Found out my bike's paint ain't factory...
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 237
Likes: 3
From: Eastern KY
Found out my bike's paint ain't factory...
...the hard way. Heading back from the Li'l Sturgis Rally and a couple of miles from home I notice the paint's bubbling up around my console.
Long story short, the gasket under the canopy had been overtightened, there was a tiny gas leak, and it got under the paint.
After I pulled the tank it became apparent to my mechanic and me that the paint wasn't factory (some of the tape lines around the fuel gauge and the apparent quality of the paint).
I bought the bike used in December, and have put a bunch of miles on it since. The leak itself is a $20 fix. The new paint will be a little more!
Kind of a crappy way to find out the she'd been repainted. I'm hoping the painter doesn't find any filler in the tank!
The upside is I wanted to take the badges off anyway, and now I don't have to worry about two-toned paint!
Long story short, the gasket under the canopy had been overtightened, there was a tiny gas leak, and it got under the paint.
After I pulled the tank it became apparent to my mechanic and me that the paint wasn't factory (some of the tape lines around the fuel gauge and the apparent quality of the paint).
I bought the bike used in December, and have put a bunch of miles on it since. The leak itself is a $20 fix. The new paint will be a little more!
Kind of a crappy way to find out the she'd been repainted. I'm hoping the painter doesn't find any filler in the tank!
The upside is I wanted to take the badges off anyway, and now I don't have to worry about two-toned paint!
Road Master
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,049
Likes: 5
From: Emerald Coast, FL
If you bought it from a dealer and they committed fraud by not disclosing a repaint or accident known to them and they should have known under "the expert clause", you have recourse... If you bought it from an individual, it is a little more difficult to determine fraud, but you also have limited recourse... Of course the only ones who profit are the attorneys. Take what you would have to spend on an attorney and buy what you need to be happy.
PS... what kind of title was issued?
PS... what kind of title was issued?
Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 210
Likes: 1
I wouldn't automatically assume that it was due to some sort of collision. In the case of my bike, it has a good size crease/dent in the tank due to movers knocking over a book case on it (yes I got the money from them to fix it). Mine is an anniversary bike so they'd have to replace the tank, but with a non-anniversary edition it would probably be cheaper to just repaint after repairing a small amount of damage. If you did get it from a dealer, the person who sold it to the dealer might not have told them about it. Whether by law the dealer should have known about it anyway is something I don't know.
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 237
Likes: 3
From: Eastern KY
Well, the tank's already at the painter's, and I wasn't thinking "gotta have pics to post it" at the time.
We didn't find any other colors, just some atypical tape lines.
I did buy it from a dealer, and the dealer may very well not have known the bike had been repainted. They'll know what they carfax said and what the previous owner told them.
Yeah, the bike might have been knocked over in a parking lot, or had paint spilled on it, or any of a number of minor things that required paint.
I just wish they'd not overtightened that gasket!
We didn't find any other colors, just some atypical tape lines.
I did buy it from a dealer, and the dealer may very well not have known the bike had been repainted. They'll know what they carfax said and what the previous owner told them.
Yeah, the bike might have been knocked over in a parking lot, or had paint spilled on it, or any of a number of minor things that required paint.
I just wish they'd not overtightened that gasket!
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 2,160
Likes: 3
From: Houston, Texas
So if someone repaints a bike it has to be disclosed to the seller no mater what?
I have painted several bikes....some obvious, custom, and some not so...basic black....
I'm thinking about respraying my tank...more to get rid of the factory pinstripes and then do my own design....
Then I think of the guy who posted last week...
he wanted to buy a bike that had been in a wreck..he said it had a clean title...
sounded like he wanted to buy it cheep....and turn it for a big profit....
I know I'm not saying much....more like throwing some thoughts into the mix
CC
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 237
Likes: 3
From: Eastern KY
I don't mind that the tank'd been painted. Stuff happens, and if I wasn't willing to take that risk I'd have bought new.
It just bugs me that a few minutes with a torque wrench would have saved me $300 bucks!
It just bugs me that a few minutes with a torque wrench would have saved me $300 bucks!
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