Help me before I screw my bike up please!

[JT]

Hey everyone... I just came across your board and man do I like the paint jobs here!

Anyway I'm having a guy paint my motorcycle fenders and tank. I wanted them to be jet black with a flash of red when the sun hits it.

He painted a test panel with the black and then
a coat of clear with red pearl in it, then a final coat of clear. It looks black in the shade and it flashes in the light alright, but it looks like "metalflake" more than pearl. I'm not sure it's going to look good on the bike.

The pearls he's using are DuPont pearl powders. Also the one he used was more of a burgandy, I'm looking for a brighter red. I looked at all of the powders, but it's hard to tell what color they are without mixing and spraying them! Is there a number of a DuPont red pearl that's nice and bright?

Thanks for the help!
J.T.

 

[TAZ]

JT,
It's been a while since I have used the DuPont system, but I do remember the powder pearls. He is probably using the red pearl that appears as red (possibly what you meant by the burgundy) flakes in the can. You should probably suggest to him to use the "red pearl toner" (liquid form). The liquid red pearl will appear as a milky toner with the hue of red. You will see the difference right off the bat.

Then he needs mix the red pearl toner with the basecoat binder, about a 50/50 mixture of pearl toner and binder, then over-reduce it (which means add more reducer than DuPont recommends).

I do not spray my pearl flames with clear, I use the basecoat binder/pearl, then clear it as mentioned above.

Only spray a few coats, as the more pearl you put on, the more your flames will stand out. Alot of variables come into play on how much the flames will stand out, but he needs to keep checking after each coat by pulling up the tape in an inconspicuous spot.

Keep in mind, this still will not be a bright red, but I believe this is the look you are trying to achieve. If he is spraying the "burgandy" type pearl as flames, I agree, this will not look too good----use the liquid red pearl toner (milky looking).
Hope this helps you out!

Scott
Custom Flame Painting

 

[JT]

Thanks for your help. I'll forward this info on to him and maybe we can pull this off.

Again thanks for your advice

J.T.