www.zxrworld.co.uk

Ok so got the restrictors fitted, fork oil seals and rear brake pads are ordered. Hmm what else is there to bother you amazing helpful people with ( nice arsekissing huh ). Well all that is needed now is to get rid of the pile of crap that pretends to be paintwork. Has been badly sprayed, with green for the front half, ie tank, side fairings, front fairing and front mudguard, purple (yes i know...) seat panels and rear hugger. Was looking into getting a mates dad to spray the parts for me but the materials alone would apparently cost too much for me to do. So yes you may well have worked out where this is now going. Time to get some spray cans lol. Haven't done much spraying, apart from a panel or two on my old vespa after i slid down the road. The spraying doesnt seem to hard, just take it easy etc and apply lots of coats with not too much paint each time. Basically i just need advice/a walkthrough on prep work with the best materials for it (not ridiculously expensive please). Then advice on paint, was thinking of going for a black as it would appear to be the safest option when spraying with cans, so need advice on the best stuff to go for and from where, also how many cans of it i will need. And then finally advice on lacquer, ie which to buy and how many coats. I know im asking for a lot, but if some of you old'uns advise me now, hopefully i will be able to help people later on. Please forgive my lack of knowledge; remember im 17.

speak to Jamz mate he did his vfr rat bike.

Cheeky barsket! It wasn't a rat bike!

My fairings on the VFR looked like a disgruntled ex had attacked them with a flail. Or an angry cat.

When I fitted a bright red fairing panel onto the black and silver bike, I decided it couldn't look a lot worse, and so I decided to just spray it matt black.

I know I SHOULD have sanded it all down and stripped the stickers and spent many hours preparing it (when you're respraying the preparation work is essential for a great finish), but I just couldn't be arsed.

I went to a car boot sale and bought 8 cans (err... I think. It might have been 6) of a top quality matt black spraypaint - for £10. Bargain.

*goes to look at the cans*

'Hycote' is the brand.

I also bought some clip-over trigger spray thingy from Wilkinsons for about £1. This is well worth getting, as when I got halfway down the first can without using it I physically couldn't press the nozzle down anymore! This makes it easy and behaves like a pro spraying tool.

I took all the fairing off after washing and drying it, and after a quick test to see how it covered it, did the lot slowly and carefully (if you hold the can too close or on one spot for too long it will run). After each thin coat, I let it dry, then repeated it. Just take your time and get as many coats on as you can - I was doing mine outside in early Winter so had around 6 hours, which was plenty.

Also buy yourself a roll of masking tape and loads of old newspapers. I left the top fairing and tank on the bike and just masked and papered the frame, dials and screen to protect it.

My battered old scrappy-looking VFR750 went from this:



to this:



I didn't laquer over any of it, mainly because it looked damn good as it was, but also figuring that if I did scratch any of it I could just spray over the scratch.

I used half my cans for it (not a bad paint job for £5! ), and the finish was excellent even through the Winter!

Professional spraypainters will tell you the paint will shrink and peel and flake, and it's really hard to do... well mine stayed perfect, touched up perfect, and I have absolutely no previous spraypainting skills and found it easy!

And without doubt I would do it to a bike again.

Ok thanks mate, just need some advise from another similarly experienced person like jamz on prep work and laquer, or even if people think its worth laquering... open to debate

Jamz wrote: I also bought some clip-over trigger spray thingy from Wilkinsons for about £1. This is well worth getting, as when I got halfway down the first can without using it I physically couldn't press the nozzle down anymore! This makes it easy and behaves like a pro spraying tool.

happens to all of us then.....

masterofinsanity wrote:

Jamz wrote: I also bought some clip-over trigger spray thingy from Wilkinsons for about £1. This is well worth getting, as when I got halfway down the first can without using it I physically couldn't press the nozzle down anymore! This makes it easy and behaves like a pro spraying tool.

happens to all of us then.....

My wrist tendons just didn't want to know anymore! Luckily I'd bought the trigger thingy first, but didn't want to use it when I first started. Maybe it's because I was a breach birth?

Cloud Wolf - the main thing that people seem to say about aftermarket paintwork is that even the very best professionals can't get anywhere near the same finish as a factory paint job. Stone chips will knock it to crap in no time at all, as will your leathers rubbing on it, or your ignition keys scraping at it in the petrol station.

Laquer will protect it more, but if you're going for matt paint, then I'd say just get a spare can and use that as and when. If you've laquered it, I think 'topping up' any scratches will be very visible without a lot of work.

With spray cans you're never going to get a great finish - maybe mine was a fluke? I felt I didn't really have much to lose, and with a bike I paid £750 for that was at that time well over 100,000 miles and looked a bit, well, pants, I couldn't really justify loads of prep work or an expensive paint job.

And it honestly did look as good as in those pics. I think it actually looked better in the flesh.

If you're going the gloss route, it may be worth doing all the prep work and laquering it though...

yeah, was always gonna go the gloss route, matt black is more suited to older/rat bikes/streetfighters, although yours does look surprisingly nice, well speaking of 750, thats how much i paid for my zxr. So yeah will do the prep and laquer as soon as i get advise on it so i can go shopping

I've spray painted before and I always use C & C carcolours in crawley for my paint, they have a great supply of colours and even managed to find an exact match for the kawasaki green. They can even put two pack in a spray can for home use.
I've used P38 to fill, which will easy sand and gets great results. Then a quick spray of plastic primer (most are really thin so don't be supprized if it runs) and then lots of coats of two pack with a little sand with 2000 grit wet and dry (use water mixed with fairy liquid to lubricate) between the odd coats to keep things all nice and flat. When it's all finished let it sit on your boiler for 2 days or so to bake on, then wet and dry as before to flat it all off with 2000 grit. Then a little bit of compounding and polishing to get it all finished and lovely.
Cheers
dan

Ok thanks dan, have listed all the things you said in a document. Just need some clarification, you said to sand it with 2000 after finished painting, understand that, but then compound ing? Do you mean laquer? If so or even if not which laquer should i use and from where? How many layers of laquer do i use?

Little update, have found a little link that may help out not only myself but anyone who is reading this thread and wants to spray, Baz you may want to sticky this link or copy the stuff out of the link into the paint section
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... _langId_-1

compunding uses a special compounding material and a buffing wheel to level the finish and shine.