ok, i am trying to get a gloss finish and its turning out horrible! i am using dupli-color universal flat black then puting a clear coat and the finish is REALLY BAD! crappy shine and its not even smoth it feels like sand paper almost! I used 200 grit sand paper primer and i even wet sanded the primer! i dont get it! please help!!!

 

Are you using paint cans to do this? And you send the clear coat wet with at least 1000 grid, I usually use 1500. You will never get a perfect finish with paint cans.

 

make sure you spray in a dry area without any breeze.

 

yes i am using a rattle can but i have seen WAY better paint jobs out there that look like they were professionally done... i would prefer to get a step-by-step instruction from sombody that has done it before..

if i cant get my test peice to turn out good.. its back to flat mat black again....

 

You're probably not putting a thick enough coat on. Not quite enough paint will give you orange peel -- even less will give you the sandpaper finish.

Also, no need to wet sand the primer. The stuff I used (forget the name) was supposedly no-sand primer but I did have to scuff a couple places with 400. Then tack cloth and paint.

 

You def need to bring that grit rate up 200 is for knocking down body filler.Thatgrit is fine for the step before primer but with out a sealant or filler in the paint its probably going to scratch!!! all paint is going to "orange peel" thats what the wet sanding with 1400 and polishing buffing is to remove the micro scratches but will remove the orange peel in the paint !! One thing thats curious to me why paint "matt black" looking for "gloss" its not supposed to shine !!

 

i thought that you can use any color of paint and put a clear coat and it will be glossy.. oh well... im just going to go back too the flat black and do it the way i did it before because that worked fine and maybe throw a symbol or design in... but thanks guys for the info i appreciat it!

 

are you painting the whole bike flat black because i wanted to do that too.
if so do you happen to have any pics so i can get an idea of what it came out like because i wanted to paint it myself too.

 

I acctually painted my entire bike mat black about a year ago and it turned out damn good! the only thing was that i didnt do the best sanding job on the scratches on the bottom of the fairings because i thought i was going to sell it after i re-painted it.. (i fell in love with the bike) lol.. so this time i thought i might take my time and do it the right way and have it gloss black instead of mat black.. and in the procces i am going to sand the **** out of those scratches so my fairings will look like new!

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b267/spdrmns/F4i5.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b267/spdrmns/F4i4.jpg

ENJOY!

 

i really like the pics it came out real nice. id be happy if i can get it that good. do you mind giving me a short re-cap of what you did and what tools you used.
thanks