DIY Motorcycle Repaint – the various levels

If you’re looking into repainting your motorcycle (or other vehicle) yourself, depending on the skills and budget you have, there are various options for you to consider. They inevitably are divided by cost constraints, as you will see.

“The $50 repaint”

This method was conceived to be done on classic cars, if all you’ve got is lots of time, willingness to get your hands dirty and elbow grease to spare – but a very low budget. For a motorcycle, $50 may be a huge exaggeration, you could do it way cheaper than that.

Basically this method involves sanding, sanding and more sanding, painting the bodywork with a high density paint roller and Rustoleum paint (but you could probably use any other metal paint as well). Since the finish from a paint roller might not be perfect, you need to sand properly in between various coats to achieve a good finish. Why not head over to this site here: RickWrench.com and have a look at the entire process plus end result.It’s really quite impressive what a lot of time and painstaking effort can achieve!

The rattle-can

A much more widely used method for repainting motorcycles is doing it with a can of metal paint. With this method, it is a bit closer to the professional finish since both are sprayed on; however cans don’t necessary spray very evenly and you may have runny paint because you cannot adjust the viscosity of the paint. Nevertheless, if you are still willing to invest some time cleaning up the paintwork before giving it some clear coat over the top, you can achieve a pretty good finish. Don’t forget however that you will require more than just your colour of choice! Depending on what state the existing paintwork on your bike is like, you might need Adhesion promoter or primer before putting the final colour on. If you want the paintwork to really pop with shine, a clear coat will be required over the top.

How much paint you’ll require and therefore what the budget should be, would depend on the state of your motorcycle’s paintwork, and the amount of bodywork to be painted. But since a can of paint comes for around £5.99 at Halfords, it shouldn’t really break the bank. Add to that sand paper, masking tape and such, and perhaps £50 should cut it for most bikes.

The Semi-Pro

If you have a big budget, lots of enthusiasm and would like to repaint bikes more often, you could go down the semi-pro route of buying an air compressor, a proper spray gun and real automotive paint. Mind you though, you will need a lot of space, and if you aim to get a perfect finish, lots of practice plus a non-dusty yet well ventilated area to do the spraying in. For equipment costs alone, think several hundred pounds for this paint method – it really is not suitable for those on a tight budget!

Air Compressors : People often wonder how much they should spend on an air compressor. The opinion amongst fellow hobbyists seems unanimous – as much as you can possibly afford! In any case you should buy a compressor which has an air tank attached to it, otherwise the spray will not be even, but pulsed. Also, depending on the type of spray gun you would like to use, your compressor needs to be able to cope with the air flow. (HVLP Guns require a lot of air displacement but less pressure, conventional spray guns require more pressure but not so much flow).

Spray Guns : A regular spray gun is basically a big sort of air brush with a fairly large paint container mounted to it. The paint container is either mounted at the bottom (suction fed spray gun) or at the top (gravity fed spray gun) and could be made of either metal or plastic. The advantage of a suction fed spray gun is that it usually has more paint capacity – so it’s better suited for larger projects, whereas a gravity fed spray gun is usually lighter and easier to use around smaller items (over head spraying).

What’s HVLP? Many spray guns are HVLP guns – this stands for High Volume Low Pressure. Basically what it means is, the air is fed through the gun at a relatively lower pressure, but the flow is much higher. This makes the finish better than with a conventional spray gun, and reduces overspray. However, it does mean that this type of gun will only work with a good, high power air compressor that can sustain a lot of flow over a longer period of time.

Keep in mind that if you’re using an HVLP gun with any DIY/Hobby air compressor that can fit in your garage, chances are that the tank of the compressor will empty more quickly than what the compressor can sustain. This means that if you’re spraying for extended periods, you might need to take breaks to allow the tank to refill.

Accessories : In order to make your set up work, you need to be able to connect the spray gun to the compressor properly. Also you need to make sure that your paint remains clean. Because air compressors generally have screw on connections in standard sizes, you have to make sure that the air hose is appropriate for your spray gun (the connector might be non standard, depending on the type of gun you buy. Then get an adaptor or converter to fit your compressor. Also keep in mind that at times you may need more than one spray gun, so it might make sense to look into quick connectors that allow easy exchange of spray guns. And another thing that is extremely important is ensuring the air from the compressor is clean (water / oil free) so a filter is absolutely essential! While mounting your water / oil trap, make sure it is connected closer to the spray gun rather than directly to the compressor – in case warm air comes out of your compressor opening and cools down inside the air hose, condensation may occur if the water trap is mounted too close to the compressor.

Safety : Depending on the type of paint you intend to use, it may become extremely vital to use an appropriate mask, suit and glasses. Please consult with the usage instructions of the paint or the shop where you’re purchasing it from regarding appropriate safety precautions.