I just painted my tank, fenders, and oil tank. All turned out great but not I need to buff it. Ive never done it before and was wondering if anyone on here can give me some tips and stuff to be careful of. What grit sand paper should I sand with...I have some 1000 but is that fine enough or should I get some like 1500? Anything would be appreciated thanks alot!!!

 

I have to admit that I've never painted parts for a motorcycle, but I have painted two cars in the past and I would only use sand paper when preparing the car for painting, not after I had painted it. After painting I would use a buffing compound and since the gas tank has some drastic curves, I would almost be inclined to hand buff that. Since the fenders aren't that large either, I suppose hand buffing the whole thing wouldn't be that big a deal.

In any case, buffing compound plus making sure to use a very clean, soft cloth to do the buffing would be the main things I can think of. Just make sure that you don't drop whatever you're buffing with on the ground, or if you do be careful about any grit it might have picked up.

 

I'm assuming you painted it with base coat clear coat? I would use 1500 grit and sand just enough for the water to turn milky. Use a small rubber squeegee to periodically "wipe" the water and residue off and look for tiny shiny spots (orange peel) You can always take more off so wet sand lighty until you feel the "drag" of the clear dissipating. You can machine buff but make sure the items are secured some how. There are foam pads that fit a DA sander(6") These work nice because of there size, but you need to adjust the da to free spin instead of dual action. Check with your local auto parts store paint counter for a good buffing compound. They have a product at carquest called one step and it is just that. A one step compound. I beleive you would use two to three different grades of pads though. I have not tried it yet so I don't know the details.

If you painted with any other type of paint, follow the same procedure, just there will be no milky residue while wet sanding. It'll be the color of your paint. Take your time and check often for orange peel removal.

I'm no expert by any means, but I have painted 15-20 cars, and 5 sets of tanks and fenders. All the owners were very satisfied.

 

Thats awesome....I will take some pictures periodically and post them on here after I am done and I will post one when they are on the bike....hopefully everything turns out well I will being doing this tomrrow around 4 o clock so I should have some pics posted tomorrow night.......anything else anyone wants to say before I take a stab at this????

 

A 1500 or 1000 grit sand paper is way too rough for sanding on a finish coat of paint. You should be using upwards of 2000 or more. Put just a dab of soap in the water. Do use a soft pad to sand with and don't go crazy in any one spot. Sand a small spot. Wipe it off and go with your compound afterwards. Rub it in, buff it off and observe the results. If satisfied, continue on. Be sure that you have given your paint enough time to thorougly dry before doing all this. If you did not use a hardener, then at least is week is about right. Leaving it out in the sun will help bake it on. You can and will ruin all your hard efforts if you don't do it with patience. A buffing wheel is great for helping to do the job but, will cut through very quickly. You will easily take off all of your paint in one spot if not careful or if you have a little less pain in some spots, will go down to the primer. Be patient and carefull.

 

Heck... I might as well jump in here. I use to work in the van conversion industry and painted the vans for about 15 years. I've got several thousand paint jobs under my belt and will add a little insight here.

First off if you used a basecoat/clearcoat system, did you spray enough clear coat in the first place? With two coats you already have the bare minimum of material on the surface. Any sanding would have to be kept to a bare minimum in the first place. You are only dealing with a thickness of a few mils to begin with and any excess sanding will degrade the long term quality of the clear ( a year or two down the road it will start to crack and peel).

Did you put a design (two tone, graphic etc..) where you would have different layers of base coat under the clear?

If you are going to sand and buff at all I would put more than two coats of clear in the first place. Three minimum, so you have enough material to remove without degrading the finish.

Selecting the correct sandpaper is another consideration. If this is a one time, two coat finish then I would use a 2000 grit paper, dull the finish and buff with a fine compound. Do not take off too much material as stated before.

Be careful of angles, seams and curves when sanding and buffing. As these will tend to have the most material removed during the process. When you are sanding and buffing a flat area the pressure applied is spread over a larger area (a bigger foot print), but when you get to a curve or seam this same pressure is reduced to a smaller area and more material is removed with the same effort, thus you can sand through or burn though while sanding and buffing.

Hope this helps....

Charlie D.

 

Well here goes nothing Im going to leave right now to start on this....wish me luck....hopefully i can post pictures either 2nit or tomorrow

 

good luck! be patient, and we will be looking forward to pics.

 

First picture of all together

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Tank picture number 1

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