Painting over pinstipes

[Jim]

A guy I know has a 97 Wideglide which is a red pearl(factory paint).It has a gold painted pinstripe on the tank that he wants to get rid of,but also has a nice flamed decal which he wants to keep.You can't feel the stripe.I'm thinking it could be masked,600'd and repainted.just over the stripe but,will the pearl have to be blended or just spray and sand over the stripe and reclear the whole tank?Also,I think one of you guys said HD paint is PPG?If I'm wrong,could someone explain the process?

 

[rex]

Hey Jim.I believe Harley does use PPG,but usually it's a completely different system than we can get,just like cars.I'd check the code with Harley to make sure if it's a true pearl or a pearl base with a red candy over it.The only way I know to do it is give a Stealer the VIN # and they can look it up.Blending out the pearl after you mask off the decal isn't a problem but blending out candies is tricky to say the least.Go easy sanding around the decal though since it's easy to break through the edge and knock the color off.I'd even use a grey wet scuffpad around the edges of the decal to help avoid it.Don't touch the pearl after it's sprayed though because sanding it will burn the color off the flakes and the blend edge will burn and leave ring.