Ronald J. Bresett's Portfolio

I am the proud owner of a 2003 Suzuki GSXR 750. In the summer of 2015, I tore the bike down to its frame and did a custom paint job on it.

 

I started by hand sanding each piece. I could not use a power sander because this would have left marks in the plastic pieces. On these, I merely sanded deep enough to break through the top layer of the plastic so that the paint had a fresh surface to bond to. The tank is the only metal piece that I have. I sanded this down to the original primer. Once all of the pieces were sanded to my standards, I washed them to remove any residue.

 

I created a makeshift paint booth out of my shed in my back yard. I used a small one pint gravity feed spray gun to paint the pieces. Using pieces of string, I suspended the pieces from the ceding of the shed. I started by spraying each piece with a coat of primer. After a one hour cure time, I wet sanded the primer to remove any impurities. I repeated this process twice.

 

Once I was satisfied with the primer, I moved on to the base coat. For this, I used GM's Iced White. I again washed and dried each piece before beginning to spray. These I let cure for two to three hours before I wet sanded. I repeated this process for four coats to ensure that I had a thick base and that the primer was fully covered. I let the base coat settle overnight before moving on to the secondary color.

 

For my complementary color, I used a Rally Sport Blue. This is a nice rich blue that has a slight metallic flake to it. Following the same procedure that I did for the base coat, I applied the blue to the sections that I had taped off. However, as it is a darker color I only did two coats of it. I again let this sit over night.

 

Lastly, I applied my clear coat. I allowed for nearly four hours between coats to allow the clear to fully settle. Between each coat I wet sanded and ensured that the coat was even and smooth. I applied 5 coats of clear to each piece to ensure a smooth and shinny finish.

 

Before I reassemble the motorcycle, I attached and wired in eight 12 inch strips of blue LED lights. These are wired to switch located under the tail so that they can be activated at my convince. The gallery below shows the final product.