Painting a Harley...

[JT Airbrush]

I have a customer who wants me to repaint and airbrush the tins on his Harley. Now, I mostly airbrush and pinstripe and don't take on complete repaints, but this is a good customer who wants me to do the entire job, so I told him I'd consider it. The tank has the standard Harley logo and pinstriping buried under the clear coat, so can I just scuff the clear and paint over it, or do I need to sand out the Harley decal and pinstriping?

 

[TAZ]

Normally what I do right off the bat is take a razor blade scraper and remove the decals.
Then I take 80 grit and basically feather that complete area including the pinstripes on the tank.
Then I use 180 to go back over the area, edges and the rest of the tank. Then 320 hand sand the complete tank
As far as the fenders, I use 180 and dig into the clear and remove the pinstripes. You need to feather all these areas real good.
Then I 180 the complete fenders - Then handsand.

Then I prime those areas and any bodyworked areas, resand and you're ready for the basecoat.

 

[chopolds]

Taz nailed it. Though if doing a custom color, like a 3 stage paint, I prefer to strip it to bare, as there will be an excess of film thickness.

 

[BeoBob]

Both options above will get you there. I have seen the old pinstripe show through the new paint. So don't hesitate to sand it completely off as well.

 

[JT Airbrush]

Thanks for all the great info. If the pinstripes and decal are buried under clear, why would they show through the new paint? I've airbrushed bike helmets where the DOT sticker is buried under clear and base coated right over it and never had it show through. I'm just trying figure out why I need to sand off the stripes and decal if they are buried under 2k clear.