the tao of rattlecanning
06-01-2008, 06:45 PM
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the tao of rattlecanning
Paying a few hundred dollars for a paint job can be a burn, especially when you're working with beat up plastics that aren't worth the 400, 500, 600 you can end up spending on a nice pro paint job. The only other way to get a real nice paint job is investing money in a compressor and a spray gun, which can be a big drain financially, as well as take up a lot of space. (Then again, having a nice air compressor is a nice thing to have in the garage...if you have a garage).
The alternative, of course, is to spray paint your plastics. It generally costs you ~$100 or less in materials, and won't require alot of special equipment and/or space. The drawback, however, is that rattlecans just can't produce the high quality results that are possible with proper equipment and more importantly, proper paint. The ultimate gatekeeper when it comes to rattlecan paint jobs, is that it's impossible to find a proper clearcoat in a can that can withstand the potential beating your knees, the asphalt, gasoline, and the elements will put on your plastics. (A proper 2-part clear is only available in pails/jugs.)
So, to begin the process, the most important element of being happy with rattlecanned plastics is: lowered expectations. As cool as it would be to have a Yosh Suz or Ten Kate replica--in the end it might not be worth the trouble--especially when that first gas can mishap destroys the paint on your gas tank and lowers.
A. Preparation
Depending on what you start with, this can be the most painstaking part of the process. New quality track plastics are the easiest, as they are shipped out with a primed surface for painting. A quick wipe with some paint thinner or other prep chemical, and they're good to go. Rashed up OEM fairings on the other hand, require a lot of work to get ready for paint. Assuming you're working with OEM or beat up aftermarket fairings, here's how to proceed.
Step 1 Cleaning the surface:
Most OEM fairings have big vinyl stickers that will be visible once covered with paint. Same with used track plastics, which will be covered with ICON stickers. Take a scraper and get underneath the vinyl (it'll help to heat up the vinyl with a hair dryer) with the scraper and start peeling away. Same goes for stickers, depending on what the sticker's made out of. After getting the sticker off, there will be some adhesive residue that also needs to be cleaned off. I find that paint thinner works the best on this residue and also gets rid of any grease that may be on the fairing.
Step 2 Repairing the surface:
Beat up fairings often have a variety of things wrong with them. Rash, cracks, ill-drilled frame slider holes. If you're not very particular, you can skip this step and proceed to sanding, but since i can't ever get past damage like this, i always repair this kind of stuff. Materials needed for this are as follows:
1. Bondo and sandpaper for rashes or gouging
2. unpregnated fiberglass or carbon fiber cloth and epoxy resin for cracks
Dealing with rash is painstaking. Mix up your bondo and start applying it to the rash. The idea is that bondo will fill in the surface, and elbow grease and sandpaper will make the bondo smooth. After the bondo has cured, start sanding. I find that using a fairly coarse grit paper makes shorter work of it, but too coarse and it will gouge the plastic/bondo. So go with 220 grit to sand off the large bumps, and finish with 400 grit to make it smooth. Remember that any chipped off paint will be visible after you're done rattling, so fill even minor damage in, if you want to.
Cracks are fairly simple to repair with fiberglass. Wet out a piece of FG/CF and apply it to the underside of the damaged area. Clamp the cracked fairing in a way that once the resin cures in a day or 2 it'll be in the right shape. You can bondo the front of the crack to fill it in.
Step 3 Sanding
Sanding sucks. takes forever, kills your back/arm muscles, but it's a vital step to getting your plastics painted. Take some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and wetsand the painting surface. You do not need to take off or strip the previous paint job--you just need to scuff the surface of it so that the primer will adhere to it. Work from one end of the plastics to the other, using whatever strokes you want to completely sand the surface. (If you don't know what wet-sanding is, google it. it's key to this whole operation). Once you feel satisfied with the sanding, clean off all of the grit with your garden hose and let dry. Once dry, take a rag with thinner to the surface and clean it again.
