After considerable research,I have come to the conclusion that there is no topcoat available in a spray can that is even close to gas resistant,MINWAX urethane will crack in cold weather,Duplicolor and Durocolor Are useless.Anything that would work would have to be a automotive polyureathane,however PPG saw to it that it would never be available in a spray can for obvious reasons.
Agreed. I've been there and tried all sorts of things and non held up.
The key word is " resistant" A good spray can clear Lacquer will be "resistant " for a long time . Eventually it will start to discolour around the gas cap. No paint or clear is gas proof , they all will suffer degradation after a period of time .. I just want something that doesn't wash off, the first time I put gas in the thing.
having said that, its getting quite difficult to find a "good " spray can clear Lacquer.
My luck was not that good. I used spray clear from the autoparts store from (brand escapes me) and it lasted seconds after having gas put on it. It went from super shiney to satin.
Your lucky , mine was washed off the tank and stuck the tank bag to the paint.
Is it better just to leave the paint bare without any clear coat at all then? At least that way it would be easier to totch up. Would a car wax finish on top of the base paint help perhaps to protect against gas spills?
Interestingly, I had to do a bit of touch-up on my New Beetle for a relatively large area on a three-coat metallic. Express Paint makes a Urethane clear coat that has weathered well for me, and it comes in a spray balm. It's avalable at www.expresspaint.com.
Bless you motorcyclezen,I had exhausted all efforts to find this. Express Paint.com Aerosol kk7 urethane kit. I suppose that this can be rubbed out and buffed,I will call them and advise. Regards, Brewski
Funny guy! I have the Urethane UCA 150. And yes, as I recollect the paint sets for about 5+ days before they advise you to wetsand and polish. They recommend 2-3 medium coats with 5-10 minutes of flash time between coats. Goes on pretty thick too, so there's plenty to work with. I' m trying to remember if there was a PPG factory in Torrance where the paint was made. I know there was a factory outlet for sure (I used to live out that way). Wonder if they canned it for you.
I think for the Brewski Vision, I'm going to look for some catalyzed lacquer. One of my coworkers calls it "conversion varnish." I don't know. it smells like nitrocell', reduces with nitrocell' thinner, and sands within a couple of hours. It resists everything to include lacquer thinner/reducer and acetone. It comes off with paint remover (trisodium phosphate), but it's a lot of work. You just have to be real careful that your gun is free of the wash thinner before you shoot, or the finish will be gummy.
Glyn , almost invariably , the clear coat and paint will suffer the same degradation (assuming there the same brand) Mine went to primer when the gas attacked.
Just buy 1 can of the spray paint you propose to use and paint an old soup can, try a sprinkling of gas , after several days of drying. If its not affected, buy a can of clear and apply it over the paint on the can , test again and see if it holds up.
The new Duplicolor is gummy to sand , even after several months of curing , you will want a paint that dries hard not gummy.
I'm into something similar at the moment. I've been painting and modifying my other bike, the GPZ750, and have a great local paint supplier. It's Bob's Paint Land in Vancouver Washington. He set me up with a great matte black epoxy primer to shoot my tank and plastics with. The color and texture is perfect for the beast I'm building. After 24 hours of dry time, I splashed the tank with alot more gas than I intended, as a test, and after wipe-off, no marks whatsoever.
But more on the point, He can put any of his professional automotive finishes into an aerosol can, custom mixed color or clear coat. I haven't heard of this being done much elsewhere. I used a spray gun for my primer, but maybe for other projects, this'd be the way to go.
I'm going to use an aerosol clear coat he recommended on the second set of fork lower tubes I'm cleaning up. I'll post results when that's all done.
-Squirrels
QuoteHe can put any of his professional automotive finishes into an aerosol can, custom mixed color or clear coat. I haven't heard of this being done much elsewhere.
I have ordered custom primers for touchup from Sherwin Williams as they have a program that you can use to do exactly as Bob's Paint Land. Actually most ANY paint can basically be put into an aerosol can.
Hi Squirrels , are you in Vancouver WA. I occasionally worked here and knew a fellow rider who lives there .
Yes, I'm in Vancouver and work in Portland.
ok, so the really nice metatlic charcole didn't like the Ace clearcoat. i shot the left underseat trim piece with the Ace clear & it crinkled right up. looks like i'm going with just paint & wax for now...
I'm going to sand that piece back down, reprimer it & repaint it. i'll then try the clearcoat reccomended on the paint can. no, i don't expect it to be fuel proof, but maybey i can get a decent shine out of it.
someday it'll probably get it professionaly painted, but for now it's staying low budget.
--Lucky
Sorry about the crinkle after all that hard work. Sounds like the old lacquer over enamel thing. Catalyzed lacquers are the only finish I've seen that resists anything--including lacquer thinner and acetone. They laugh at fuel--Ha ha!
Ed--
I really hate spray can enamel, you can't put much thats readily available , over top of it and its not resistant to anything but water.
There is a clearcoat reccomened on the can, but again, it won't be fuel proof, i'll just have to be careful...
Rots of ruck my friend ! I've tried to figure out some kind of bib to use during refueling!