OK, so the last painter never stands a chance. He gets all the blame be it on your car, house or... R65.
In between other projects, I've been pecking away at the '83 R65's painted components; fixing assorted minor nicks and dings then getting each bit into primer.
The seat's tail piece, both side panels and fuel tank all needed a little love but now are stored away, waiting for their shot of the bike's original BMW metallic blue. All I needed was to take care of the front fender...
What a flippin' mess! After a full day of wet sanding the old paint, I kept discovering fractured fiberglass. Some had been fixed properly while others had simply been painted over. Pitiful.
Detoured into the 'glas work. I like to use a s-l-o-w cure epoxy resin, not that short pot time vinyl ester stuff you can easily find at your FLAPS. Anyway, that blew day two.
More wet sanding. Shot a guide coat of primer as a sanding aid in locating any low spots. What the...? A few areas of the substrate began to lift, orange peel, crinkle...you name it. A quick swipe with lacquer thinner told the tale. Now, the paint could be removed with a fingernail.
Frustrated, I removed all the previous paint coats revealing the pristine BMW Fiberglas fender gel coat. Glad I did as the OEM gel coat was so slick that the paint had actually not bonded to the fender. No wonder there were so many odd stone chips and cracks in the old paint.
Basically, I'm starting over on the fender. Been in the shop since 0530 this morning, day three, and will quit for now. Foul mood and shop temps are escalating as rapidly as my temper. [smiley=wall.gif]
Whew. I feel better now. Thanks for allowing me to vent. Monte
