2007 CBR600RR ongoing paint project! LOTS of pics

[Nihon Newbie]

Ok, let's try NOT failing at image coding...

I finally got some pics together of my wheel painting project, and some other stuff that got sucked into the paint booth...I'll describe the actual finishing process after the onslaught of pics, in case anyone wants to know all the steps I used.


Next I media blasted it

and made a handle with a wrench

Add these and skip a bunch of steps

and get this

Here is the driven face/cushdrive/sprocket carrier whatever thing primered.  i lost the pic of it as bare sandblasted metal.

With clear






Hugger was stock bare plastic black before, this is paint and primer

Cleared

sanded and recoated

Only got one shot of the front fender.  it's the same finish as all the other stuff now; gloss white, but I'm going to redo it soon.

Wheels still had stock black paintjob in poor condition; both were blasted


and primered



This is more or less how I suspended both wheels while working on them, so as not to touch any later-visible surfaces

getting whiter...



Cleared



Unmasking was a biiiiiiitch






I also painted and cleared some of the little slider bits off of my Vertigos...



And had my nuts buffed

[Wrench87]

Lookin good man, reallllll good

[Nihon Newbie]

Thanks!  I'm pretty damn happy with how it's all been turning out so far.   

[DakotaCBR]

Nice work Loren!

[Wrench87]

One thing though

Tilt your damn pics haha...my neck hurts

[Jason748]

The boot sliders... really

You are going to be so devastated the first time you toss that bike down on the pavement... but it'll look great right up until then

[Nihon Newbie]

Thanks Jon! 

I did the sliders just because I was bored and had the time and paint left over and wanted to tie in some white accents on my gear, I know it's silly, lol!  I lowsided this bike a year ago, and yeah, I was devastated, but I can't change the way I am with my bikes, haha!  I just like it lookin good, ha.  I've already decided that if I go down again badly, the bike is going track only...

[cbrSHAMU]

But you don't drive or own a car. How are you going to get around? btw, any luck on finding a beater truck?

[Nihon Newbie]

I commute on my bicycle and did that for years before I got the RR.  As for the truck, I could afford one a lot more easily if I weren't paying for insurance, gas, street tires, registration, and bike payments...

[cbrSHAMU]

lol just wait until you get the truck. then you'll be paying for insurance, gas, tires, registration and payments on that thing too

[Nihon Newbie]

Hmm......I guess I should probably just move to Alaska and take up sport snow shoveling or something....

[cbrSHAMU]

snowmobiles!

[jfillback]

Lived in AK for 3 1/2 years it sucked, military. I'm interested in doing this to the wheels on my bike. They are black, i want to make them red or white. I see you used rustoleum spray paint... any special prep or finish it needs? your's looks really good.. 

[*~c_dubya~*]

you had me at 'nuts buffed'

lookin' mighty fine, mister!

[Nihon Newbie]

you had me at 'nuts buffed'

lookin' mighty fine, mister!

Lived in AK for 3 1/2 years it sucked, military. I'm interested in doing this to the wheels on my bike. They are black, i want to make them red or white. I see you used rustoleum spray paint... any special prep or finish it needs? your's looks really good.. 

Lol, thanks, both of you.  My coworkers also all appreciated me announcing that I was going to buff my nuts at lunch, ha.

Snowmobiles actually look really kick ass!  But I couldn't actually live anywhere where it snowed.  Don't think I could do AK either...

I basically just followed the instructions on the can, aside from sand blasting the wheels instead of just cleaning them like the can said to do.  The primer requires 48 hours to dry before sanding on it, and the paint I used requires 24 hours to dry before sanding on it, after which time it's actually pretty tough stuff.  I used a flat white finish paint instead of a gloss since I was using a high-grade clear coat, and I wanted to give the clear a good surface to bond too that wasn't too slick.  I've never used clear that comes in a can, so I can't really say how this would all work if you didn't have access to spray guns and a booth, but some people have posted other projects where it worked just fine for them.  Any other advice I would give would just be to go slowly and take your time with all the re-coating and sanding.  Burning through your final coat of paint because you went after some booger, or were rushing SUCKS. Oh and re-coating: always stick with multiple light coats to get the coverage you're after, as opposed to gobbing on a lot of paint and having it get runny or soft.  Just like the can says, do a couple light coats a few minutes apart, then either repeat within an hour (I waited 50 minutes), or leave it to gas off for a full 24 hours (primer needs 48). 

Starting with the bare metal primer, I did: 2 light coats, 48 hours, 2 light coats, 48 hours, dry sanding, 2 light coats of paint, 24 hours, light sanding just to knock down any bumps, 2 more light coats to cover up where I had burned through to the metal, then a final sanding, then clear. 

Good luck to you if you paint your wheels.  It's actually a pretty fun project and in my opinion was totally worth the wait time.