Spraying undertray & seat cowl

Hi all. I need to get an undertray and seat cowl sprayed, can any of you guys recommend anyone, preferably in East Sussex?

 

Do it yourself, they're pretty easy shapes and if you've just bought them they'll come in a gel coat finish that's only a tack away from ready to paint.

If you need any tips and advice, or a complete walk through ask Finchy as he's just finished painting his whole bike!

 

Give Tim a ring:- http://www.brileycoachworks.com/

 

Yeah ask Finchy, his bike looks ace

 

I've been thinking of doing it myself and will probably end up doing so, just a little worried of making a balls up of it.

 

Awww thanks fellas, you make me blush.

EB Ninja - if you bring it up to me, I'll do it for you in exchange for a bottle of JD. I'm in North Kent though, so it's couple of miles from you. I've got some 2K lacquer left, so that'll save you a few quid too.

You'll need a large can of plastic primer and some 600grit wet&dry from Halfords (or similar), plus whatever paint you want.

If you want to do it yourself, it's pretty straightforward... as long as you take your time.

 

Thanks for the offer Finchy. Not sure what i'm going to do yet. I emailed bike-paint.co.uk yesterday for a quote for primer, paint and lacquer and they replied with:


"We can supply this colour in cellulose paint which will dry to a gloss
finish and will not need a lacquer. You will need to rub down the gel coat,
primer, rub down and then apply the green.

400ml aerosol Kawasaki Green is £19.90 including postage.
500ml aerosol primer £8.95 including postage."


Would you recommend doing it this way are going down the lacquer route?

 

Personally I'd apply lacquer, primarily since the surface will have a more durable finish. The acryllic paint I used also dries to a gloss, but I wanted it to be reasonably 'scratch-proof', hence the clear coat.

If you're wanting to paint both the undertray and the hugger, I'd say that you'll need two cans of each as it's always good to have some spare paint. Maybe also try BSB Paints in Rochester, although by the looks of if, the prices are about the same.

In short though, wet&dry the gel coat to remove the shine. Spray everything with light coats primer, ensuring that you rub down in between dried coats with very wet 800gt. It really is a case of 'two steps forward, one back' as when you think that you've got a good finish, you have to mess it up by rubbing it down again! As a little tip, ensure that you've got an angle-poise lamp (or similar) in your garage as this'll help to show any defects through shaddow / reflection.

When the suface is nicely primed and smooth, clean it off with a paint-prep wipe and tack cloth. Then repeat the 'primer' process with paint, but use 800gt wet&dry paper. Leave each coat to dry in warm (dust free) place for a good few hours at least.

If you decide not to apply lacquer, your final top coat of paint can be slightly thicker. Once it's dried for a day or two, lightly rub down the surface with 1200gt paper (again, very wet). Then do the same with 2500gt paper. To finish, use a cutting compound on a damp cloth before a final polish-over with a damp polishing paste.

Then wax & polish LOTS.

With the cost of the paint, time, compounds, wet&dry etc etc, it's almost easier to buy the panels pre-painted. However, it's not nearly as satisfying! If you need them, there are lots of tutorials on YouTube... although Skortchio's quite a Guru on the subject, so I'm sure he'll advise (as he did with me).

 

Aww, you're sweet
You pretty much nailed it there though, Finchy. Good work young padowan.

If you spray with celly, then definitely use a laquer as the paint just isn't as hard as 2k and unless you have some BA gear you don't want to be spraying 2k in your garage.
It's okay to apply all your paint in one session (not 1 coat!) providing you've done a good job of preparing.
Be sure to leave a good day drying time (more in colder weather) before starting your sanding.
Laquer is a bit of a double edged sword, it will give a superior finish as well as durability and is far, far easier to correct small mistakes when applying because it's clear, plus the final cutting and polish is less prone to showing swirl marks (mostly a problem on darker colours of paint).