B. Priming
At this point, you've invested a good bit of time and sweat into the project. The plastics also look like **** , but no worries. IT's Prime Time! There are varying schools of thought when it comes to what primer to use, some will swear by flex primer, but i've never felt the need to use it. Instead, i like to use Duplicolor Sandable Primer and Duplicolor filler primer, which are both commonly available.
Take your piece, and begin to spray the primer. Spraypainting is never as simple as pushing the nozzle and spraying however you want. Remember to use light coats (ESPECIALLY for the first coat) and be patient between coats. I start with filler primer (which fills in imperfections) in trouble areas that may not have been 100% repaired by your bondo work, giving it a few coats on trouble spots to fill them in. Next, hit it with the sandable primer. Dupli Sandable primer is nice, because it dries pretty fast, needing about 5-15 minutes between coats. Build up your primer coats, using at least 3 coats to get the surface totally covered. (Light first, Medium Second coat, Heavier on the 3rd, though always beware of drips.)
Once your pieces are primered, they're ready for paint. IF you want to have a glossy paint job, I would wetsand the primered plastics at this point to get the surface nice and smooth and more liable to get a nice luster. However, I don't encourage using gloss coats because they're a pain in the ***, and require a lot more work for solid results. Flat/Satin colors are the easiest colors to paint in, because they don't require wetsanding and rubbing compound after painting. They look good and consistent, so long as your spray technique is even and you're not putting on thick, drippy coats.
C. Painting
You're finally ready to put some color down. IF you're putting some lines or stripes in the paint, or a honda wing or blocks of different colors, now is the time to spray the secondary color on the fairings. Since you are using masking tape to paint negatively, remember that you have to start backwards. Also, remember that pinstriping via masking tape can be a big pain in the ***. An alternative is to buy vinyl stickers in your preferred color and apply them instead. Making a consistent, straight 3/8" line is harder than you think--especially if it's a tertiary color between your 2 main ones.
Once your secondary color has been sufficiently built up (again, using patient, light to medium coats) and cured, tape them off with high quality masking tape. Once they're taped off, spray the piece with the primary color. I can't stress the virtue of patience enough. 10 light coats will always be better than 1 thick one--and the temptation to cut corners is always VERY strong.
If you're following my advice and painting with flat colors. Chances are you're done. Strip the tape off, take some pictures, and enjoy.
If you're not, the next step is to apply a cheap canned clearcoat then wetsand the surface of your glossy paintjob. You will start by wetsanding with 1500 grit paper, thoroughly sanding every painted surface. You will then repeat with 2000 grit paper. After the 2000 grit, you'll then take rubbing compound, and buff the paint to a high shine.
Final note: the beauty of rattlecanning is that it's cheap, and can achieve solid results--but you're not gonna get the sistine chapel. Use decals to cover up really bad spots and break up big blocks of color. Also, murphy's law will always apply to freshly painted fairings--so be mindful of lowsiding your first day out on newly painted plastics. It's happened to me 50% of the time i've painted a bike, and i think a friend's gone 6/6 when it comes to bikes he's painted going down (sorry rick :rofl)
i'll add step by step pics later.
Some pics of my most recent paint job of my friend's 03 600rr. Colors are Universal Flat Black and Chevy Orange.
The alternative, of course, is to spray paint your plastics. It generally costs you ~$100 or less in materials, and won't require alot of special equipment and/or space. The drawback, however, is that rattlecans just can't produce the high quality results that are possible with proper equipment and more importantly, proper paint. The ultimate gatekeeper when it comes to rattlecan paint jobs, is that it's impossible to find a proper clearcoat in a can that can withstand the potential beating your knees, the asphalt, gasoline, and the elements will put on your plastics. (A proper 2-part clear is only available in pails/jugs.)
So, to begin the process, the most important element of being happy with rattlecanned plastics is: lowered expectations. As cool as it would be to have a Yosh Suz or Ten Kate replica--in the end it might not be worth the trouble--especially when that first gas can mishap destroys the paint on your gas tank and lowers.
