Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner getting ready to paint-need help

I'm ready to paint but I have a couple of questions,can I just scuff the existing paint and repaint or should I primer then repaint? Never done this before but I figure I can't screw it up so badly it couldn't be fixed by someone who knows what they are doing.

Unless you have bare metal showing you don't need to primer. But don't just scuff the existing paint, wet sand with 400 then 1000.

I think for adhesion you want just 400 grit wet. 1000-1200 is for wet sanding (then buffing) the clear coat afterwards.

If you break through the clear, paint and primer down to bare metal, then you'll want to use some primer-sealer.

yup as noted just get the clear off but leave the paint even a 800 should do the trick for you and not cut to deep, look for the white residue when its gone so is the clear, lay a light mist of your first coat let it dry then another, then i would sand lightly again with a light 800 or 1000 wet let dry and finish your coat then clear.

Exactly, just need to get the clear off and get it smooth then paint away. Don't forget a tack cloth to wipe it off after sanding.

Degreaser as well. Finger prints are a killer.

The guy at the supply house sold me scuff pads and said to use those to dull the finish then go ahead and paint. Are those an alternative to sanding or in addition to sanding?

Just finishing painting the rear fender. Sanded with 400 grit, painted, clear coated, then sanded with 1000 grit and put a final coat of clear coat on. Turned out looking like it came out of a body shop. The sanding with 1000 before the last coat really does the trick, may have to give the tank a scuff and a squirt of clear.

I've used scuff pads (basically Scotchbrite) to rough up plastic parts (for example, the underside of the front fender) and for hard parts like brackets. I don't recall using them on the top surface of a sheetmetal part. I've always wet sanded those with 400. In 2002 when I had my original tins stripped, my buddy spray on a couple coats of primer-filler and I wet sanded them like that, then he did the sealer, paint and clear. Yes, I'm just a sanding monkey.

Generally speaking I'd go with what the paint supply dude says. At the very least then you have someone to throttle if it goes wrong.

The three rules of painting:

1. Perpetration
2. See rule 1
3. See rules 1 & 2

If you're wetsanding with 400 and then painting directly on top, make sure you get quality sandpaper or seal the surface before painting. Or get 600 grit paper. I've seen the sanding scratches come back through if the old paint is just sanded w/ cheap 400 and painted over.

I've always washed the parts, cleaned with a degreaser, then started the sanding. I finish-sand with 600 before painting.

Good luck. Pics when finished.

thanks for all the help, i'll get pictures up when its done

Did you get gas resistant clear coat? I think this is where I got mine...http://www.repaintsupply.com/default.cfm

A "gas resistant" clear coat isn't necessary and, as far as products for normal automotive refinish is concerned, doesn't exist.

If a regular quality 2 component clearcoat is properly catalyzed, it should withstand quite a bit of abuse or other regular automotive fluids without showing any signs of issues.

What SdKimo meant, I'm sure, is did you use 2 part poly clear coat, which is essentially gas resistant. I know that he's done his share of work. I like to use 2 part poly urethane sandable primer/sealer, especially on tanks, just to add one more layer of protection against fuel, but I've had great luck just scuffing and squirting color and 2 part clear in a pinch. Can't wait to see some pix!

two part clear is a must for any paint job if you want it to hold up, its a bit pricey at about 30 bucks a can here in Canada anyways and the shelf live is i think two days after you open the bottom seal, but the finish is much much nicer, i just finished re-doing a front air dam for my bike that turned out pretty nice, i might still 3m it though to prevent to much rock chips from the front tire.