Fairing Spray Preperation?

Im gonna be spraying my SV completely and read over bikeage's spraying guide which is wicked good, but he doesn't cover the preperation too much.

What im wondering is what are the different grades of sand paper you should work down from and whats the best type. Do you start off with high grit dry paper and then use low grit wet paper to smoot it off?

If anyone could advise me id be very grateful

Thanks all.

Preparation is everything. Get this wrong and will be all bad from there on in. You should spend as much time as you can doing the preparation.

Start of with a course grit paper. 250 or 400. I do all my prep using wet. Using dry will clog the paper and it wont go as far.

Once you have roughed up ALL area's, you can then go on to fine grit. 1000 or 1200. Rub all area's again nice and gently. You are looking to smooth all surfaces now.

Clean all surfaces, dry all surfaces. Pay particular attention to any nooks and crannies that water can hide in. The last thing you want is to start spraying and have the water get blown out of it's hiding place and over your newly painted part.

When it's completely dry use a tack cloth and wipe or dab all area's to ensure that all the surface is completely clear of any small particles such as hairs or dust etc.

Use the appropriate primer. Do the priming, allow to dry and then use the fine grade grit again. When done, use the tack cloth again and start with the colour.

One layer at a time and ensure that each layer is completely dry before starting the next. The thicker the coat of paint the better you can T-Cut it which will produce a better shine.

When you are done with the paint ( I assume you know how to do this part) you can start the lacquer. The lacquer is the critical part so should be done with caution. If you get this wrong and it runs you will more than likely have to start the whole process again.

Add the lacquer in thin layers, allow each coat to dry before applying the next. Once done, leave it for a week or two and the T-Cut to a high polished and smooth finish.

Well that's how I do it anyway.

Cool thanks dood, I understand most of that except the T-cut bit. Whats that? LOL

I did my laquer in the cold and it didnt like it.

[Viney]

The only thing that i would add to BA's post is that plenty of washing up liquid in the water for the wet and dry. This makes the scratches that the paper leaves, very fine.

Dont use a mechanical sander. These i find harder work. A sanding block will be helpful, and dont be affraid to use a new bit of paper.

[northwind]

A lot of Big Ape's post is very paint-specific... Some of paints need to be re-coated and laquered before they're dry, the Lechler Basecoat I'm using for example. I'm guessing Big Ape used cellulose.

Farecla G3 is far better for cutting back than T-Cut IMO, T-Cut can have a bleaching effect and is slow. G3 cuts faster and easier without the downsides of coarseness- though if you use pressure, it'll leave swirl marks. Think I might get some G10 to finish up. As far as i can tell, both of the Halfords rubbing compounds are rubbish. The paste one is ridiculously course (the instruction specify using colour restorer after, FFS) and the aerosol one is too fine for anything but finishing.

Paints4U.com are quite a good source for paint stuff- they're not exactly cheap, but not madly expensive either, and they have a good range. You want decent masking tape, and fineline if you're doing more than one colour, and they have a good selection of both- plus helpful stuff like 5 litre tins of standard thinners for around £7, as opposed to halford's £3.99 for 500ml. They do most of the Farecla range, which is nice. Helpful shop too. And I use Halfords for most of the other stuff for convenience- wet and dry, celly aerosols for plastic, filler and zinc primers, and for matt-blacking the inside of fairings where needed.

My prep's a bit different... Where there's damage, I rough it up first with 240 grit dry to get a good keyed surface for the filler, then filler it (I use Isopon, because that's what my grandad always used). Sand it back using 400, wet or dry- usually dry, since I'd get in trouble doing it in the house wet Then if there's any pinholes, filler primer- I use Halfords because it's cheap and vey easy to sand back. Good stuff. Then sand back with 800 wet.

If there's no damage, I start with 400, again usually dry, then take out any significant marks with 800 wet, then just shoot primer over that. Then wet sand the primer back with 800, and if there's any irregularities prime it again. Wet sand again with 800 if I do. I took some up to 1200 wet, but I can't see any difference after the basecoat between that and a careful wet 800, so I don't bother any more.

Don't get me wrong, I'm about a million miles from pro, but this's been getting me pretty good results. It's dust in the air that's giving me the most problems, and tbh I can't do anything about that so I'm just tolerating a small amount of imperfections.

Originally Posted by sprocket

Cool thanks dood, I understand most of that except the T-cut bit. Whats that? LOL

T-cut or as Northwind uses Farecla is a compound that when rubbed into the paint will "cut" into it. It basically evens the paint to a smooth and deep finish. The thicker the paint the more you can cut it and the deeper the shine will become. You can cut too much, so if the paint is thin don't be doing it for too long or you'll have no paint left to cut.

[northwind]

Also, you don't want to be cutting or sanding unprotected metallic paints... Leaves a horrible finish with shiny spots. And of course, you definately don't want to use it on any of the paints that need cleared before they've hardened, or you'll destroy the whole lot in one fell swoop

I meant to say, if you're using rattle cans the Halfords celly tins are really pretty good- they don't spurt or spot much if at all, provided you start your run off the panel. They're always on 3-for-2 as well. I did one tail panel with it, and the colourmatch and finish are very similiar to the gunned BSB Basecoat finish- though it needs much more laquer to get the shine up, for some reason. Unfortunately, the smaller cans don't go very far and the big ones are only available in a small range of colours

On the other hand, I've never found the Halfords clearcoat to work well at all- any time I've used it it, it's been soft and very vulnerable to chipping- though it does polish up nice. That's basically the whole reason I gunned my bike, I wanted better laquer and if you're using a gun for one part, you might as well do it for the lot.

[BillyC]

.... it takes bloody ages!

I might get mine finished soon!

[northwind]

You and me both... I'm on a deadline now, I'm going to get evicted if I don't clear up the garage soon Getting there though. Keep telling yourself it'll be worth it when you're done