The main things to add to Finchy's excellent post, are:

• Preparation is everything, spend the time on the prep and get a wicked finish (see Finchy's thread), if you skip here you won't see it until you apply your final coats and then it's a long way back to rectify.
• Make sure you use a suitable colourered primer for your chosen top colour but the paint shop should advise you on this.
• Don't go overboard sanding the primer coats, you want smooth but the point of a primer apart from giving a consistent under colour is to provide a strong 'key' for the paint to adhere too. Don't sand primer above 600-800 grit. 600 for etch primer, 800 for celly.
• A dab of washing up liquid in your water will stop the paint sticking to the wet&dry paper.
• Don't press down on the paper when sanding! This is a common mistake and easily done when there's a bit of paint that won't flatten. If you can't smooth it without a little pressure, change grit. Let the paper do the work. As you get a feel for it you will find what you can and can't fix by elbow grease. They make a range of grits, use them.
• Colour coats are best put on thin, generally getting thinner as you approach the final coat. If mixing the paint yourself that means a thinner mix instead of less coat.
• Laquer has to go on thicker, paint will build up and make a solid coat. Laquer will lay on top of itself and leave a wobbly finish.
• Lastly, if something goes wrong then STOP. Clean up your gear, have a cup of tea and come ask.

Okay, so that makes it sound pretty daunting but it's really not, it does take a bit of patience but the results are well worth it.

Look at any bike that's been painted with time and care, compared to a factory finish and you'll see the difference.
(There is a slight risk you'll then not be happy with the rest of your paintwork and want to do all of it )

I'd say give it a shot, weather's crap at the moment anyway

 

quick tip for getting a nice flat primer layer is to get some cheap black paint, or white if its a dark primer, and give it a quick dust with it before sanding.. that way youl know when youve got rid of the high spots... i picked up some spray cans at the pound shop.. used them to paint some tools and bits that needed coating , but works a treat for this .. . nice writeup there finchy and skortch

 

Only possible issue you might run into is if you are using etch primer, which is normally 2k. You can paint celly over 2k but not 2k over celly, you'll get crinkle cut paint

 

il have anose at the paint see what it is ... i havnt had any issues so far though.. although with guide coats i only spray the thinnest of dustings anyway. the theory is the same, just begrudge using expensive paint for it must admit never painted base coat with 2k , always used celly before . well using my compressor anyway. only paint spraying ive done with a 2k was laquer over a halfords paint , which was all aerosol .. not sure on the exact composition of the halfords stuff . assume a 1k acrylic....

 

Haha, you'd know if it was 2k as it stinks (and is highly toxic). Halfords and most off the shelf rattle cans are probably celly, for safety reasons.

Principle is sound enough, just wanted to make sure Eb didn't suddenly have a panic fit if his fairing went like a bag of McCains

 

yes it def stinks although i try not to breathe it in . my comp isnt up to feeding an air supply and spraying aswlel so hence never sprayed with it.. will have a nose to see what halfords paints are now as it was def 2k laquer, and i had no issues with reactions etc

 

It may be that it was a synthetic 2k, 'real' stuff cures by chemical reaction and contains thinners - if you spray it onto celly it will eat into the paint as celly isn't resistent to thinners even when dry.

 

nope turns out the majority of halfords colours are all acrylic based
lol also i checked the side of an old can i have, and it evens says acrylic in the small print - doh ...

 

That'd make sense, safer still than celly and easier to work with.

 

tbh i wasnt really paying much attention to what i was using as it was a pc case i was trying some ideas out on... sprayed it on left it 4 weeks and it was still really soft paint so when i did some spraying on a panel i used what was left of the 2k to laquer the case ... worked real well....

 

Halfords rattle can paints are acryllic. TBH I've been pretty pleased with the quality, and the 2K I bought from a specialist supplier seems good too.

I've had to repaint the frikkin petrol tank again today (for the second time). First time, a fly landed on (and eventually settled IN the lacquer) in a very obvious area. Obviously, I then had to try and wet&dry it out when it dried. It didn't work very well and I ended up having to take an area back to primer to get rid of the imperfection. Blah blah blah - all repainted, lacquered, cut & polished. Tank back on the bike today and connected up. Now, having had the tank under some decent lights, I've been giving it a really good polish... only to find a small amount of white dots IN the lacquer right on the top of the tank- probably overspray from my first 'repair' (although to be fair, you have to have your nose on the tank to see it). Bollocks. Sooo, tank off again. Masked-off the affected area, wet&dry again and a new coat of paint to cover the dots.

EBNinja - you've got all of this 'fun' to look forward to.

 

Ps - my 2K didn't contain a seperate 'activator' - it mixed the chemicals as it atomised. That also means that you can store part-used cans and don't have to keep it in the fridge. That's handy as I wouldn't want to squirt it on my strawberries.

Needless to say, the lacquer does stink, although the smell doesn't linger as long as the paint one. Either way, it saved a fortune on narcotics .