dropped my bike in my driveway,now have paint questionsI

[cruiserlover]

I have been riding since 1972.I did the dumbest stupidest thing I have ever done on a bike yesterday.Incredibly dumb.I needed to change the fluid in the clutch system.I cant do this alone.My wife was sleeping, I didnt want to bother her.I blotted out the old fluid in the mastercylinder,refilled it.The lever was totally weak.I need someone to pump the lever while I bled it, wasnt going to happen, I wanted to ride really bad.I madly got off the bike, was going to storm inside, drink something cold, as I got off BAM! I forgot to put the kickstand down! Unbelieveable.When I got the bike the saddlebags were shattered bad near the bottom and back, probably from dropping the bike by the previous owner.I have been piecing that together slowly.But my fairing and the rest of the bike had very minimal scratches for an 01 with 87,000 miles.Now I have deep gouges in the fairing all the way to the black abs, various scrapes.I need to fix all these places then paint the bike.I have never painted before.As far as the gouges I have heard dont use auto bondo, it wouldnt do well with abs.I read permatex had a malleable epoxy putty that could be used in these cases.Color rite has a 3 step system to match the red paint.It actually looks more burgundy than red.I have read someone could mix up a one step topcoat that would closely match the original paint.I can imagine removing the fairing, fenders,would be real hard.I would have to buy a paint gun,read up on how to use it, then give it a go.I do not want to spend $2,000-$3000 for paint jobs on a bike I got for $3300.Plus I cant afford it anyway.It makes me sick how dumb I was.Ya'll dont have to agree with me on that point.Input appreciated.

[Eck]

Sometimes....most every bike needs to take a nap and there is nothing you can do to stop them.......(Sorry to hear you had a bad day.....)

[cruiserlover]

ha ha ha.I didnt realize they did that.

[Flyinfool]

OK so we wont tell you that we agree with you.....

 

Yep sooner or later all bikes will take a nap.

 

Sorry to hear that yous got a boo boo in the process.

 

 

Usually they only go down to the crash bars and not all the way over.

[cruiserlover]

well,yeah usually.But usually some idiot doesnt leave his jack under the frame enabling the bike to fall fully against the plastic.

[BlueSky]

Quick, trade it for a newer bike and try to forget!!

[djh3]

I have done a fair amount of do it yourself painting on race cars and trailers. I had a 07 Vulcan 900 I put a bat wing fairing on. I thought about painting it myself and did some reading up. To get the paint to look decent its about a 3 step process under controled conditions. You need a correct mixture of hardeners in the paint, and there will be a seperate clear coat and it will have hardeners also. If you go with a OEM color Color Rite is about the only place you can get paint to match. You probably need at least a quart of color and whatever of clear. Your probably $200 in paint.

Now if you get the parts off and dings fixed, see if you have a local colege or trade/tech school with auto body class. They will sometimes do it for cost of materials and a small fee. Not saying you cant do it but it is a bit more involved than spray and go. Being you have a bag hurt bad. Maybe when you get it fixed, go to local Autozone and find an auto touch up spray bomb you like and see ifyou can get a finish you like. Worst case you dont like and sand down and give it a try with something else. Good luck.

[BlueSky]

You may need a mask with high tech filters to protect you from the paint and the hardeners. I am not familiar with today's paints. However, the last car I painted was back in the 70's. I used the latest enamel with the catalyst hardeners and it was very toxic. I used a high quality mask to protect me I thought. I did go back into the garage and check for runs without the mask and afterwards I had an unexplained low grade fever for a couple days. So, be careful!

[Beach Bum]

Don't feel bad. I spent a few hours repairing the cracked fairings on a sportbike I once had. Then I decided that while they were off I should sync the carbs. Got it all back together and went for a ride. Pulled back into the garage and hopped right off the bike feeling elated that I'd finally got it dialed in and boom, down it goes smashing all the repairs I'd done on the plastics. Expletive expletive expletive expletive then just stood there and laughed. Can't change the past even when it's only been a few minutes. As for paint, laying down the clear is a tough job to get it right. You can always compensate with sanding and polishing but if you get fisheyes it's a bear to try and get them out.

[yamagrl]

In my work/business I work with a lot of laminates, veneers, acrylics, finishes and refinishing. Everything I do at work is pretty much related to kitchen refinishing. However, there are many parallels to the issues that you will be dealing with here.

 

First and foremost; if you're fine with a $25.00 paint job just go ahead get yourself a couple of rattle cans and go for it. Otherwise, I recommend good quality paint work. That does not mean it has to be really expensive. If you remove the fairings, bags, whatever and make the needed repairs. Get them as good as you can and take the components to a body shop. It does not have to be one of those high dollar joints. I have found that some of the less expensive, Econo Bake, Facto-Bake type places actually do some pretty decent base coat/clearcoat spray work. After all they do a LOT of cars. They can likely mix/obtain the appropriate colors. Since you can get a fairly decent repaint on a whole car for under a grand, I'm guessing that a few hundred dollars will go along way if you carry the fairings, etc. to them.

 

And when you consider that your other option is DIY and rattle cans anything you get from most any body shop will light-years ahead.

 

You may have only spent a few thousand on the bike, but you don't want it to end up looking like a $700 ride. Your love of your 'cycle will not ever be the same.

