Paint - Reality Check

[JW113]

You didn't mention any dents at first.

If I do bite the bullet and go for a paint job, it will not be with the original sheet metal. I have a set of 5.25 gallon tanks, and front/rear fenders, all OEM stuff bought from ebay. Near as I can tell, it's all pretty darn straight, I don't see any damage. Of course, once the painter gets hold of it, there could be some very minor issues to fix, but hey that is part of painting, right? My plan would be to give that set of metal to the painter, and swap it on to the bike when he's done.

-JW

[Buglet]

   I thing about powder coat is if it start to corrode under it the coating it rots the steel if you don't catch it in time. I see it over and over, right now I have a battery box that look like it sat in the swamp for a year. I seen Harley frame rot out under the powder coat. I think Harley uses a power coat clear coat on there tins and see the same thing, the metal under neath rots out. At lease with paint it will bubble and it won't rot like if it was powder coat. But prep is number one. Very few parts get powder coated here.

[rbabos]

   I thing about powder coat is if it start to corrode under it the coating it rots the steel if you don't catch it in time. I see it over and over, right now I have a battery box that look like it sat in the swamp for a year. I seen Harley frame rot out under the powder coat. I think Harley uses a power coat clear coat on there tins and see the same thing, the metal under neath rots out. At lease with paint it will bubble and it won't rot like if it was powder coat. But prep is number one. Very few parts get powder coated here.

Powder coat was getting popular as the steel aircraft fuselage coatings when I was in it. Amateur build of course.  It had the same issues,  as inspection was more difficult,  as it hid any corrosion that otherwise with paint could be seen and fixed quickly.
Ron

[PoorUB]

In my garage I run a cable near the ceiling from one wall to the other, then use clothes pins to clip up 4 mil poly, wall to wall. This gives me about a 24x24 foot area to paint in. Then the day before I intend to paint I hit that area of the garage with a garden hose, walls, ceiling, everything so all the dust is gone, or gets glued down from getting wet. Then right before painting I hit the floor with hose again. I stick a couple fans under the overhead door blowing out, fresh air comes over the top of the door. On small jobs I set the fan in the walk out door and seal off the rest of the doorway with plastic, then open a window on the opposite end of the garage. It has a screen so it keeps out the big stuff. I  will paint early in the day, less bugs. Late afternoon in this area you are guaranteed to get a ton of bugs, mostly mosquitoes. I have painted lot of stuff this way, certainly not show quality, but not too bad.

[Hossamania]

I have like think a mid quality furnace filter would work well on the window to keep debris from entering, less dust than a screen alone.

[PoorUB]

I have like think a mid quality furnace filter would work well on the window to keep debris from entering, less dust than a screen alone.

The window is at the other end of the garage so the dust has to travel through that part, then around the plastic to get to the paint. I have larger holes to deal with! Plus I do have an air cleaner basically a furnace fan with filters that circulate the air in the other part of the garage.

I need to spray my Unigo trailer one of these days so it will be interesting how it turns out.

Picking a still day, or a day right after it rained helps greatly too. I painted a whole car in my garage years ago. I waited a few weeks for the time to be right. It rained Friday so I prepped it for paint Friday evening, and shot it Saturday early. It was darned near perfect, maybe a couple dust bunnies in it. It was my wife's daily driver so it was good enough. Then she totaled it out a few weeks later so it looked good getting towed away!

[JW113]

So I think the wind has changed directions on this for me. I went by the machine shop to find out how he's coming along with my Ironhead top end (been there since mid November!), and of course, "maybe in a couple more weeks". But I asked if he know of any good painters, and turns out, he does. He has a guy that does bike painting out of his garage for the shop, which tends to have a lot of, uh, "club patrons".    So I'm thinking this painter probably does good work. When I mentioned the quotes I had already gotten, he laughed. Said this guy will likely want $1300 or so. Now that is more to my liking.

I'll take the tanks to the local radiator shop next week and have them boiled and sealed, then drop the stuff off at the shop. Then wait and see...

-JW

[black]

So I think the wind has changed directions on this for me. I went by the machine shop to find out how he's coming along with my Ironhead top end (been there since mid November!), and of course, "maybe in a couple more weeks". But I asked if he know of any good painters, and turns out, he does. He has a guy that does bike painting out of his garage for the shop, which tends to have a lot of, uh, "club patrons".    So I'm thinking this painter probably does good work. When I mentioned the quotes I had already gotten, he laughed. Said this guy will likely want $1300 or so. Now that is more to my liking.

I'll take the tanks to the local radiator shop next week and have them boiled and sealed, then drop the stuff off at the shop. Then wait and see...


-JW

I have bikes painted in my area and 500 to a 1000 for solid color you buy the paint /two tone and pin stripe i would say that is not a bad deal

[JW113]

Yes, this is an old thread, I know. But after almost 5 months, I got my sheet metal back from the painter.

Being an old coot, you learn over the years that you never rush an artist (painter, mechanic, plumber, carpenter, etc) or you get lousy art. So I had no delusions about how long it was going to take for this guy to get my parts painted. And at the end of the day, it was worth the wait. The parts came out beautiful, as smooth or smoother than factory. I could not find a flaw anywhere in the paint.

At the top of this post, I started out with asking a long time "friend" who had painted bikes for me before for a reasonable price, he wanted ~$5000. I took the parts to the shop that the local HD dealership recommended, they wanted ~$4500. This guy did it in his spare time (he has a day gig at a car dealership) at his private shop for $1500. This was a two tone stock type paint job with stock tank emblem and pinstriping, buried in clear. All I can say is:


I will take some pics soon and post them in the Show Your Evo section. But I am one happy camper, my 28 year old bike looks brand new. So there is the reality check for anybody considering getting a bike painted. Shop around, ask around, good quality is out there for a reasonable price if you do the homework. Oh, and get lucky.


-JW

[crock]

I agree 100% Hoss, don't get in a hurry. Tear it down in the fall and don't expect it back till spring. Had mine done a couple years back for $500 plus material.

[Sinker]

I don't have a pertinent comment but do want to say that I love the turquoise and white paine scheme. One of my favorites.

[JW113]

Yup, me too.

This is the bike that I wanted back in '91, but was not available anywhere. So after almost 30 years, I finally got the one I dreamed about. I popped a couple pix over on Evo/Show Those Evos page, if anybody is interested in seeing the paint job.

-JW

[choseneasy]

Very nice! Well worth the wait.