Fork laquering

[DamoK4]

Hi guys. Has anyone sprayed their forks and used laquer the same day? I’ve sprayed mine up and they look brilliant. Did 4 coats with a light rub down between and they have come out looking new. I’ve bought some laquer but it says to wait 24 hours after painting before applying. Eager to put the new fork springs in and get them back on the bike but if i have to wait then I will.

Making some new spacers at the moment as the k tech springs are 10mm shorter than the ones that was in. Glad I bought 3m of it as my chop saw seems to cut it diagonally I’ve just received my gsxr 1000 k3 rear shock as well so eager to get the front dialled in so I can sort the back

[R1ffR4ff]

Have you done a ,"Test Plate" to make sure the two paints are compatible?

If not you may get a reaction.

Also normally when applying a,"Clear-coat" it should be done before the base-coat hardens but after it has,"Flashed-off" but according to the Paint specs.

If a base-coat hardens too much it must lightly keyed otherwise the top-coat will have nothing to grip to.

I can only give you this general information as I've sprayed Aircraft and Industrial paint systems and all the timings for multiple coatings are held in Specification literature from the paint suppliers. This includes Curing times and when coats can be applied on top of each other.


A basic premise is that new paint cannot be applied on top of a hardened paint as there will be nothing for the new paint molecules to adhere to and hence the New coating will not be robust and will flake off pretty quick.

Also Single pack Clear-coats are not normally robust enough for areas prone to debris damage like Front forks. I have used Two-pack and Triple pack Activated clear coats.

HTH

[SV650rules]

Yeah, I tried applying clearcoat onto some car wheels and the paint bubbled.......as advised do a test piece first.

[DamoK4]

Thank you for replying guys. I decided to wait before lacquering, good job i did by the sounds of it. I have given the forks 4 coats with approx 30 min to 1hr gaps between coats, rubbed down with 800 - 1200 grit in-between. By the time it comes to lacquering it will be tomorrow night so i'm not sure i want to use it now. It said it is fit to add to any paint. It is a clear acrylic based lacquer from Halfrauds, advice on the can says to allow coloured paint to cure for 24 hours before using, to rub down with wet and dry before applying. Can i just wax them instead to be safe?

[Adam Ef]

I'd lacquer them. I did my VFR forks with hammerite smooth and added lacquer at the end after about 24 hours and it was all good.

[DamoK4]

Did you give them a rub down first? Or just spray on? I need to turn some spacers tomorrow so I can keep a length of bar and spray/lacquer it to see if it bubbles

[Adam Ef]

A very light rub with some very fine wet and dry just to key the surface. I did the same when I did the belly pan for my SV.

[redtrummy]

When I had the Cub resprayed the hubs came back finished with lacquer - thought they looked awful so I resprayed them with H smooth - looked a lot better that was some 18yrs or so ago, no problems still looks good

[DamoK4]

Ive done a few coats of lacquer and they look good. Anything is better than the oxidised finish from before. Going to put it all back together tonight with the new springs and oil. Still on the old spacer for now, one of the turners at work is machining me some stainless or titanium ones. He was supposed to be doing it today but we was too busy. I can’t sneak back on a machine at the minute. I can pop them out easy enough at a later date

[shiftin_gear98]

I'd leave it all a while to cure properly before you put them back together. But that's just me.