Clear Coating a Tracker body

[XSE 2Timer]

Well here is the Tracker body that has been painted and hand striped by a previous enthusiast.
His intentions were to clear coat the work done. I do have the paint products which were purchased last January shown here

I am NOT a painter, only a rattle can paint guy. I know nothing about the paint products which came with this project.
I do like the painted body, it has a couple spots to touch up but because it looks like a “matte” finish I do believe a clear coat would really look professional.
Is this a mistake to proceed with the provided paint products?
Thanks, -RT

 

[Jim]

Well, being a matte finish is a bonus. Means a light scuffing is all it'll need.
Problem is you don't know what kind of finish the original is, so there's a chance of a bad reaction 'tween the original and the clear. I think I'd pick an area... like the tank tunnel, and do a test shoot. IF it lays down nice without wrinkling or tons of fisheyes, you should be good.

Since it's had a lot of handling since paint... you're gonna need to do some serious cleaning/degreassing. These are what I use. In your case, I'd use both at least 2 or 3 wipes of each...

Far as scuffing the finish, a red scotchbrite pad should do the trick nicely.

 

[XSE 2Timer]

I do have a small amount of the yellow and the silver.
Was in a paint shop yesterday hoping to get those remaining quantities canned into aerosol cans for me.
Was told to go across town elsewhere for that service but that’s on the to do list.
I see that could be useful for testing purposes

 

[magoo66]

View attachment 255252
Well here is the Tracker body that has been painted and hand striped by a previous enthusiast.
His intentions were to clear coat the work done. I do have the paint products which were purchased last January shown here
View attachment 255253
I am NOT a painter, only a rattle can paint guy. I know nothing about the paint products which came with this project.
I do like the painted body, it has a couple spots to touch up but because it looks like a “mat” finish I do believe a clear coat would really look professional.
Is this a mistake to proceed with the provided paint products?
Thanks, -RT

Well, being a matte finish is a bonus. Means a light scuffing is all it'll need.
Problem is you don't know what kind of finish the original is, so there's a chance of a bad reaction 'tween the original and the clear. I think I'd pick an area... like the tank tunnel, and do a test shoot. IF it lays down nice without wrinkling or tons of fisheyes, you should be good.

Since it's had a lot of handling since paint... you're gonna need to do some serious cleaning/degreassing. These are what I use. In your case, I'd use both at least 2 or 3 wipes of each...

Far as scuffing the finish, a red scotchbrite pad should do the trick nicely.


View attachment 255264

View attachment 255265

 

[Jim]

Since you have the original silver and yellow, you could shoot a test piece. let it sit for 48hrs and clear over it... see what happens.

 

[XSE 2Timer]

Thank you for the advice.
I’ve decided to “stick with what ya know” on this as the trip after work to a very good local paint supplier exchanged my provided products for in store credit towards canning up my remaining bike paints into Spray Max Aerosol cans
3 each, and provided Spray Max 2K Clear coat.
So nobody has the task to paint the Tracker but myself.. Rattle can extraordinaire

When the sun shines

 

[Vincenthdfan]

This makes me sooo want to make some kind of paint booth. Wintertime here in the Northwest is when I always get the itch to try to paint my tins (just rattle can'ish) because theres no real riding to be done and I have ample time for the project. Unfortunately, its always either way too wet, or way too cold, or both outside this time of year so it never gets done, what an ugly loop to get stuck in.

 

[toglhot]

I had an interesting problem with fish eye which took ages to figure out what the problem was. Quite simple in retrospect. I was placing a rag over the spout, soaking the cloth, then wiping the area to be cleaned. Then placing the rag over the spout again and wiping the part again.

The problem was when I put the rag over the spout, again, after wiping the area, I was transferring grease/oil from the surface of the part to be painted to the can of wax and grease remover, thus contaminating the wax and grease remover. Duh!

A whole can of wax and grease remover wasted, double Duh!

 

[46th Georgia]

This makes me sooo want to make some kind of paint booth. Wintertime here in the Northwest is when I always get the itch to try to paint my tins (just rattle can'ish) because theres no real riding to be done and I have ample time for the project. Unfortunately, its always either way too wet, or way too cold, or both outside this time of year so it never gets done, what an ugly loop to get stuck in.

You mean it's wet and cold in the Pacific Northwest in the winter? Who knew.

 

[Vincenthdfan]

You mean it's wet and cold in the Pacific Northwest in the winter? Who knew.

Well on my side of the State, yes...not so much on the OP's side was kinda my point.

 

[XSE 2Timer]

Painting well is a true complicated art ! Not a skill I have ever had the time for.

This makes me sooo want to make some kind of paint booth. Wintertime here in the Northwest is when I always get the itch to try to paint my tins (just rattle can'ish) because theres no real riding to be done and I have ample time for the project. Unfortunately, its always either way too wet, or way too cold, or both outside this time of year so it never gets done, what an ugly loop to get stuck in.

Ya know some “street art” you see is actually quite well done.
I’ve always been able to get reasonable results with a rattle can on a nice summer day if the wind isn’t blowing.
Since Jr High school painting bmx bicycle frames, all thru the years, it still passes as okay.
So will this XS street legal dirt bike