A. Preparation
Depending on what you start with, this can be the most painstaking part of the process. New quality track plastics are the easiest, as they are shipped out with a primed surface for painting. A quick wipe with some paint thinner or other prep chemical, and they're good to go. Rashed up OEM fairings on the other hand, require a lot of work to get ready for paint. Assuming you're working with OEM or beat up aftermarket fairings, here's how to proceed.
Step 1 Cleaning the surface:
Most OEM fairings have big vinyl stickers that will be visible once covered with paint. Same with used track plastics, which will be covered with ICON stickers. Take a scraper and get underneath the vinyl (it'll help to heat up the vinyl with a hair dryer) with the scraper and start peeling away. Same goes for stickers, depending on what the sticker's made out of. After getting the sticker off, there will be some adhesive residue that also needs to be cleaned off. I find that paint thinner works the best on this residue and also gets rid of any grease that may be on the fairing.
Step 2 Repairing the surface:
Beat up fairings often have a variety of things wrong with them. Rash, cracks, ill-drilled frame slider holes. If you're not very particular, you can skip this step and proceed to sanding, but since i can't ever get past damage like this, i always repair this kind of stuff. Materials needed for this are as follows:
1. Bondo and sandpaper for rashes or gouging
2. unpregnated fiberglass or carbon fiber cloth and epoxy resin for cracks
Dealing with rash is painstaking. Mix up your bondo and start applying it to the rash. The idea is that bondo will fill in the surface, and elbow grease and sandpaper will make the bondo smooth. After the bondo has cured, start sanding. I find that using a fairly coarse grit paper makes shorter work of it, but too coarse and it will gouge the plastic/bondo. So go with 220 grit to sand off the large bumps, and finish with 400 grit to make it smooth. Remember that any chipped off paint will be visible after you're done rattling, so fill even minor damage in, if you want to.
Cracks are fairly simple to repair with fiberglass. Wet out a piece of FG/CF and apply it to the underside of the damaged area. Clamp the cracked fairing in a way that once the resin cures in a day or 2 it'll be in the right shape. You can bondo the front of the crack to fill it in.
Step 3 Sanding
Sanding sucks. takes forever, kills your back/arm muscles, but it's a vital step to getting your plastics painted. Take some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and wetsand the painting surface. You do not need to take off or strip the previous paint job--you just need to scuff the surface of it so that the primer will adhere to it. Work from one end of the plastics to the other, using whatever strokes you want to completely sand the surface. (If you don't know what wet-sanding is, google it. it's key to this whole operation). Once you feel satisfied with the sanding, clean off all of the grit with your garden hose and let dry. Once dry, take a rag with thinner to the surface and clean it again.
B. Priming
At this point, you've invested a good bit of time and sweat into the project. The plastics also look like **** , but no worries. IT's Prime Time! There are varying schools of thought when it comes to what primer to use, some will swear by flex primer, but i've never felt the need to use it. Instead, i like to use Duplicolor Sandable Primer and Duplicolor filler primer, which are both commonly available.
Take your piece, and begin to spray the primer. Spraypainting is never as simple as pushing the nozzle and spraying however you want. Remember to use light coats (ESPECIALLY for the first coat) and be patient between coats. I start with filler primer (which fills in imperfections) in trouble areas that may not have been 100% repaired by your bondo work, giving it a few coats on trouble spots to fill them in. Next, hit it with the sandable primer. Dupli Sandable primer is nice, because it dries pretty fast, needing about 5-15 minutes between coats. Build up your primer coats, using at least 3 coats to get the surface totally covered. (Light first, Medium Second coat, Heavier on the 3rd, though always beware of drips.)
Once your pieces are primered, they're ready for paint. IF you want to have a glossy paint job, I would wetsand the primered plastics at this point to get the surface nice and smooth and more liable to get a nice luster. However, I don't encourage using gloss coats because they're a pain in the ***, and require a lot more work for solid results. Flat/Satin colors are the easiest colors to paint in, because they don't require wetsanding and rubbing compound after painting. They look good and consistent, so long as your spray technique is even and you're not putting on thick, drippy coats.
