Topic: Easy Painting Question - for you :)

[Johnie]

I have "dabbled" in painting the small black parts with good results. I am doing the gauges and top tree. Have used a scuff pad on all parts. Will wipe down with thinner prior to painting. Wondering is it necessary to prime these or since it was only chips and the base coat is still intact can I just spray the paint without primer? Thanks

[calj737]

From the pics, a good scuffing should allow you to paint directly. Understand that incompatible paints (between what is original and what you use) will dictate your success more than whether primer is used.

I'd suggest a good scuffing with 400-600 grit dry. Don't work it so much that you remove the base paint, but these parts may have a fairly hard coat on them and you'll need a good surface prepped for adhesion. Wipe with denatured alcohol then paint. (Avoid paint thinner after sanding).

[DavePhipps]

The chips in the paint will show through the new layer as depressions in the paint. I don't know if that would bother you or not, but it looked awful on my tank. I would try and blend those areas as  well I as I could. I used 600 wet to do that.
If you are doing more parts I would invest in some Spraymax2K. It's a great solvent resistant clear coat in a rattle can. Unfortunately it needs to be used within 24 hours of activation.

[kghost]

Near as I can tell on various Honda gauges I've done through the years....

Honda didn't use any primer to begin with....

So the big question is why does the paint on gauges etc look bad after many years?

Sure they get chipped, scratched and generally beaten up....but the reason they look bad is surface corrosion under the Honda paint. The steel develops rust under the paint.

Don't take my word for it....sand the paint on the gauges back and you'll find little spiderwebs of surface rust.

So...sand them back and paint them properly. At minimum go to bare metal and use some phosphoric acid to etch them prior to paint. Straight paint worked for Honda and was good for 20-25 odd years.

Personally I like to epoxy prime them.....

Now you can scotchbrite the old paint and spray over it.....but its going to look like you did exactly that...

[DH]

Spray lightly on the area where the rings clamp the gauges together. Too much paint build up
and the ring won't want to fit back on. Sounds crazy, but I found out the hard way.

[billingstitan]

+10 on the spray max 2000 - amazing product - did a shop quality paint job in my 550using their stuff!