orange peel and the new paint

 Hope yer all rested from the extended weekend, have a cool refreshment
on me.
It's been about a week since I received my painted gas tanks and I
noticed they had developed some orange peel from the clear coat. I
asked about having them rubbed out but I honestly can't spare the
money to pay someone to do them at this point. I decided to tackle
this one myself. I did take the advice from the painter before I
ruined the paint job first. I started out by removing the dash cover
and the leather tank space cover hooyah thingy (i dont know the
official name). I then used some 1500 grit sandpaper and lightly
wetsanded the tank. I would stop and dry off the tanks with a towel to
see where I was in regards to the orange peel. I could see areas that
were almost smooth but had some cellulite looking marks that needed a
little more attention. Soon they looked pretty good, dull and smooth.
My friend gave me a 90% used up bottle of 3M rubbing compound (Perfect-
It 05973) that I had to add water to and stir up. I applied the
rubbing compound and hand polished the tank. I didn't have a buffer
and I was worried about polishing through the clear anyway. I would
stop and wipe it off so I could check where I needed more elbow
grease. After a good arm work out (about an hour of stop and go work),
the tanks looked pretty nice. I applied a coat of Nu Finish Scratch
Doctor, then a coat of wax. Now they looked fantastic! The light
reflection on the fender now matches the tanks, like a sheet of glass,
no more orange peel.
Here's a couple of finished picture links:

http://wallys-speed-shop.com/052608_flstc_1.jpg
http://wallys-speed-shop.com/052608_flstc_2.jpg
http://wallys-speed-shop.com/052608_flstc_4.jpg

I thought this might help anyone else who wants to try there hand at
smoothing out a lumpy clear coat finish.
Enjoy,

Walt
'92 flstc

 

Lookin' good.  Now doncha fly into a 3 lb. Junebug and dent it again!

BigPiper

 wallster...


Thanks for the info, the tank looks great.

--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph  

 
Thanks. Hey Tud, did you ever figure out why your Trumpy was getting
spark? (my guess is crud on the points)

walt
'92 flstc

 wallster wrote...

Figure out why??  Damnit man, it was just Saturday that I first tried it.
You gravely underestimate my ability to procrastinate.  <g>

--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph