Interlux Brightsides DIY Paint Job

[paintmann111]

After a nice season of riding and leaving the old suzuki outside due to living in an apartment I started to notice the paint flaking. Due to age, fuel and sun the old laquer job was starting to fail. Not having the space, time, money or motivation do redo the laquer job I wanted something easier that would hold up and look good. Spray cans were easy, but they never seemed to hold up for more then a couple of seasons. Since I work at a Marine wholesaler I decided to give interlux Brightsides a whirl. Being a single stage polyurethane makes application fool proof and easy. Also, since it has great self leveling properties it can be sprayed or rolled and tipped with great results. This would give me the high gloss and long term durability I was looking for.

The first step was buying the componets. I wanted to spray since rolling would be a pain on the smaller parts. My list included: 2 preval spray gun kits (about $6 or less at Home Depot), mixing cups, 3m 150&220&320 foam sanding blocks, paint stick, tack clothes, normal rags, Interlux 216 thinner (xylene), 1 quart of Interlux Pre-Kote primer (gray) for one part paints and finally 1 quart of Interlux Brightsides (black). Obviously a mask and latex gloves are a must as well.

http://i.imgur.com/336EU.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7RcWG.jpg http://i.imgur.com/zGN4Y.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7pPl3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3Qqo8.jpg

If your paint is in good condition the pre-kote is not necessary, but since mine failed I wanted to make sure I had good adhesion. Also, if painting over non-painted surfaces you should always use Pre-kote, brightsides doesn't like bare metal.

Failed paint:

http://i.imgur.com/hpy9V.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MNkni.jpg

[paintmann111]

So to start things off take the pieces you want to paint off:
http://i.imgur.com/deRNh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8tjbT.jpg

Bike looks naked:

http://i.imgur.com/jqyQr.jpg

Its a good idea to give the bike a good wash before hand to get the grime off. After the pieces are off take a rag and use the 216 thinner to clean the surfaces. Cleaning the surfaces with thinner will stop any contamination from working its way into the paint during sanding. Hit the pieces with the 150 grit only if your previous paint has failed to cut through the clear and into the base. If your surface is in good condition use the 220 grit until the pieces are dull with no gloss showing. Clean every once and awhile with a clean rag and 216 thinner. Remember prep work is always the key to a good looking finish. After smoothing out the surfaces clean with 216 again let stand for a few mins so the 216 has time to flash off then go over the pieces with your tack cloth. Always use a tack cloth right before painting to pick up those little grains your eyes can't see. You are now ready to paint. With the preval sprayer I thinned the pre-kote 10% since it had trouble spraying straight from the can. If rolling and tipping make sure to use interlux 333 brushing thinner. Start with only a little. Most claim they didn't need to thin when rolling it on so try in a small spot first, if the roller is dragging thin the paint. The key to Pre-kote is THIN, EVEN coats. Do not spray it on heavy otherwise curing times will be EXTREMELY long. Also make sure you mix it thoughly. I poured the top part into a mixing cup, the stired the can as I added it back in since most of the solids had settled. I then added 10% 216 thinner (since I am spraying, 333 if rolling) after testing the preval out on a piece of wood. When using the preval get the spray going before you hit the piece and continue on after you have passed through the piece. This will give consistantly thin coats. After spraying a nice thin coat, lay it up somewhere warm (happened to be my living room WITH ventalation) and let cure overnight. This is the stage i'm at now, I will continue to write and add pictures as I progress.

Sanding: http://i.imgur.com/87RGr.jpg http://i.imgur.com/eHE98.jpg

First coat of Pre-Kote: http://i.imgur.com/pxLTf.jpg http://i.imgur.com/HM8gi.jpg http://i.imgur.com/jIIJw.jpg

[paintmann111]

Sorry for all the linking, but I was having resizing problems with Imgur.

[veg]

Just a heads up because it sounds as though you are spraying over the top of the lacquer, polyurethane cures much harder than lacquer and the lacquer does not act as a hard enough base for the poly. Basically the lacquer underneath can expand, contract and move around causing the poly to crack and possibly peel. Sorry if I misunderstood and you have stripped back to bare substrate, but I thought I'd throw the heads up out there.

[posplayr]

they are a little large

[Geeto67]

couple of 2 cents I can throw in here.....

the laquer cracking can be prevented/managed/cured.....there used to be this scratch remover back in the day (the name escapes me at the moment) that used to work by heating and melting the paint to fill in the scratch. It worked wonders for laquer checking, used to almost eliminate. I think it was called scracth off and came in a yellow bottle but my memory could be failing. Still I never had a problem with wetsanding, buffing and waxing the crap out of any laquer job I had that was starting to fail.

with any of the roller/spray can paints the best results come from the pre and post prep, not how you get the paint on the surface. You could have used a foam brush to get it on there. The secret is wet sanding between coats if you want good results. starting at 600 grit and ending at 1500 grit, wetsand between every coat (gonna be about 4-5 coats if you are doing it properly). at the end you should have no orange peel. give the brightside about a month to cure and then put a heavy coat of wax on it.

[veg]

geeto, its less about the lacquer failing underneath and more about it simply being a "softer" paint than polyurethane. It acts as a barrier between the metal (or plastic) substrate and the poly, not allowing the poly to expand and contract with the substrate as the lacquer will expand and contract at a different rate (imagine the top polyurethane coat "floating around" on top of the lacquer). I know its all a bit bloody picky but as an automotive finisher by trade I have seen several "new" 1k and 2k home jobs fail after a couple of years because of the lacquer having not been removed prior to the new paint being layed down.

[paintmann111]

The paint on the gas tank was taken down to bare metal. I'll post a pic in a bit. The news that a Urethane can't go over properly sanded lacquer is news to me. I found this quick blurb: "Urethane paint is a good choice as it can be sprayed over almost every kind of paint as it will not react. This paint can even be sprayed over lacquer. Urethane paints are also very affordable and will dry very quickly after it is applied. Urethane paints will last for a very long time and are very durable; they do not easily fade or chip."

I don't doubt your knowledge and you may be right, but Poly uses Xylene as a thinner were as Lacquer uses acetone. This is why Lacquer can never be used over polyurethanes as the acetone would attack the poly during curing. Also, the Pre-kote is a sealer/primer of sorts and is recomended when the original paint is unknown. Again, you probably have first hand experience so I don't doubt you, just saying that from everything I have read/heard/seen it hasn't been a problem.

[meanmechanic]

The paint on the gas tank was taken down to bare metal. I'll post a pic in a bit. The news that a Urethane can't go over properly sanded lacquer is news to me. I found this quick blurb: "Urethane paint is a good choice as it can be sprayed over almost every kind of paint as it will not react. This paint can even be sprayed over lacquer. Urethane paints are also very affordable and will dry very quickly after it is applied. Urethane paints will last for a very long time and are very durable; they do not easily fade or chip."

I don't doubt your knowledge and you may be right, but Poly uses Xylene as a thinner were as Lacquer uses acetone. This is why Lacquer can never be used over polyurethanes as the acetone would attack the poly during curing. Also, the Pre-kote is a sealer/primer of sorts and is recomended when the original paint is unknown. Again, you probably have first hand experience so I don't doubt you, just saying that from everything I have read/heard/seen it hasn't been a problem.

You are correct sir. I just finished a urethane paint job on my 1100es and thats how it goes.Lacquer over urethane is bad news, but the reverse is ok. I found cleaning the spraygun with the paint thinner first and then using lacquer thinner got more "stuff" out of and off of the gun.
I clearcoated it now I want to give it time before the final wet sand and buff out but it looks really good and I know it will last another 19 years.