clear/candy over bare metal

[primitivepete]

I've seen several bikes, including one H/D oem job where clear or candy was painted over bare sheet metal. I'm thinking of trying a red candy/black flame job, but am concerned about paint falling off. Anyone try this? Any ideas on adhesion/paint combos? I apologise if this has been covered before, tried a search and came up empty.

 

[Austin]

I've done some candy over bare metal, but only as a test panel. My best advise is to grind the patern you want into the metal, then use a metal treatment (metal etch). Not the spray on type, the kind you apply by hand then rinse off. This treats the metal, and should help adheasion. Don't use too coarse of a grit for your grinding either, because you need to fill those scrathes with clear coat basicly. I would use 80 grit on a grinder it looks the same just doesn't cut in as bad.
Austin

 

[primitivepete]

Thanks for the reply. I'll find some metal etch and try it on an old fender first. I was going to do my grinding/patterns with a 4" fine grit roloc pad, figured it wouldn't dig too deep.

 

[LudicrousSpeed]

And mak sure you do not touch the bare metal with your fingers!!!

A friend had this done to his Fatboy, and it looked great......... Until you started to see a couple rusty fingerprints under the clear!