New paint job

**Ms Piggy** · 12th May 2004, 18:50

I have been seriously thinking about redoing the paint job on the bitchin' mobile. As much as I love the originality of the paint job there are a few of reasons for changing it:
1/ Before I bought it off my flatmate it got stolen & scratched a little.
2/ It seems to be getting a few more chips of paint coming off.
3/ I'm a social work student & it's a little dodgey having a bike that says "Bitchin' Mobile", "Killa Pussy", "Lik Me" on it.

My flatmate originally did it with cans & that worked ok but I'm just wondering how many coats of laquer to apply and how far back do I sand it...and wot sort of sand paper do I use?

Also is it really a better idea to wait until summer when it's warmer?

**wkid_one** · 12th May 2004, 19:20

First Cut for you without the Names on it as requested

**Motoracer** · 12th May 2004, 19:28

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

3/ I'm a social work student & it's a little dodgey having a bike that says "Bitchin' Mobile", "Killa Pussy", "Lik Me" on it.?

Firstly

!!!

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

My flatmate originally did it with cans & that worked ok but I'm just wondering how many coats of laquer to apply and how far back do I sand it...and wot sort of sand paper do I use?

Also is it really a better idea to wait until summer when it's warmer?

Heres what I'd do.

1) Take apart the bits to be painted away from the bike.
2) Take off all the stickers etc.
4) Pick an easy part like your front mud guard to start the work on.
3) Sand it down with a 150 grit sand paper. Some people use paint thiners to remove the old amature paint job but due to different chemical reactions, I'd stay away from them. Since you don't know the quality of the paint that your mate used, its a good idea to get rid of all of it. If you leave some patches of the old paint, it can still react with the new paint later on and kill your whole job.

5) So you'v done all the hard work of sanding it down. All you have to do before you start spraying is cleaning the surface. Once its throughly clean, dry it proplerly.
6)Now comes the joy of using primers. Depending on which is going to be your final colour, you should pick the primer accordingly. Red primer for any colour with red in it or grey for blue colour etc. Ask the paint guys, the'll sell you the right one.
7) Spray the primer on your Mud guard and do about 3 - 4 coats leaving the recommended time between them. .
8) Leave a day for it to dry properly.
9) Go over it with the 800 grit sand paper lightly
10 Clean the surface again.
11) Let it dry properly.
12) Then you do your painting. Spray it a few times until your happy with it.
13) Let it dry again for a day.
14) Use laqure on it as much as you want again.
15) Let it dry for a day.
16) Buff it to a showroom finish.
17) Now if every thing works, you can work on the rest of the bike. This way, if you mess up, your only messing up a tiny part of the whole job and can learn from it easily.

I have only coverd the basics in here. Painting is really really hard work as you'll know if you haven't tried so best of luck!

I was gonna go crazy when I spent little over 3 months painting 1 of my ZXRs and 4 more months painting the other one.

P.S. if you have humid or cold condtions, you'll get the most horrible cloud like white formation in your paint job that wont go away. Meaning, paint it again!

So definetly do it over hot sunny days. Best time to paint is at noon on a hot summer day.

**Ms Piggy** · 12th May 2004, 19:30

Originally Posted by wkid_one

First Cut for you without the Names on it as requested

Thanks!!

I think I want a different colour. Maybe a metallic aqua or silver.

**FROSTY:Me** · 12th May 2004, 19:30

you need to talk to my boarder hes a painter by trade.. Basicly the more prep time you put in the better the finish.
Nowadays with modern paints you need to get a decent key for the primer to bond to. also because sidecovers and tailpieces are plastic and flex you'll need a plastic primer as a first coat.
As I recall It went
1) sand all the area to be painted with 400 grit wet and dry paying particular attention to the edges of any stone chips which need the edges well smoothed off.
2) fill any small dents and sand totally smooth
3)spray on primer coat and walk away for 24 hours
4)with 600 grit wet and dry used wet sand the entire surface again
make sure at this stage you have a blemish free surface.
if not repeat steps 2 and 3 untill its perfecly smooth.
sand again with 1200 grit wet n dry --wet
5) at this point wet down the floor where you are a going to paint--this reduces dust
6) apply a dust coat of paint and allow to dry for an hour
7)apply 4 more coats of paint -thin is best- let dry48 hours sand with wet n dry 2000 grit -used wet
8) apply 4 coats of clear coat
9) let dry 48 hours
the alternative is to buy a second hand tank and sidecovers and put em on the bike
theyll probably be as cheap as the paint job but nowhere near as much fun

**Ms Piggy** · 12th May 2004, 19:34

Originally Posted by Motoracer

Firstly

!!!

Yeah I think it's halarious but I'm always just a little nervous that someone may take it a bit too seriously and then it's the ethics of it for me in my chosen profession.

Cheers for that advice! Yeah I think it will be a summer job then.

**wkid_one** · 12th May 2004, 19:40

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

Thanks!!

I think I want a different colour. Maybe a metallic aqua or silver.

Try these on for size

**FROSTY:Me** · 12th May 2004, 19:47

try the blue--its the same color as the tailpiece ive got for ya

**wkid_one** · 12th May 2004, 19:56

Now let's Bling the fucker out!

**Two Smoker** · 12th May 2004, 20:17

Originally Posted by wkid_one

Now let's Bling the fucker out!

LMAO

but wheres the titanium coloured exhausts???? With initial sanding i find P150 to harsh and P400 not harsh enough, i prefer to use P200-240

but thats just for initial sanding.....

**KATWYN** · 12th May 2004, 20:26

Ohhh I like that aqua bluey green that wicked has posted a thumb pic of.

Killa Pussy....lik me

you are brave, I would blush just taking it
out- if that was me I woulda scratched or stickered that one off right from the start

I qualified (well second qual- finished up before trade cert) as a car painter in Wellington in the late 80's, am a bit rusty on it now, but can answer some questions on painting cars & bike tanks. Hard to say with out seeing it, also the best thing to do will depend on how thick the origional paint job is. It might be worth stripping it right back in acid and starting again if paint is half an inch thick and chipping off....just had a look at your bike in your profile, doesnt look too bad probably feather the stone chips back and undercoat. 80 grit dry if the chips are bad.

**Holy Roller** · 12th May 2004, 22:57

Best colour is black Black BLack BLAck BLACk( i'll just stop short of shouting at ya)

but worst for prep work it has to be just right before paint is applied.

after the paint job may be time to apply some of that 3M film protector that is being put on bikes these days.
Not sure how well it polishes up tho. but stopes those annoying chips and scratches.