Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner Repainting my Speedmaster, myself!

I have an '05 Speedmaster that I'm going to try to repaint, myself. It's the factory Black and Red with Gold pinstriping. I'm going to go with the same basic style, but with a twist. Where the red shoots forward from the tank babge isn't going to be there any more. Instead, I'm going to have the redness go up and back to follow that the rest of the stripe. Then I'mm follow the two red stripes down the rear fender. So, the question is: "Where do I start?"

I've been told to scuff everything smooth (the pinstriping is raised up) and shoot the primer. Then mask off the red and shoot that and then mask off the black and shoot that. then laydown the gold pinstripe and clear over everything.

I'm going to try to paint a couple of helmets to match the bike first, then try the bike. This will be my first time painting and I thought, What the ******! Let's try it!

Any ideas?

"scuff" with 400 or 500 (I prefer wet) until the factory orange peel and any pin-striping lines are smooth and there's no "shine" left in the clear coat. Degrease and wipe with a tack rag and shoot a couple coats of primer. Wet sand with 1200-1500 grit wet until there are no scratches from the 400-500. Degrease and tack again and shoot your sealer coat. Do not sand the sealer. Shoot a couple coats of the red of the stripes over all the areas you want to mask the design. Then mask the design (stripes). Then shoot a couple coats of base (at least). Then shoot a couple coats of clear. Once all that dries real good, wet sand with 1200-1500 grit wet with lots of water. Don't let the paper dry out or you could put scratches in the clear coat. Then buff out with a buffing disc and a couple different grits of buffing compound (this is where I get sketchy but I can get more information if you want).

These are all the steps (with a few extra steps for different colors in the graphics) that we did on my bike. I did all the sanding. My buddy did all the squirting and buffing.

Where it gets complicated is that you have to use the same family of products from primer to sealer to base to clear. If you mix and match you can seriously effect your results. I prefer DuPont products. Also, you have to get everything mixed in the right proportions and you have to wait a certain amount of time between each coat (flash time I think they call it). Don't even get me started on ambient temperature and humidity and such. Try to work in a well ventilated area and wear a mask.

That's the basic process. I probably left something out but your local automotive refinishing paint supplier should be able to help you out with it.

P.S. I had both my tanks media blasted. Saves some time.

Ok. Somemore questions:

#1 - I've heard it's better to go either way: Strip all the paint down to bare metal, or fiberglass, and start over. Or, scuff and start. But, with the bare metal, a guy said I might have filler to work with. And, with scuffing and painting, I might be getting to much paint, to thick.

#2 - Do I mask off my red , paint, clear, then mask off my black, paint, clear, pinstripe, then clear?

#3 - Grey, red, or black primer?

I think I'd go black primer. I'd heard you use the grey under lighter colors. Red under red, yellow, orange? Good luck. Practice staying the same distance off the surface at all times. And wet everything down around you to stop dust, if you don't have a real booth.

#1 I prefer to start with a clean slate but that's mostly an intellectual conceit and is only really needed when there's multiple coats already on there. The factory primer is supposed to be tough stuff and it wouldn't hurt to keep it.

#2 after sealer, put down the red in the areas that the red stripes will go. Then mask the stripes off. Then spray your black. Remove masking and spray clear over the whole thing. You don't need clear between each color, partially because you'll have to sand between coats too to get good adhesion. You can't go directly over clear with another color without prepping the surface of the clear (unless we're talking hand pin-striping). The only reason to clear like that is if you're airbrushing or doing other detailed graphics work.

#3 I'd go with the primer closest to your base color. That covers the most area and it's easier to get good coverage. When we painted my VW (dark red) we used DuPont's tinted primer in a tone close to the base and the base covered really easy. So I'd probably go with black in this situation.

Groovy! Am I going to run into problems if I wet sand over both colors at the sametime? Or should I try to stay on each color as much as possible? And I should keep all my sanding in the same direction, right?

Good luck!! I want to see some pics when it's all finished!

Will do!!! I'm going to mock up something tonight and take some pics

Remember to shake the cans well before application.

Sand over both colors at once. Makes no difference, you're only sanding the clearcoat. You'll see white powdery residue. If you see any color, you've sanded through and you'll need a new bike(not really but you'll be screwed) because the base coat can't be reapplied over clear coat until it fully cures (4 weeks)otherwise lifting will occur. You can sand until it's flat, shoot some more clear, then sand again. It will look scratchy right before you clear but you'll be amazed at ho shiny it lays in. After your final sanding you buff with a high speed buffer moving from coarse to medium to fine to ultra fine.
Do your self a favor, get an old piece of sheet metal (fender,front of the washing machine, whatever) paint that first. If it looks like crap, thank god it wasn't your bike. I've been painting for years and still I screw up. I try not to make the same mistake twice.
Good luck, Paul

Crappy camera!

Crappy camera!!!!!!

Those are just mock-up photos. Added masking tape stripes to the rear fender and blacked out the red on the front of the tank.

What's the original paint on these bikes? Can you shoot over it with lacquer, or will it lift?

I got a mix code from Dupont for the factory colors. I think I'm going to sand down to metal (& fiberglass) on the tops of everything and start over. Base/Clear setup with metallic gold pinstriping.

I like the stripes on the rear fender, its a nice transition from the tank to the back of the bike. Are you doing the front fender too, or going without one?

Just the rear fender. I had thought about quite a few different combos. Keeping the bike black with Tang-o-low Pearl Stripes and silver pinstriping, the same set-up like what I'm doing now. White bike with the stripes orange, like the favorite T100 Bonnie. And, finally, black bike and using the stripe setup that I'm doing, but flame the edges and do the Tang-o-low Pearl. But, I thought that the black, orange, and silver look would be to 'harley' looking.

I think I like the tank more that way than the original!

You're biggest challenge will be taping it all out. I tried to tape out the "wings" on the tank and couldn't do it. The British flag was cut out on a vinyl cutter. Getting the stripes straight on the rear fender will be fun, too.

And if you want to paint the pinstripes rather than pay someone to add them by hand, you've got an extra set of steps in spraying and masking. Start by spraying the pinstripe color, then tape out the design, then shoot the red, then mask off the stripes and so on.

I did plan on laying the pinstriping out myself. I've always been a little artsy, and my dad has always tried to push me to do more of it. Now he's in the street rod industry, so he pushes me more so. He got me a pinstriping 'set' for X-Mas, and that's what started all this 'mess'!!!!!!

If you're going to hand pinstripe do it over the clear as the last step. That way with a little reducer on a clean rag you can wipe off mistakes (just don't rub too hard or you'll go through the clear and then you'll really cry). My pinstripes are sprayed and buried so well under clear you can't feel any tape lines. I've fiddled around with pinstriping brushes and I don't have the time or patience to get good at it.

I really like the tank, as stated above I too like it better than original.

Thanks The_Dog33 & roadworthy. I've had that design in my head since I got the bike almost a year ago! I love my Speedy! I can't see myself trading it off for a new T-Bird, even though I really like the way they look! Thanks guys!

I guess I didn't pay much attention to see that the new paint jobs of sort of like what I was wanting to do. My bad!

Well, I'm getting the ich to ride, and my tax money isn't getting here quick enough for me. So, I think I'll just wait until the BEGINNING of next winter to paint my Speedy. It was like 45 here a few days ago. I HAVE TO RIDE!!!!!!