so im sure this has been asked before but i couldnt located it...so here it goes. I see a lot of you are stripping the paint of of the tank and frame when doing a frame up. With the use of airplane stripper (?), wire brushes, sand blasting etc. then you prime it, and then paint or powder coat it. so i can understand why with the powdercoating...because of the heat. but with painting it? if the paint is so hard to remove in the first place then why not just scuff it up. i mean if its not flaking and such. i realize if you are using bondo then you need to. but on a frame, it seems if the paint is decent, cant that act as the primer base? just thought i would ask.
Painting frame and tank Questions....to strip or not to strip?
- Thread starter Mowillie
- Start date
jason teamshralp
Been Around the Block
Some of the time the reasoning is to check for rust or other hidden issues. If you are welding or modifying the frame you'll need bare metal on the frame. Some people just want that new luster from the frame up.
As far as tank I'd say strip it every time you paint it. It will allow you to get a smoother finish. Plus the tank is easy to strip, probably one of the easiest parts on the bike.
As far as tank I'd say strip it every time you paint it. It will allow you to get a smoother finish. Plus the tank is easy to strip, probably one of the easiest parts on the bike.
Disliked23
Been Around the Block
On a slightly related note, I was trying to sand a section of my frame a little bit and it felt weird so I investigated further and the paint feels like rubber, almost like that tool-dip stuff you can get to protect your wrenches etc. Is that in any way normal for 40 year old paint? Does anyone know if honda used some sort of weird frame paint back in the day?
Disliked23 said:
What a great example of exactly why you remove it... no that doesn't sound normal.
You don't know what's under all that paint, or what kind of paint it is, or how your paint's going to interact with it. It's a way to get peace of mind and control the process the whole way through. When you modify the frame you're breaking through to bare metal somewhere and the line between the bare spot and the edge of the paint can be like the pea to the princess and ghost all the way up to your final coat. Etch primer should take care of that problem, but you never know for sure, and that's why it's always best to start from scratch if at all possible.
But no it's not necessary... unless it's necessary, which you won't know till it's too late.
Kit
