Professional paint job at home - how do I do it?

[nudedaytona]

Not terribly sharp, are you? Have you even read some of the helpful responses you've had?
Perhaps you can answer a simple question...do you want a rough job or a good job?

We aren't all professional painters out of work in this weather with nothing better to do but scratch their balls and lecture people on how to paint.

Some of the responses aren't that helpful. For instance - "sanding needs to be done using 800 to 2000 grit sandpaper". Well what should it be be - 850 or 1365 or 1800 grit?

Another stupid question - What does wet sanding mean?

[MSTRS:Me]

We aren't all professional painters out of work in this weather with nothing better to do but scratch their balls and lecture people on how to paint.

Some of the responses aren't that helpful. For instance - "sanding needs to be done using 800 to 2000 grit sandpaper". Well what should it be be - 850 or 1365 or 1800 grit?

Another stupid question - What does wet sanding mean?

I'm not a painter but I do work alongside car painters from time to time. You asked a question, you've been given the answers, but you don't seem to be paying attention. Do you want the answers or not?

[vindy500]

We aren't all professional painters out of work in this weather with nothing better to do but scratch their balls and lecture people on how to paint.

Some of the responses aren't that helpful. For instance - "sanding needs to be done using 800 to 2000 grit sandpaper". Well what should it be be - 850 or 1365 or 1800 grit?

Another stupid question - What does wet sanding mean?

means start with 800, then move to like 1200 then 1600 then 2000 or something, getting progressively smoother. wet sanding means you wet the sandpaper

[nudedaytona]

means start with 800, then move to like 1200 then 1600 then 2000 or something, getting progressively smoother. wet sanding means you wet the sandpaper

I thought so, because sanding while the paint is still wet would be messy.

[nodrog:Me]

I thought so, because sanding while the paint is still wet would be messy.

surely you are taking the piss

[Coyote]

We aren't all professional painters out of work in this weather with nothing better to do but scratch their balls and lecture people on how to paint.

Some of the responses aren't that helpful. For instance - "sanding needs to be done using 800 to 2000 grit sandpaper". Well what should it be be - 850 or 1365 or 1800 grit?

Another stupid question - What does wet sanding mean?

I'm not a pro, but I'm learning. I should know all you need to know though.

You won't get a professional job done at home. But you could still get a real nice finish. I've seen mates bikes that look great that have been done at home, Sketchy_Racer's old 125 for example.

What state are your fairings currently in? Can't know where to start unless I know that much.

Wet sanding is when you dunk the sandpaper in water and sand the panel. You keep the paper and surface wet so the dust gets washed away. There's dry and wet sandpaper. Dry paper will break up. Wet paper will say waterproof on the back of it.

There are several types of sandpaper grit. 12-120 grit is panelbeater stuff. Too course for what you want. 240 would be good if you've got bog that needs sanding back. 320 or a grey scotch pad will be good for scuffing the surface before priming (can use 240, but best read the back of the can of primer what scratches that primer is able to fill. Sandable filling primer is the best).

500 is good for scuffing the primer, making it smooth. When you're doing this, spray a light coat of the paint you'll be using to make a 'guide coat'. You'll also need a sanding block. The guide coat will show up any low spots as you sand with the block. Keep sanding until you don't see any more guide coat and the surface should be straight.

Apply the paint following the instructions on the can. It'll tell you time between coats and such. If you get bits of crap in the paint, 1000 wet paper will get them off and be scuffed enough to spray more paint on.

The paint you'll have access to (at Repco or Supercheap) will be Lacquer. This is definitely not what professionals use nowadays, but it'll be fine for at home use. 2 Pack paint like what the pros use is cyanide based and you need specialist equipment not to get yourself poisoned. Lacquer is easier to spray anyway (2 pack can give you an 'orange peel' look).

Sketchy's bike like I mentioned before was done with a spray gun and compressor. Not sure what paint he used. There's no reason why a spray can can't do the same job, just takes more time and they can splatter paint which will then need sanding back.

Any professionals can revise this a bit or add anything I've missed. I'm still learning.

Ultimately I got sick of not knowing what I was doing at home which is why I've gone to Weltec to study Auto Refinishing. Course, I didn't have anyone telling me all this.

[Grub]

Spray or use brush? If brush, what is best?

A good wide 150mm brush is best as you get good coverage. also, you don't get all those annoying ridges between the brushstrokes that you get with little piddly narrow brushes.

[nudedaytona]

surely you are taking the piss

Yes I was pretty sure what wet sanding was, still its always good to get confirmation.

[Hoon]

Honestly, you are tripping if you think you can do a professional paint job at home on your first attempt based on advice from the internet.

Sure the internet can give you knowledge but it can't give you experience.

It was probably my 3rd or 4th attempt before I eventually painted a bike that was of professional standard.

Unless you have a contamination/dust free garage (very difficult if you are also sanding in same garage) you will struggle to get a good finish. I have to wipe down/blast/clean my entire garage before painting and even then I still erect a "paint tent" made from bedsheets which I hang from the ceiling.

My advice to you is to expect that the first few attempts will not be entirely successful so start off on spare panels, shitter bikes an so on only moving to the real thing once you are happy with your work.

[Coyote]

Get some black lacquer and soak the bastard innit

[lemining]

Hey, woah there are many ppl with anger management

But anyway, to answer your question (the first post that is). You can not get pro paint job done with sprays, unless you have access to clean environment and some tools (like air compressor). I don't have any of the following.

So what i did with my last and my current bike was to find panel beaters that are actually interested in doing the job (your bike), if they give you stupid prices like $2k for paint job then obviously they think ur stupid or they dont want your bike in their shop. As soon as you find them, ask them if there are any ways of lowering the cost a bit, with my last bike i got to the agreement that i will do all the prep work by myself (ie. sanding everything down by myself and then patching everything and then re sanding it to be nice and smooth), and they cut the cost by quite a bit, i was just paying for their time of painting it and for the paint. Very nice pro done job. i think it cost me about $300 + box of beer (to paint the bits of frame)

With my current bike, after i had low speed drop i had to paint two little fairings (i have half naked bike). I could not match the colour because it was just too much of a mission.

What i did i just went to super cheap auto and i bought sand paper (wet sand paper it is normally gray/black colour), i got 250, 500, 800, 1000. Sheet of each (i think they are about $1 each) if you dont have sanding block grab one too (cork block). I also got myself etch primer, car filler (to fill up dents etc - i didn't actually use it as everything came off with sand paper). Then in super cheap auto they have different car paints, i selected silver and took two cans of that (they are small so yeh), also i got some enamel clear coat (i think enamel means that it will be pretty hard - dont ask me im a n00b with all those technical stuff), get some paper towels and meth as well. This is step by step what i did.

• Took the parts off the bike (only the one i wanted to paint duh )
• I filled up bucket with warm water and some soap (liquid soap) and I washed those parts.
• After i washed them, I put fresh water in the bucket and put 250 sand paper on my sanding block.
• I began to sand down all the paint to bare plastic. Make sure u dip your sand paper in water pretty often, because sometimes pieces of paint get stuck in sand paper and you dont even relaise when u start to make pretty bad scratches.
• Keep sanding until u get all parts sanded to bare plastic.
• After u done with all parts, replace the water with cleand and fresh water.
• Take next sand paper (ie. if you were working with 500 then grab 800) whatever u got thats higher than u already have and sand again!
• I normally stop when i see that the plastic is smooth and there is no deep scratches etc.
• Wait for you plastic to dry and then grab paper towel with meth, and make sure you clean it all dont miss a spot.
• When it is all dry grab your etch primer (from my little experience it gives you better coats when the can is a bit warmer so what i did last time i put the cans with sprays to bucket with warm watter (warm not hot)) make sure u give it a good shake. Take piece of card board and have little practice session, give it light coats (first coat is going to be dotted from light coat). You dont want paint to run! Also you want to go sideways evenly from left to right lets say and make sure u go over the edges.
• Wait few minutes between coats. I used 500W lamp when i was painting because it was cold and rainy, but as i found out it attracts some dust to your painted components.
• I gave my plastics about 4 coats in total.
• After your last coat give the paint some more time to dry (I for example went to have dinner and had little game of CS:S)
• Now back to sanding, grab your piece along with bucket of water and sand paper (1000) would be my choice. Start sanding, you want to sand all visible pieces to be as smooth as baby's bottom, make sure you dont sand to bare plastic.
• After you sand it all, grab clean paper towel and clean it off the water let it dry.
• When it is dry, check if u did good job (it always looks better when it is wet), if not then re-sand.
• Once again, practice a bit with actual colour (i had silver), start to paint your pieces. Same rules as with primer, small coats, give time to dry between each.
• I gave my piece about 3 coats.
• Let it dry for a bit longer. I used metallic silver so my dried pieces were very rough and i did not feel like sanding it, instead i grabbed clear coat.
• Give your piece nice coat of clear coat. Same rules as before.
• Clear coat dries a lot longer and it is very soft (you can leave nice finger print just by checking if it is dry). Another thing, it normally looks really bad when clear coat is wet (yellowy weird colour). Just dont touch it and let it dry. I left my pieces over night to dry (i hung them a bit higher so it doesnt attract dust and flat mates).
• Repeat clear coat 2-3 times. Wait each time.
• After ur last time, give your clear coat a some time to dry a bit more. I also used lamp to heat it up and dry it a bit more.

Put back your pieces on the bike and enjoy. Now before you paint make sure there is no dust or other crap on the surface (ie. hair). Use meth only on bare plastic (i used it on already prepped plastic and my eth primer came off with the meth - nasty) Use water instead. Make sure you are not working in windy / dusty areas. I made sure my pieces were hanging up higher (since i assumed dust would be going down).

My paint job turned up pretty good. I was expecting it to look crap not pro. But it looks great. I still gotta buff it, but even without buff it looks good.

I hope it helps.

[nudedaytona]

Thanks mate thats some really good pointers. So you didn't sand between the second paint stage and the clear coat?

[nudedaytona]

And was it tricky to do both sides of the panel - or did you just do the outside facing side?

[lemining]

I did not sand between second stage and clear coat, i used metalic it had those little particles in it, which made it metalic (and also made it feel rough like sand paper). So i figured, if i use enough layers of clear coat i will make that surface pretty even, still keeping that metalic feature. I have not tried sanding it, but it turned up ok without sanding.

I have only painted the outside area, no one sees inside, so i just left it as it was before - bare plastic. With plastic you dont have to worry about rust, so i paint always just the outer area, no point in wasting time and paint.

[The Lone Rider]

I say stuff it all.. get out the ol paint brushes and do your bike up like a mural. No solids, no flames, no pin stripes. Nice thick painted lines of the hills or something that inspires you.

That'd be sweet.

I hired someone to do that to a guitar once. Made for a nice showy guitar.