C. Painting
You're finally ready to put some color down. IF you're putting some lines or stripes in the paint, or a honda wing or blocks of different colors, now is the time to spray the secondary color on the fairings. Since you are using masking tape to paint negatively, remember that you have to start backwards. Also, remember that pinstriping via masking tape can be a big pain in the ***. An alternative is to buy vinyl stickers in your preferred color and apply them instead. Making a consistent, straight 3/8" line is harder than you think--especially if it's a tertiary color between your 2 main ones.
Once your secondary color has been sufficiently built up (again, using patient, light to medium coats) and cured, tape them off with high quality masking tape. Once they're taped off, spray the piece with the primary color. I can't stress the virtue of patience enough. 10 light coats will always be better than 1 thick one--and the temptation to cut corners is always VERY strong.
If you're following my advice and painting with flat colors. Chances are you're done. Strip the tape off, take some pictures, and enjoy.
If you're not, the next step is to apply a cheap canned clearcoat then wetsand the surface of your glossy paintjob. You will start by wetsanding with 1500 grit paper, thoroughly sanding every painted surface. You will then repeat with 2000 grit paper. After the 2000 grit, you'll then take rubbing compound, and buff the paint to a high shine.
Final note: the beauty of rattlecanning is that it's cheap, and can achieve solid results--but you're not gonna get the sistine chapel. Use decals to cover up really bad spots and break up big blocks of color. Also, murphy's law will always apply to freshly painted fairings--so be mindful of lowsiding your first day out on newly painted plastics. It's happened to me 50% of the time i've painted a bike, and i think a friend's gone 6/6 when it comes to bikes he's painted going down (sorry rick :rofl)
i'll add step by step pics later.
Some pics of my most recent paint job of my friend's 03 600rr. Colors are Universal Flat Black and Chevy Orange.
06-01-2008, 07:15 PM
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Re: the tao of rattlecanning (life sux die)
i agree, with the right prep work it can turn out pretty good, esp if your plastic isnt worth the money to pay someone to do it. Im in the middle of doing mine right now and its turning out better then i would have thought, im using the fusion plastic paint on mine. it says that sanding isnt required but im doing it anyway to smooth out the road rash and where i had to repair it. im also wetsanding between coats and it has turned out pretty nice for the time effort and price. Also to remove the stickers a heatgun worked well, i knew i needed one for some other stuff and harbor freight has one on sale for $9 so i couldnt go wrong, ill post up some pics once i get mine finished.
06-01-2008, 07:29 PM
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Re: the tao of rattlecanning (stockcrix1616)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stockcrix1616 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i agree, with the right prep work it can turn out pretty good, esp if your plastic isnt worth the money to pay someone to do it. Im in the middle of doing mine right now and its turning out better then i would have thought, im using the fusion plastic paint on mine. it says that sanding isnt required but im doing it anyway to smooth out the road rash and where i had to repair it. im also wetsanding between coats and it has turned out pretty nice for the time effort and price. Also to remove the stickers a heatgun worked well, i knew i needed one for some other stuff and harbor freight has one on sale for $9 so i couldnt go wrong, ill post up some pics once i get mine finished. </TD></TR></TABLE>
yup, if you take the time to do extra sanding and are very meticulous, the paint can turn out REAL nice. it's up to the painter to decide whether the extra good looks are worth the potential risk of a lowside or gas spill (which can be high for track bikes).
here's my gsxr:
my ol' F4i:
my F2 (first attempt at spray painting):
yup, if you take the time to do extra sanding and are very meticulous, the paint can turn out REAL nice. it's up to the painter to decide whether the extra good looks are worth the potential risk of a lowside or gas spill (which can be high for track bikes).
here's my gsxr:
my ol' F4i:
my F2 (first attempt at spray painting):
06-01-2008, 07:35 PM
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Re: the tao of rattlecanning (bad-monkey)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bad-monkey »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
yup, if you take the time to do extra sanding and are very meticulous, the paint can turn out REAL nice. it's up to the painter to decide whether the extra good looks are worth the potential risk of a lowside or gas spill (which can be high for track bikes).
