Painting secrets
Jorge-
Gorgeous moto! I've secretly been eying some other color schemes for my black on black "S" model...but don't tell her!
What paint products did you use? Water-based? Spray gun and how did you prep the carbon bits? I have some spare parts that I received when I purchased the hypmo' and I'm thinking of experimenting with them.
I just assumed vinyl wrap to be the easiest to experiment with since I can pull on and off (said so easily but, clearly, easier said than done).
How did you bond the paint to the cf panels? Primer? Sanding? Both?
Please reveal the secret
very nice work!
Blu
I am glad to share the secrets with you.
Painting is easier than you can imagine, and you can get an OEM quality result if you have the carefulness and the patience.
If you are the kind of guy who loves to spend time with his bike's parts and enjoys looking at the results, you'll love it. If you want immediate results, you might end up hating it.
0) Don't start painting any part unless you have verified the price you'll have to pay to replace it if you mess things up. That helped me a lot on deciding to protect my expensive OEM side tank covers and buy a carbon fiber couple to experiment with. Some parts can be found at reasonable prices on eBay used and in good contition (like the rear subframe or the tail wing) so you might decide to buy a spare to work with without having your ride dismantled and parked.
1) Use automotive painting (not water but urethane based).
2) Don't skip sanding and primer (unless you want to deal with the risk of having all your work peeling off). If you only want to create a more adherent surface a 1000 sand paper is a good choice. If you want to flatten the surface, you might need a 500 first.
3) Apply 2 coats of any product (primer, base color, clear gloss or matte coat) with 20-30 minutes between each coat. 3 coats (specially the final clear coat) can be too much and spoil your work.
4) Always use a urethane based clear coat (gloss or matte) to finish your work after all colors and decals are done. Prefer clear coats that require mixing a catalyzer as they protect way better your work from scratches and other chemicals.
5) Do not worry if your urethane based glossy clear coat is not glossy enough or if some dust particles are stuck to it. Wait a week (yes, it takes that long to be completely cured), lightly sand it with a 1200 or 1500 sand paper and then polish it with cotton and metal polishing cream paste. After that you can wax it using cotton also. You will be amazed about how glossy it can turn.
6) When doing special graphics (like my side corse stripes), use 3M green masking tape (ordinary masking tape will leave a tiny saw finish).
7) Carbon fiber parts surfaces are not as flat as OEM plastic parts. If you plan to paint with a dark color (light colors do not highlight defects as much) be aware that you might notice that more sanding is required after you have applied the base coat. If so, you will have to take 2 steps back (sanding, primer, and base coat again) so be patient.
8) I use a spray gun, but you can also get the job done with aerosol cans as you can see in this video (visit their site also, they have all the products (and sell Ducati OEM color paint):
http://youtu.be/21fBWTsdJC4
As I said, it takes patience, but for me it was worth it. I get a lot of satisfaction looking at the finished job, and other people's reactions also make me smile.
I took my bike to the local ducati dealer and most people could not tell the year model of my bike because initially they believed it was factory painted (OEM decals beneath the clear coat also helped with this).
Happy painting!