New Paint Job: lines on the tank?

[Nik]

Well, somehow I messed up the top coat. I was following the directions I had printed out - and did the final VERY fine wet sanding with a lot of soap on the SprayMax clear coat. It ended up leaving spots of dull, cloudy white in some areas. Just when it looked like I was done. UGH!!!!

N,
case of more haste less speed i am afraid. cloudy patches on clear coat is usually moisture related . Here in the tropics you need lots of water filters on your spay gun air line. Too early in the morning or just before sunset will have the humidity too high for a decent clear coat.

I would hazard the guess that the soap was not completely washed off and allowed to air dry. Luckily you were painting a bike not a boat had a whole clear coat job "de-laminate" off a hull first trip out to sea Y-Geo was non too pleased! Lots of

[nortstudio]

I was just using rattle can SprayMax. But it definitely wasn't haste - I've been working on this for a month (lots of waiting to dry). The weird thing is that there was no cloud look before I began the final wet sand. If I had left it alone - I think it would have been fine.

I supposed I may not have gotten all the soap off too. I cleaned everything with wax and grease remover - let it dry, then did the next session of painting. I though that would take care of everything extra that I missed. I may have been wrong!

The painful irony is that when I clean it with the wax and grease remover - it looks perfect...until it dries!

[cowboi]

Nort go pick up a can of fast evaporating reducer. Just a small can. Wipe it on and not the wax remover. I think that should solve your problem.

[nortstudio]

Hey cowboi! Can I get that at auto parts store? Or is this a specialty item???

This is something to clean with before doing another coat of clear???

I think I have deduced that it was the compound that messed it up. There was one fairing that I only wet sanded with 2000 before recognizing that everything was going horribly wrong. It still looks pretty good.

Thanks for your help and encouragement guys.

[cowboi]

Hey cowboi! Can I get that at auto parts store? Or is this a specialty item???

This is something to clean with before doing another coat of clear???

I think I have deduced that it was the compound that messed it up. There was one fairing that I only wet sanded with 2000 before recognizing that everything was going horribly wrong. It still looks pretty good.

Thanks for your help and encouragement guys.

Nort its kinda like what mr meogie said to Daniel son. Wax on ... bad paint ... wax off ... good paint.

Well if you wet sanded with the 2k then wiped it with the fast reducer and sprayed again you would have gotten a beautiful deep clear. Just try to sand the cloud back out and apply a new coat of clear. Use hair dryer or heat gun to speed up dry time or if your bathroom is small put parts in there and put a heater in there and turn it wide open for a bit.
The reducer you should be able to pick up at advance or autozone or local parts house.

[nortstudio]

Oh, ok. So the cloud should be sanded out. I thought the cloud was me sanding back the clear. I guess I need to sand it all off maybe? What should it look like when I'm done???

Should I be sanding with rougher paper?

This is what the worst piece looks like...



Man, what a horrible mistake!

[nortstudio]

The only stuff at auto zone is Rust-Oleum "specialty reducer"

Is that decent?

[cowboi]

That pic looks like either there was some contaminants under the second coat of clear or it was too cold when you painted it. Just re wet sand it and wash it off with dishsoap and rinse it really good. Take a hair dryer and dry it till warm and dry and then while its warm not hot but warm clear it again.

A lot of what I say is done in a paint Booth cause you can heat in a booth to get better bonding or a faster cure etc.

[cowboi]

The only stuff at auto zone is Rust-Oleum "specialty reducer"

Is that decent?

Dont bother with it. Now that I've seen the pic.

[nortstudio]

Ok. Thanks for all the info (I bought that reducer at auto zone - ill just return it if you think I won't need it.

I wish I had a paint booth. The garage where I am is not great for painting - but it's all I have.

I am going to wet sand again. Wash thoroughly with soap and water. Rinse thoroughly, and then follow your directions for heating the fairings a bit before spraying.

Honestly, it looked decent before I messed with it. I wish I had just left well enough alone. But it sounds like maybe there were factors at play that would have show themselves later?

Anyway, thanks for your patience.

Scott

[nortstudio]

One last stupid question:

After this wet sanding - its still supposed to look cloudy, right?

QUICK UPDATE: I went ahead and hit it with 2 quick coats of clear (15 minutes between as prescribed by the can) and its back to looking like it did. Of course, I ran out of paint - but it will be in tomorrow - so I left the most annoying fairings for last (side panels and the front). Also, even after sanding the 1 fairing that I had not used the buffing compound on - it still looked WAY more healthy than the ones that got the compound. Very weird. Can this just be a case of horrible product? I definitely painted all the lieces together, and with the same method - so it's seems to narrow down the issue to this damn Turtle Wax stuff.

You guys are saints!

[cowboi]

Scott are you buffing with a high speed buffer after you wet sand ?

[nortstudio]

No buffer, I just did it by hand with those special round terry-cloth applicators you buy in the auto store. I didn't think that I did it too hard, but maybe I did.

Obviously a bad move!

This is making me think that I should just leave it alone when I'm done clear - but is it possible that the compound was just too old - or just horrible quality???

Also, should I consider this clear coat the first coat, and do another after it dries, wet sand and clean with fast evaporating reducer, and then clear again?

[nortstudio]

Well, I couldn't wait any longer. Put the "fixer" couple clear coats on and decided I had to see what the damn thing would look like. Here is a shot with the side fairing still off - I need to adjust the clutch and rearrange cables, so I left those off for now.

No more wet sanding or buffing. I figure I'll let it cure as long as I can, and then see if any of that helps.

In the end, I am counting the fact that it looks black, instead of the stock white, a victory

Thanks for all the help folks.

[cowboi]

Scott. I give you 2 thumbs up. I think the bike looks good. Kinda liking the white rims too.