</TD></TR></TABLE>
yep, very true, yours turned out nice, i reallys like the white. I use to work at a race shop that mainly worked on the dwarf cars, like a legend but no fenders and raced on dirt and asphault. one of the older customers would always come in and do body work while we were building the suspension for his car. he pretty much mudded and sanded all the sheetmetal, smoothed out the seams where the sheet metal went and the pop rivets untill it was flawless, then broke out some nice epoxy rattle can paint. i thought he was crazy but that car looked amazing. he was an older guy who was just doing it for fun, he finished towards the back every weekend but didnt care, he kept saying he wanted me to get it dialed in and then install him an arm rest so he could rest on the straigths lol.
yup, if you take the time to do extra sanding and are very meticulous, the paint can turn out REAL nice. it's up to the painter to decide whether the extra good looks are worth the potential risk of a lowside or gas spill (which can be high for track bikes).
</TD></TR></TABLE>
yep, very true, yours turned out nice, i reallys like the white. I use to work at a race shop that mainly worked on the dwarf cars, like a legend but no fenders and raced on dirt and asphault. one of the older customers would always come in and do body work while we were building the suspension for his car. he pretty much mudded and sanded all the sheetmetal, smoothed out the seams where the sheet metal went and the pop rivets untill it was flawless, then broke out some nice epoxy rattle can paint. i thought he was crazy but that car looked amazing. he was an older guy who was just doing it for fun, he finished towards the back every weekend but didnt care, he kept saying he wanted me to get it dialed in and then install him an arm rest so he could rest on the straigths lol.
06-01-2008, 07:40 PM
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Re: the tao of rattlecanning (stockcrix1616)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stockcrix1616 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
yep, very true, yours turned out nice, i reallys like the white. I use to work at a race shop that mainly worked on the dwarf cars, like a legend but no fenders and raced on dirt and asphault. one of the older customers would always come in and do body work while we were building the suspension for his car. he pretty much mudded and sanded all the sheetmetal, smoothed out the seams where the sheet metal went and the pop rivets untill it was flawless, then broke out some nice epoxy rattle can paint. i thought he was crazy but that car looked amazing. he was an older guy who was just doing it for fun, he finished towards the back every weekend but didnt care, he kept saying he wanted me to get it dialed in and then install him an arm rest so he could rest on the straigths lol. </TD></TR></TABLE>
thanks dude!
it's weird. i generally hate white vehicles. but when it comes to bikes, especially race/track bikes, i'm a sucker for it.
also a quick note on cheap track plastics: you get what you pay for. I think the cheapest i'd go is $500 for hotbodies from STG. i've got a set of what appears to be cheetah race plastics on my gsxr and they've done nothing but **** me off. Fitment is crap. nothing lines up. I don't know if i'd spend $1000+ on sharkskinz the next time around, but i'm definitely going to go with either catalyst or attack racebodies (~$700).
yep, very true, yours turned out nice, i reallys like the white. I use to work at a race shop that mainly worked on the dwarf cars, like a legend but no fenders and raced on dirt and asphault. one of the older customers would always come in and do body work while we were building the suspension for his car. he pretty much mudded and sanded all the sheetmetal, smoothed out the seams where the sheet metal went and the pop rivets untill it was flawless, then broke out some nice epoxy rattle can paint. i thought he was crazy but that car looked amazing. he was an older guy who was just doing it for fun, he finished towards the back every weekend but didnt care, he kept saying he wanted me to get it dialed in and then install him an arm rest so he could rest on the straigths lol. </TD></TR></TABLE>
thanks dude!
it's weird. i generally hate white vehicles. but when it comes to bikes, especially race/track bikes, i'm a sucker for it.
also a quick note on cheap track plastics: you get what you pay for. I think the cheapest i'd go is $500 for hotbodies from STG. i've got a set of what appears to be cheetah race plastics on my gsxr and they've done nothing but **** me off. Fitment is crap. nothing lines up. I don't know if i'd spend $1000+ on sharkskinz the next time around, but i'm definitely going to go with either catalyst or attack racebodies (~$700).
