Paint Colors

Claviger said:

First let me say I have used the paintscratch.com paint and spraymax clear on my Mini's interior panels, it came out well with a couple tiny prep-errors. It can and does match what a pro-shop will deliver if you do all your prep correctly. Mini parts were done a year ago and are exposed to the sun for hours daily, not a touch of fade or yellowing thus far.

Rockets without the stripes do not need to strip all the way down to metal on the tank, skip the 40 and 120 grit steps. I can't say for sure how this is going to come out, time will tell. Hopefully there are no chemistry related complications, but, that risk should be minimal since paintscratch.com recommends Spraymax products for use with their base coats.

I know there are a number of equivalent (or better in some cases) products that are available, but this is what I'm using. The one exception is the 2K Spraymax 3680061, which has no competitive equivalent product on the market (Eastwood 2K Clear is simply Spraymax rebranded).

Note: Epoxy primer is definitely superior to the 3680031 primer, the epoxy is part number 3680034, however, it's simply not what I bought.

For a Striped bike tank:
- remove emblem from tank
- 5" Random Orbital Sander
- 40 Grit pads to strip followed by 120 to smooth the metal on the orbital
- 220 hand sand using a block before primer to remove the deeper scratches
- wash with wax and grease remover then wipe with tack cloth
- 2K Spraymax Primer 3680031 (1 can is enough for the tank, 3 or more coats)
- Wait 7-10 days (Keep in warm environment 70f+)
- Sand with 600 grit by hand using a block where possible, easy on edges
- wash with wax and grease remover again then wipe with tack cloth
- Paintscratch.com spray can loaded with your choice of color (do not sand between base coat and 2K clear!!)
- 2K Spraymax Glamour Clearcoat 3680061
- wait 3-5 days (Keep in warm environment 65f+)
- 1500 Grit by hand to knock down any orange peel, then 2000, then 3000
- Buff using McGuires Ultimate G17216 until you reach your desired sheen
- Wait 15-20 days
- High quality pure Carnuba wax, I'm using Formula 1 613762, two coats.

For other parts besides tank:
- 220 hand sand using a block before primer to remove the deeper scratches
- wash with wax and grease remover then wipe with tack cloth
- 2K Spraymax Primer 3680031 (3 moderate coats)
- Wait 7-10 days (Keep in warm environment 70f+)
- Sand with 600 grit by hand using a block where possible, easy on edges
- wash with wax and grease remover again then wipe with tack cloth
- Paintscratch.com spray can loaded with your choice of color (do not sand between base coat and 2K clear!!)
- 2K Spraymax Glamour Clearcoat
- wait 3-5 days (Keep in warm environment 65f+)
- 1500 Grit by hand to knock down any orange peel, then 2000, then 3000
- Buff using McGuires ultimate until you reach your desired sheen
- Wait 15-20 days
- High quality pure Carnuba wax, two coats.

All in total cost for materials is something like $175 (3 cans of clear, 2 cans of primer, 3 cans of color, wax and grease remover, wax) if you already have a random orbital sander and pads. Time is the real expense, to do it right expect no less than 20 hours for fenders, tank, radiator shrouds. Naturally that will increase quickly as you add parts (oil tank, brake reservoir cover, gauges, oil filter cover, rear fender rail covers etc). I'll end up with around 35 hours I expect.

2K cans only have a pot life of 24 hours, give or take, so have all the parts prepped to the same step to minimize waste, e.g. everything ready to prime, then everything ready to base coat, then everything ready to clear together.

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