Paint gurus: factory black painted parts question

elefantrider

elefantrider

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Looking to color match the frame & black-painted parts on an original bike.

I believe the original paint was lacquer and it was painted direct to metal (no primer).
It was put on very thick, some factory-painted parts even have runs.

To replicate, I've tried various spray outs using of PPG Delfleet Essential, settling on about 50% gloss and 50% flat. This is a 3 part Polyurethane Enamel that down lays pretty well with my mini gun and is supposed to be very durable.

It's not really a close enough match for me.

The original paint is a warmer and deeper black, and more glossy.

Has anyone found a matching paint, closer to the factory tone?
Not talking rattle-can paint.
 
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The only time I've bought Spraymax is for 2k clear or epoxy primer, when I've only needed a little and didn't want to clean 2 guns.

My local paint store sells them for about $35.
Used to be $25 just a few years ago.
$60 is pretty high.
 
An old car painter once told me that matching black was the most difficult thing to accomplish. There are so many mixes of colours that almost but not exactly look the same black.
 
Mike40M said:
An old car painter once told me that matching black was the most difficult thing to accomplish. There are so many mixes of colours that almost but not exactly look the same black.
Click to expand...
I read somewhere that BSA used 11 different shades of black!
 
Straight Black Tinter is influenced/changed by adding Blue... Magenta (Burgundy) and Yellow to get the desired colour match to suit your taste or vehicle match in most cases
 
When I worked at Longbridge making the classic Mini there was a shop dedicated to painting items black next to the Body in White (body welding) and not the paint shops with the spray booths. It worked on mainly brackets but some large items too, they were hung on a conveyor and then that ran the parts to dip into a vat of black enamel paint before then going into an oven. Runs and drips were very common and the nearby Bike industry which had recently all closed down would have used the same method.

Body Details Dipping Shop (Floco)
 
well the original black paint was over 3 coats of under coat primer of oxcid and two of grey zinc oxcid and synithetic black then baked in there ovens on low bake and ratel can will react with the paint underneath now polyurethean is house hold paints
 
annajeannette said:
well the original black paint was over 3 coats of under coat primer of oxcid and two of grey zinc oxcid and synithetic black then baked in there ovens on low bake and ratel can will react with the paint underneath now polyurethean is house hold paints
Click to expand...
That may have been how they did it at Bracebridge Street but I think it's extremely unlikely that they did anything as thorough as that on Commando frames. My Wolverhampton built Commando had paint coming off the frame after a couple years. I stripped it down and had it powder coated, which has mostly survived to this day. The original paint was very thin and looked a pretty cheap job.

As for the colour. I've never heard anyone say "that's the wrong black" about any motorcycle frame so would use any black paint.
 

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