Topic: CLearcoat On Bare Metal Parts?

[bill440cars]

                         After seeing the work on staphcar's 500, I've got a question. What is the possibility of
              not painting parts (like the speedometer & tach housings, instrument brackets, indicator
              light/handlebar clamp and things like that) but clearcoating them instead? Will it work and, if
              so, will it hold up? With my "mini budget", I can forget about powdercoating anything. It's all
              going to have to be painted, with some parts being stripped and clearcoated, if it will work.
              You see, I'm still in the planning stages and trying to make room to work on the bike , when I
              can get to it. So, I'd appreciate any and all thoughts on the matter. Thanks.

                                                                    Later on, Bill

[USN20]

On a tight budget? I've had real good luck with the VHT clear which is rated @ 550 degrees:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=VHT%2DSP145&N=700+400335+4294863527+115&autoview=sku

There's also a high temp version which is rated @ 1200 degrees, but I've never used it:

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+400335+4294863534+4294863262+115+4294863257

[ProTeal55]

HD did this in a way on a "special edition" Fatboy Screaming Eagle a few years back. They basically machine turned parts of the tank, then clearcoated over it. The only issue I hard about this was the fact if you got a chip in the clear, air would get to the raw metal underneath and begin to rust/pull the paint up off the tank/become a mess.

I am sure you can do it, as anything can be done.

I know for a fact their is a guy advertising on this board who does powdercoating.
My buddy Chris , owner of the "Starship" bike is having this guy powdercoat a whole bunch of parts for his build.
I mean both wheels - triple trees- hubs-rotor(inside) and about 15 other parts and the guy is only charging him $200..

Get ahold of him , he might end up being your new best friend...

[BobbyR]

If you are talking about the aluminum parts, clearcoat works really well. Just be sure to clean the parts well. I would not suggest you try to protect steel parts this way. Rattle can black paint works well on most of the bike.

[bill440cars]

     USN20,
            Sounds like a good way to go. Are you talking aluminum parts only? I am talking about aluminum and things like the tach & speedo shell and maybe a few other parts. Is there a decent paint that would look like aluminum or brushed chrome without looking tacky?

    Teal,
           Unless I could find someone local that would do me a budget price for a decent job, I'll have to pass on the powder coat. I'm on a pretty tight budget here. Thanks anyway, I don't have $200 in the bike yet and I'm trying to hold down the cost as much as possible without scrimping on the detail of the bike. Also, I've got several bikes that I'm going to be building on and to be able to do that, I've got to pinch pennies as much as possible. I can't farm anything out unless it's absolutely necessary.

      Hey Bobby,
           I WAS talking about aluminum, but now (after you and Teal's responses) I'm about to decide that it'll only be the aluminum. Somebody polished and clearcoated the frame on a 500 or 550 cafe project and I can't remember who it was. Oh well, I'm still listening, so if there is anyone else with some info?
                                                              Later on, Bill

[Dragman836]

I got a product from Eastwood.com made for bare metal called Diamond Clear item 10200 its a good product

[cafe75-550]

I did it on my frame, polished it and then clearcoated with VHT clear. I will say that since the surface is polished its a little harder to get the paint to adhere (runs easier) and that if the clear gets damaged you can get some rust/corrosion, I've picked up a couple little spots in the last year...Just make sure you prep well, cleaning with acetone etc. for better adhesion. Aluminum shouldn't be too different....

[bill440cars]

I did it on my frame, polished it and then clearcoated with VHT clear. I will say that since the surface is polished its a little harder to get the paint to adhere (runs easier) and that if the clear gets damaged you can get some rust/corrosion, I've picked up a couple little spots in the last year...Just make sure you prep well, cleaning with acetone etc. for better adhesion. Aluminum shouldn't be too different....

         You are the one I was trying to think of! That frame looks tough. How many coats did you do? Would several coats be better? Was there anything that you did, that I should know about? I like the look. I just don't know if I'm up to the task or not, you know? Anything you can think of to help, would be appreciated.                                Later on, Bill

[cben750f0]

all the polished parts on the F1 are just straight clear coated..... as has been mentioned, just prep well, and follow the directions on the can...

peace

[cafe75-550]

Bill-

The biggest part is making sure the part is completely clean, as sticking the clear will be a hard enough without contamination. I wiped the frame down a couple times with copious amounts of acetone and then shot it right after. I used two coats, but be careful with this. I found that with multiple coats I ended up with a yellowing effect as the clear built up, so I went with two fairly light coats ( and just repair the paint as needed ). If you try to put on a heavy coat, it will just run off since you don't have a lot of adhesion to the polished metal. If you're just doing parts (not a whole frame) it should be pretty easy, just keep plenty of acetone around and if you see something you don't like (run, dirt, yellowing) just wipe it down with acetone (it will strip the paint right off if its still soft) and try again ! 

[DME]

If I had gone through the hard work of polishing my frame, I would go and have it hard-chromed (like inner forktubes are).
A friend of mine plated his Moto Martin-frame and it came out great.
Can´t remember the cost but it wasn´t much. Was done in Sweden but it´s probably even cheaper in the States.

My 50 cents

Cheers
Daniel

[cafe75-550]

If I had gone through the hard work of polishing my frame, I would go and have it hard-chromed (like inner forktubes are).
A friend of mine plated his Moto Martin-frame and it came out great.
Can´t remember the cost but it wasn´t much. Was done in Sweden but it´s probably even cheaper in the States.

My 50 cents

Cheers
Daniel

My bike is a work in progress (as you can see I'm sure) and I didn't want to do anything like plating since it would effect me welding on it later. The rattle clear actually does a decent job of keeping the rust away, and any changes I make are easily re-sprayed...If I ever decide I'm "done"  (yeah right!), I might go this route, but until then I'll go with the slightly higher maintenance clear coat that allows me the flexibility to change and weld without any additional hassle. So far the finish has held up well, and its now coming up on a year old...