for the clear coat.

 

i got my own sprayer and compressor.. just easier then using a spray can.. but yeah, i like Evercoat alot.. I just didnt know if there was bondo for plastic - and i look for the best because in vegas, it gets up to 118 degrees and you know what that does to bondo.. some idoit totally bondo my 1969 camaro hood (he didnt really sand it down to find the dents) and when it hit summer, so many fricken cracks started to come up.. I'm so pissed at the newbie that did it, but i'm getting a new hood for it soon anyways..

I guess I shouldn't be b*tching, got it cherried for $8,000 - way worth it..

another question gary, what about broken fairing? any way to salavage it? solder melt the parts back together? Just wondering