Paint opinions

Hey all:
My 3rd generation 1990 vfr is red. I am in love with the 91 pearl white and have a friend that does incredible paint & powder coating work.

Would it be a sin to change the color scheme? My current paint is nearly perfect now but I just love the white a whole lot. I would want to do repairs to my plastics as there are some cracks here and there around some of the tabs etc which I consider normal given the age.

I would also do the wheels if I decide to go for it. New decals for the body too, which took forever to get last time I ordered them. Help me make the choice.

 

If your fairings aren't in perfect condition, then by all means freshen them up. The only issue I see is the gas tank since you would want a white one which is damn near impossible to find.

 

By all means, do it!

 

Why would he need to find a white tank, couldnt he just paint the old?

 

I dont like red gen three bikes, but do like them over the milk wagon paint scheme of the 93 models, this is totally subjective of course. They paint all the emergency vee-hickles in japan white. Kinda boring, saw lots of white vee-hickles come to think of it, maybe its a Buhdah Luck thing? or its cheaper to paint them that colour...

I like the red fender though, started with original colour then got two red ones, so thats whats on there now and I stand firm on it! :wacko: Granite Blue is the way to fly for me.

 

The white 3rd gens are one of the best looking VFR's ever made. If you can re-do yours to match I say go for it!

Edit: Had a few friends over, if there was any chance I could have talked him into selling the white 3G I would have, just a beautiful bike...

 

If the Honda VFR "Pearl White" is what you want. Do it! There are hundreds of whites and pearl whites. Then ya got custom mixes.

My opinion is that you shouldn't paint your bike like mine because some folks will think it's a Harley.


Yep, tanks paint too.. You will lose the clearcoated graphics with a repaint.

The red will need to be killed. It will show through a pearl or a white.

Powdercoat or paint on your wheels is a tossup as is an analogous or complimentary color for same.

Opinions on what color to paint "your" bike may exceed the opinion to asshole ratio, so often quoted on this and other forums.

I hate stockers.

 

I painted my 90 to pearl white. It's looks a 1000% better than the red and I don't regret it for a second.
Had a hard time finding the formula for the 93 honda white pearl color so I gave up and used lexus starfire pearl (077). Turned out great!

Next thing I'm going to do is paint the rims black.

Do it!

 

Look up on Colorrite.com.

93 VFR is Pearl Crystal White. Its a 3 stage paint. Base, Pearl, clear. All on polyurethane paint, available from them in any size you want, and also in a spray can.

Key is prep, prep, prep, and follow directions.

Personally, I would strip the old paint and prime it grey to start with. I would have the old wheel blasted and powder coated white, not pearl.

Decals are available still.

I was asked this week if my bike was new. Still gets the thumbs up in a little crowd of 131000 at MotoGP.

Larry

 

Use of solvent based strippers on paint over ABS is risky. One of the fractions of solvent strippers is methylene chloride. Same stuff is used to chemically weld ABS.

Best primer color IMO for a repaint of any of the pearls or pearl as a base for candy colors is white. If grey is the only choice the more subdued the hue the better. The optimum grey is usually one of about 17% reflectance. This can be seen on a Kodak gray card or close on a monitor screen.

Factory paintjobs (even on Harleys) is robotic and changes with time and technology.

 

Billy, sounds like you might know if this is doable. If he chose to paint the tank, could he do primer, base, pearl, then apply graffics and then clear over that? I've always been curious if the clear adheres to the vinyl graphics. If not, how is it done at the factory?
John

 

Clearcoats even though they are two component are relatively mild and do not have large fractions of aromatic solvents. These same clearcoats can be applied over even automotive lacquer.

I can't answer your question. I know that factory applied clearcoats over "vinyl" graphics is robotic and the graphics may not be vinyl at all. There are so many types of materials used as graphic all the way from stock found in sign shops to what looks like factory graphics to even guess wouldn't be a good thing. I have done several repaints of tanks that had factory graphic that were clearcoated and IMO the graphics were decals.

Best bet IMO is go to one of the suppliers and ask or use a weed type stencil.

Sidebar: Try Troy Lee jr. or maybe the Stoshmonster...

Troy Lee jr??? Yep, his dad was Troy Lee. AMA National Flat Track Amateur Champion in the 1950s.