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06-01-2008, 08:08 PM
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Re: (EGlovr)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EGlovr »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks great for a rattlecan job. could you throw on a couple coats of clear to give it that 'oem' look?</TD></TR></TABLE>
i'm not sure if it's worth the effort. if i had a compressor and could spray a 2-part clear, i would. otherwise, i'd just leave it like that cuz i like the matte finish.
i'm not sure if it's worth the effort. if i had a compressor and could spray a 2-part clear, i would. otherwise, i'd just leave it like that cuz i like the matte finish.
06-01-2008, 08:12 PM
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the first time i did it white it took me a while since i was using OEM plastics with lots of rash. took me forever to fill and sand. maybe a week working on and off. i actually did clear coat it the first time around, but didn't get a very consistent glossy finish after busting my *** with the 2000 grit and rubbing compound...
then i lowsided it at the very next track day and repsrayed it a flat white and skipped the clear.
the black version was all flat black and didn't take long at all (i think a day or two) since there wasn't as much to repair.
then i lowsided it at the very next track day and repsrayed it a flat white and skipped the clear.
the black version was all flat black and didn't take long at all (i think a day or two) since there wasn't as much to repair.
06-02-2008, 07:25 AM
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Re: (bad-monkey)
Here's my $6 Krylon Fusion paint job on my F2...no sanding, just washed, dried and sprayed! I know it's not that nice, but I can't complain - it's a $400 bike. Plus it's pretty dirty in these pics.
Don't mind my to-be-painted tank...I still have to rattle-can that as well.
Modified by boostincoupe at 1:57 PM 6/3/2008
Don't mind my to-be-painted tank...I still have to rattle-can that as well.
Modified by boostincoupe at 1:57 PM 6/3/2008
06-04-2008, 08:04 AM
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Re: (boostincoupe)
Any tips on rattle-canning the tank?
I have various grits of sandpaper, sandable primer and acrylic gloss black spray paint (for metals).
I have various grits of sandpaper, sandable primer and acrylic gloss black spray paint (for metals).
06-04-2008, 08:12 AM
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Re: the tao of rattlecanning (bad-monkey)
Good writeup, BM
I went the rattle can route on both of my bikes at first but got really sick of all the prep-work going to waste on crap paint so I went the full hog route and bought guns and paint.
I went the rattle can route on both of my bikes at first but got really sick of all the prep-work going to waste on crap paint so I went the full hog route and bought guns and paint.
06-04-2008, 09:53 AM
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Re: (boostincoupe)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boostincoupe »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any tips on rattle-canning the tank?
I have various grits of sandpaper, sandable primer and acrylic gloss black spray paint (for metals).</TD></TR></TABLE>
basically the same approach as you have for plastics. clean it, scuff up the paint w/ some 400 grit, then prime and paint.
if there are any decals under the clearcoat that'll show up as a raised portion, you can sand it down until you're able to pull it off.
the first tank i painted i stripped down to bare metal. it took forever and was a totally unnecessary pain in the ***.
I have various grits of sandpaper, sandable primer and acrylic gloss black spray paint (for metals).
</TD></TR></TABLE>basically the same approach as you have for plastics. clean it, scuff up the paint w/ some 400 grit, then prime and paint.
if there are any decals under the clearcoat that'll show up as a raised portion, you can sand it down until you're able to pull it off.
the first tank i painted i stripped down to bare metal. it took forever and was a totally unnecessary pain in the ***.
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