 

As far as the repairs go use acrylic powder/liquid. This fuses/melts the plastic together and fills cracks and holes. You are looking for products that contain polymethyl methacrylate powder and ethyl methacrylate monomer (fluid). These are the main components of the abs, acrylic repair kits that you can fabricate/replicate broken tabs etc. You can find those here http://www.plastex.net/COMPLETE_KITS.php. I think there is video instruction on their site.

 

But what is more readily available at Wally's, Kmart, Walgreen's, CVS are Acrylic nail kits http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/kiss-complete-salon-acrylic-nail-kit/ID=prod364939-product. The nail glue is excellent, also and colors are available in some brands.

 

The nail tips are made of ABS...ring any bells? And one HUGE bonus is that if you don't gave any guitar picks you can make one of those special fingernail tools for installing the Sirius Diaphragms!

 

But, unless you've been hanging out in a nail salon for some reason, you will not likely be acquainted with the application of acrylic powder/liquid. Your wife, daughter, girlfriend, er...boyfriend, whomever can likely be of help. Otherwise, there are YouTube Video tutorials on acrylic nails. Of course you need to use your imagination. And there is a bit of technique involved. Play around with it a little and you'll get the hang of it.

 

If you need patch material for broken tabs or pieces, I have used many different kind of plastic with these products; abs, plexiglass, the case from 3.5" floppy disks, even that clear packaging that is hard as all get-out to remove... the packaging that the kit comes in will probably work, too... just try a sample of various plastics. You'll know right away. If works, it works, If it don't, it don't! There will be no mistake.

 

Once you get your feet wet you can find the powder and liquid (don't laugh!) in most beauty supply stores.

 

And of course you want to use good maintenance/repair practices such as stop-drilling cracks and use appropriate primers, etc.

 

Good luck.

Edited July 12, 2015 by yamagrl

[djh3]

I forgot about the econo bake Earl Shive shops. We dont have any where I live so they kind of slip your mind. My 900 vulcan I took the fairing to a friend that owns a body shop. He closely mathed the paint with some house of color paints. I took him a side cover off that bike to match up to.

[Rick Butler]

Hey Ron,

 

I have a cracker jack painter down here in north Garland on Buckingham at 78 that is real good and inexpensive. He did a front fairing for me for $200. I'm guessing your 01 is the cherry and burgundy somaybe your damage is just in one color where he is real good at taping up the pen strip and painting the second color and you will never know that it was repainted.

 

Rick

214-926-3905

[cruiserlover]

I am writing that number down rick.Thanks.I need to come next wednesday or thursday in the morning hours before noon to redo my seat or whenever you might be available to guide me through it.The stock seat has been cut down before me, very painful to ride.

[cruiserlover]

Yamagrl,wow, tons of great information there.Thanks so much.I have narrowed down my choices with some added information.

1.If I do it myself, I am a male rn, have access to every kind of mask there is in regard to fumes.If I do it myself I will most likely spend a lot of money, get poor results, and eventually pay someone else to do it.

2.There is a maaco here, taking off the parts, having them paint them good idea.

3.take it to garland, let them do it.

4.Take all my parts off, have the bike painted metallic red,I love red bikes.

[yamagrl]

Yamagrl,wow, tons of great information there.Thanks so much.I have narrowed down my choices with some added information.

1.If I do it myself, I am a male rn, have access to every kind of mask there is in regard to fumes.If I do it myself I will most likely spend a lot of money, get poor results, and eventually pay someone else to do it.

2.There is a maaco here, taking off the parts, having them paint them good idea.

3.take it to garland, let them do it.

4.Take all my parts off, have the bike painted metallic red,I love red bikes.

It sounds like some excellent options. Keep us informed.

 

Heather Cox

[Flyinfool]

Go for the red, You are almost halfway there already.

[cruiserlover]

I probably will

[Semi-retired]

I probably will

 

Hey, Ron.

 

Just wondering if you ever got a chance to proceed with your repair/paint job?

 

Asking for "compassionate" as well as "personal" reasons.

 

Wifey backed into Big Bertha early last Summer while in a hurry to get out the driveway (no, I wasn't parked RIGHT behind her....but, close enough apparently...so I took PART of the blame :-)......so we've got some scuffs on the fairing and the right hand bag as well.

 

Being a cheap bugger, (not to mention totally UNtalented in the painting department) I always figured I'd go the Maaco route IF and WHEN I even bothered doing the fix.

 

We were all waitin for (ugly) before and (glorious) after shots. Do you have 'em?

 

Cheers, from Canada Eh!

 

(P.S. Nothing but respect intended by the way. If you're from Stevie Ray Vaughan's home state, you MUST be a good guy!)

[cruiserlover]

Well sir,no.I traded the bike in recently for a suzuki c50.I was tired of all the weight.I was going to use plastex to repair the bags,bought one piece of abs to cut pieces out of if needed.Their website has a video of how to use their product.great stuff.But I had determined I was going to take the parts of,go to maco.Have them painted their urethane red,not the shortlasting enamel.I newi could do tat.We have little winter here, but up north it would be a good winter project.i would love to own another touring bike,suzuki claims this c50t to be one, but I would want it to be much lighter.i.e.nomad,shadow tour,valkyrie tour,bandit 12,who knows.I would have to have highway pegs if i boughta sporttourer.I htink it would be cool if I could fit bags and windshield to a b king.But probably have to shift that bike a lot.

[Semi-retired]

Well sir,no.I traded the bike in recently for a suzuki c50.I was tired of all the weight.

 

I hear ya...........and my BACK hears ya!

 

Good luck with the new one.