How to spray paint tank, front fender, etc

[Acton67]

Hey guys, I've got a 1992 Suzuki Intruder VS800 in Jamaican Metallic Blue. Bought the bike last year and the previous owner didn't take good care of it. Has a pretty sizeable scratch in the tank as well as rust in a few other places. Had to take off the old fender because it had a huge dent in the front of it. I bought the repair kit and a few cans off of colorrite last year but never got around to repainting the bike. I ended up spray painting the stock mufflers on the bike at that time after sanding them down down with high heat high enamel paint to black them out. After a year the paint was coming off. I sanded the pipes down twice and then put three coats down. Watched a how too on youtube and followed the steps but the paint didn't stay on. This year I ended up buying after market voodoo turnout pipes off amazon but that experience taught me I know nothing about spray painting. I'd like to touch up my bike especially since I need a new front fender and its pretty much impossible to find a new front fender in Jamaican metallic blue on ebay. I thought I found one, but then the seller tried to send me a bogus message about there "being more scratches on the fender then the original picture showed" and the fender clearly wasn't the same one in the ad, it was a teal blue one found in many of the intruders from the later 90s, not the same Jamaican Metalic Blue from the 92 model. Anyone have any advice or know of a good how too on youtube? No one really does detail work around here for a reasonable price, the one guy I called wanted around $800 just to do the tank in solid metallic blue. Thanks.

[hillsy]

With bike parts generally being so small it's more often easier to re-spray the entire part than to muck around trying to do touch-ups. Especially with metallic / pearl type finishes.

And that looks like it's a bit of a gouge in your tank there so you will need filler, etc.

[FallenAngel]

First you want to use Stove pipe black or Header paint on exhaust. High heat is used on engines
Hillsy is correct as small as the Motorcycle parts are it is best to paint the whole part as the wet edge will show easier on small parts .
Painting is pretty straight forward as long as you clean the parts of oils and dust after sanding the part smooth.
The tin on motorcycles is really thin and many dents in tanks can be pushed out from inside the tank with a long rod and a tool kit like this
This is as complete a kit as I could find and honestly you may find that you will make more tools to add to the kit
https://www.uobdii.com/wholesale/81pcs- ... znEALw_wcB
There are cheaper kits with a few tabs and a bridge.
I would suggest investing in a small compreser and a cup gun so you can use a guilty paint. You can get decent results from rattle can paint any gasoline will get into the paint and dull it.

[FallenAngel]

I have a pretty good sized dent in the tank of my Yamaha
Ill get my tools together and take some picture of the repair

[FallenAngel]

Also keep in mind metal will stretch when it gets dented
Small dents wont show as much as a deep scratch

[WintrSol]

Also, after the tank is painted, give it a hardening clear coat seal, to prevent fuel and vapors from damaging the color. Assuming you're not using a two-part paint to begin with. There's more than enough in the rattle-can type two-part clear you can get at auto paint stores. Just don't break the seal before you plan to use it, and get all your coats on within a few hours, as it will thicken in the can, and start spitting tiny lumps.