I would like members opionion. Does this tank appear to be Black Denim and do you think it appears to be top notch work from a master painter.







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It has been sanded to make it dull, by far not the work of a professional if a matte color was intended.

 

I'm a painter by trade and I can verify that it isn't a black denim paint job. There's a process to prepare existing clear coat for a new clear coat where I use a gray Scotch Brite pad to knock the shine off so that the new clear will bind to the old clear. What this looks like is that he used a scotch pad to knock the shine off and left it at that.

 

One more thing I'd like to add is that if your original paint job was gloss black and you wanted it done in denim all that would have had to be done if there were no scratches and chips in the original paint job is scuff it with a gray Scotch Brite pad, mask it and shoot it with clear coat with a flattening agent added. I use PPG's SU 4985.

 

So here is what happened. I took my tank to a local paint shop that just opened up. The shop is new to Phoenix but the painter has decades of experience and has had his work make the cover of magazines. He mostly does cars. In his portfolio there were a few bikes but none that compared to some of the highly complex paints jobs that i have seen on some bikes. I was fine with it because the paint job i wanted was fairly basic. I told him my bike is currently black denim so i want the tank painted black denim with a red pinstripe and the harley logo that you see in the pics.
The painter told me that he isn't going to use black denim paint but that he had his own technique to reproduce black denim. He told me anything can be matched and that he went to school for paint matching on German automobiles. He rattled off a long list off credentials and directed me to a few magazine covers that his work was on.
The technique that he said that he uses, after the tank is prepped is to spray a black that matches the color of my fenders. Then add several layers of clear coat. Last scuff the clear coat with 2k grit paper.
I didn't know anything about paint at the time. I told him that i dont care what technique he uses is as long as it matches my remaining fenders which are black denim. I specifically told him that i don't want to have to repaint my fenders to match his paint job. I also specifically told him that i do not want a gloss paint job and that i wanted a matte paint job because my bike has no chrome on it. Matte just looks better to me on bikes with the black wrinkle drive trains.
He assured me it will match. We agreed on a price of 350$ and a 5 day turn around time. I had already stripped the tank to bare metal and there were no dents or dings. I supplied the stencils also.

The next day i did a bunch of reading because him not using the same paint didn't sit well with me. Everything i read told me his technique would not match black denim. I even went to a local auto paint supply shop and they confirmed it wouldn't work. I also found that John Deer's Blitz Black is a dead ringer for Black denim, that it is as tough, for only 1/5th the cost.
I called his shop and i insisted that he use the blitz black. I told him that i will buy the paint and activator and supply it for free. I told him everything i read said that he needed to use the correct paint and that he needed to add a matte clear coat over it. He basically refused to use it and said everyone else is wrong.. He said that HD black denim is garbage paint. He said the last quart he sprayed of it had dirt in it. He said any little spec gets in it and the paint job is ruined. He then went back to pitching all the experience that he has and reassured me that he could match it and asked me to trust him. I wanted to ask for my 90$ deposit back and take my tank else where, but i didn't. The reason why i didn't is because i read a few of the write ups done on his work. The writers in the two separate articles that i read made him out to be a master truck builder, which looking at the trucks that he built and painted, he is. After looking deeper into his work and seeing the trucks that he built and seeing a list of names that he painted for in the past, i figured my tank would be easy for him. Oh and he even had me drop off my old Black denim tank so he had it right in front of him to match it

On the 15th day, ten days later then my tank was supposed to be finished he calls me and tells me that the tank is very close to matching but because of the clear coat that clear coat will need to be added to my fenders. He said he would coat them for free. I was a bit annoyed but i pulled my fenders and dropped them off. When i go there i saw the tank in almost the exact condition as you see in the pics. I told him what the hell this tank looks nothing like a matte finish. He tells me that he is not done and that i can pick up everything tomorrow.
I arrived the next day and he had a helper wet sanding my finish with 2k grit. The tank basically looked almost exactly as it did the day before. I asked, so is this finished and he said yes almost. Not only did he give me a gloss finish, when i specifically said i didn't want gloss but his master technique to reproduce matte is to scuff it with 2k sand paper.The tank looks like exactly like what it is, a tank with scratches on it. Meanwhile he is telling me how superior his paint job is and how people are going to be blown away on his matte/scratch technique. I'm looking at it thinking it looks like dog ****.
I was so pissed that i had to leave. I just walked out and said i would be back. I calmed myself down and weighed out my options. Despite not wanting a gloss tank, i really didn't want to wait another 15 days while i make him repaint it. I decided that i would take it but that i would just buff the scratches out.
I went back to the shop, paid him and quickly left. He kept trying to talk to me but i was so pissed that i knew i would flip out on him if i opened my mouth. He knew i was pissed.
I get home and a buddy of mine points out the fact that part of the O is missing in mOtor co. I ask him what he thought and he thought the scratch technique was a left over residue from polish that still needed to be removed. Not one person that saw it said it looked cool. everyone said it looks like it has been scuffed up.
At this point i call him and let him have it. I tell him every way he screwed up, ect, ect. He offered to repaint it. I told him no, like i said i did'nt want to wait, just buff the scratches out the tank and my fenders.
He agrees.
As horrible of an experience that i had, the story has a silver lining. When i went to pick the tank up, it looked like an entirely different tank. The thing was as smooth as a baby's bottom, the color was rich and black, instead of cloudy and hazy like it was.. I didn't want a gloss tank but i had to admit that it looked really good. I mounted the tank and it matched my bike great. Also he clear coated and buffed my fenders so it looks like all my paint is new. i basically got my entire bike painted for only 350$ because of his mess up.

Sorry about the long

 

 

In the end , if you got a paint job you are happy with for $350, you did well.

 

There's guys right here on this forum that can do better than that with a rattle can (Hey Man is top dog), I've seen it. That guy would be better off applying Line-X.

 

I totally agree, definitely not a first rate paint job. He blamed the blemishes in the lettering on account of how small they are. He actually said that he is surprised that they came out as good as they did.