Spray Painiting/Colour Question

[Crossrodes]

I'm going to paint my bike red with gold stripes (rattle can job).  I have a (little) experience painting before but I haven't done this before:

First I have been advised that I will need two coats of red before I clear coat.  Before I paint the red, instead of using gold tape after the paint job I want to spot paint (as much as possible, with a rattle can) the areas where the gold stripe will be.  I will apply two coats of gold.  Then I will apply 1/4" masking tape (or thereabouts) over the areas where I want the stripe and then apply the two coats of red.  I will then remove the masking tape and apply the clear coat.  My question is this:  Will I be able to cover the gold over spray with two coats of red.

Has anyone done this? Does anyone know?

[Ed Miller]

The over spray probably won't be smooth enough for the color coat to look flat when you paint over it.  Just mask what you don't want gold, paint it, then mask the gold and paint everything else, then clear coat both.

Are the stripes pin stripes or wider?

[Crossrodes]

Ed first question...have you painted before or is this your opinion?  

I had thought about this but I just spoke with my paint supplier and he thought it would work OK.  I don't want to mask off both sides of the stripe because it would definitely be an inconsistent width.  What I might do is spray the gold as I said I would, put my (actually 1/8') masking tape  on for the pin stripes and then carefully wet sand the remaining gold color.

Thoughts?

[nhmaf]

The fact that the rattle can paints are generally much thinner in consistency than spray gun paint mixes may help (or hinder) you in your suggested process - I honestly don't know.

Several of the BMW paint code colors are only able to be achieved by first painting a base coat of silver (or gold), letting that cure, and overpainting with the color coat.   Depending on how thick & dark your color coat paint is, there may be visual difference in hue between areas of gold 'overspray' and no gold/just red..   I think that the best way to have any of this work may be to use paints/colors that are automotive grade paints available in spray cans from auto shops.

My $.02 anyway - this is not an area where I have alot of expertise.
-Mike

[balibeemer]

Only one word of advice - Patience!

[bruce_launceston]

To get your pin stripes an even width put on a sacrificial strip of masking tape the same width as the proposed stripe and but the other masking tapes up to the edges of it. Rub them down and remove the centre strip of tape before painting.

[Crossrodes]

Mike I think you're right about the rattle can paints being a thinner consistency.  Yesterday I primed my first piece and in a couple of spots where I feather edged and exposed another layer of red, the red bled through the primer after 3 coats.  The guy at the paint shop told me this would happen and gave me a can of gold to use as a base coat.

Bruce, I've decided to go ahead and use the single strip of masking tape over the gold that I will paint first.  I thought about doing what you suggested but because the stripes will be so close to the edges on the gas tank I didn't think it would work so well.

Interestingly, as a kid, one summer my summer job was sanding and masking cars that were going to be painted.  It used to take me about 8 hours to do one car.  So far I have about 16 hours into prepping the bike and have more prep work to do.  A rule of thumb was that 80% of the job was prepping and 20% painting.  I recently got a quote from a paint shop that if I did the prepping they would "only" charge me between $6 and $700 to do the painting.  It would probably cost them at most $200 for paint etc so this means that for the actual paint work the charge was $400+.  Using my rule of thumb that means the charge for the prepping would be in the neighborhood of $1600.... I decided to do it myself.

[Ed Miller]

I painted my Triumph (so:  just one bike), but I used an HVLP gun not rattle cans.  After I posted I realized it probably would be easier to just lay your 1/8" tape, paint the rest, then remove the tape and mask the edges.  I like Bruce's suggestion but for my next paint job I bought some special pin striping masking tape.  It comes in different widths, mine is also 1/8".  You lay the whole thing down and remove the central part where you want the pin stripe.  You still need to mask everything else around it, though, if you are spraying.  I haven't yet decided if I will spray the stripes with an air brush or just use a hand brush.  A hand brush wouldn't require extra masking, but I want to play with my air brush and I'm sure it will give a flatter surface.

[montmil]

Tried to stay out of this... can't do it. :-?

If you plan to first lay down some gold paint, then do the entire tank. Otherwise, you really will be disappointed in the final product.
   Back in the day, candy colors and some flakes required a silver or gold base coat to achieve the desired results. Likely the same today.

Tapes used are critical to the quality of the pin stripes. Avoid any paper tapes as the paint solvents -especially rattle can lightweights - will definitely get under the tape, soften the adhesive and ruin the job. Use a 3M Fineline vinyl tape available at auto body supply shops. Rubbing down with a soft cloth will help burnish the tape to the tank and prevent paint creep.

An alternative might be to paint the tank and then use vinyl pinstripe tape -thinking about the required tight curves in the BMW tank striping- with a clear coat overall.

IMHO, I believe you are presently heading down a difficult road paved with frustration. I've painted cars, aircraft and motorcycles with satisfactory to trophy winning results. Prep, proper materials and application techniques pay dividends. Ain't no shortcuts to quality.  [smiley=2cents.gif]

Monte