Question about painting my tank.

I have to repair a small dent and will need to repaint the tank. The tank has some simple flame graphics which I plan to duplicate. Also, the current paint is good and the tank has several layers of clear. I'm hoping that I can simply sand the existing clear to a dull finish and then paint a new base coat, graphics and then clear. Would there be any problems with that?

 

Make sure to use the same brand material as the original..... Otherwise you may have some incompatibility issues----- wrinkling, bubbling, not hardening, etc.....

 

why not just strip it down completly using aircraft stripper?

 

If the paint is in good condition perhaps paintless dent repair is an option. I have seen some guys do a fantastic job of removing dents using this process. I suppose with a motorcycle tank the location and accessibility to the dent becomes the deciding factor.

 

Yup, and it also depends on the dent itself----

 

is it small enough to cover with a XJ4EVER sticker

 

Get a rubber mallet.
Carefuly measure the dent.
Walk to the other side of the tank.
Fabricate a matching dent.


Better yet do that dentess thing that was mentioned earlier.

 

How big and obvious is the dent.

Trying to blend/match a part of the tank like this at the same time as trying to match a graphic etc is very very difficult unless you're a professional auto-body painter with a pro-shop.

I think you can do what your said and you could make a decent go of it where it wouldn't be obvious to the casual glance if it's not in a glaringly obvious location but if you want it to look perfect or 90% you can either 1) take it to a pro-shop and pay the money to have it done professionally. 2) Strip the tank, repaint and clear it yourself - which is a very time consuming, frustrating but ultimately rewarding thing to do/learn.

Note if you do it yourself you'll need to use a 2K clear to make it gas proof. That stuff is very dangerous (contains isocyanates) so make sure you use the right precautions and protection. I did it one time and for me it's just not worth it. I'd rather pay someone that has a professional shop with full hood/air extraction to do the clear part at least.

 

Well, I'll differ on that...... I've painted enough things that have wrinkled up from using non- compatible paints. I'll stick with the "use the same brand, or sand it all down" mentality. That works bat for me... Lol