[Erki]

I was the same way. I didn't wont to go over $500 base and clear. I went every where no luck. One place said $1100. So I went back to the lowest bidder. At $500. Then I told him I was going to put Flame decals on it. And he no your not. Let me make you a test panel. I came back the day and he had a White pearl Flames on my red with some flip-flop and boom. I Love it. But I got lucky Total cost was $725 for my paint job. $500 for the Base, Clear. $150 for Pearl Flames, and $125 Pen Striping. And the pen stripping was farm out, it was going to be $250 but I told him I was over budget all ready so we spilt the price. But he pick out the color. So I got lucky, cuz he just open this business and he wanted some nice custom work so he cut me a deal plus me working with him on a deadline. I told him wheneva it done its done so there was no pressure or rush but it only took 2 weeks anywayz

Wow you got a smokin deal. The pinstriping job is also a great deal if all your flames are striped.

[sjgiardina]

If you are like the rest of us and have more time then money then I'll tell you this; I am in the process of finishing my paint job and it was challenging. I used a touch up gun I got from Harbor Freight for 9.99 and this little gun layed down paint like a good one does and it was easy to handle for spraying my rims. The biggest thing about painting it yourself is to have the panels as perfect as you get them from the factory, lay down some filler primer and be careful what you sand and the grit you use because scratches are magnified once the paint and clear hit it. The paint can be relatively inexpensive pending what you are looking for. I purchased a quart of Metallic Grey, a quart of Metallic Blue and a quart of clear; also bought a teaspoon FULL of micro flake. These quarts were already reduced to the quart size and they cost me no more then 30 dollars each. Once I got the colors down, I mixed some clear with microflake and shot 2 coats. After it dried, I shot 2 more coats of clear without the flake. If you do it in your garage as I did you stand the chance of getting small pieces of trash in it; don't cry, sand it with 1200 and buy some Meguiars products to revive the shine.

Easier if someone else did it.

[Erki]

will be a lot easier to polish if you use 2000 or even 2500 grit rather than 1200. Just my 2 cents.

[sjgiardina]

I'm sure it would have been; part of the painful "learning process".

[ras]

Do it yourself. I am working on 2 bikes right now and it was my first time. total for both bikes maybe 400. That and you get the satisfaction of saying you did it yourself.

[Mat0302]

That price is a little excessive in my opinion.

Well my lower & inner fairings are now painted. I have to pick them up tomorrow. He ended up charging me $240. So that was better than I thought. I put pics up tomorrow.

[yellow_kitty_kat]

I had mine painted in PPG Porsche "Solar Yellow", and the belly pan done in Porsche gloss black for $275.00 here in Orlando.

I dropped the bike off, they stripped the skins off, sanded it down, primed it, shot 4 coats of yellow & black, and 3 coats of clear on it - you could probably try to shoot it with a gun, and the rounds would just bounce off... The painters even bought a new tank guard for me, and put it on because they had to remove my original. I picked it up 10 days later, because they were hooking me up, and I told them to just do it in between jobs they were working on, as I was in no rush. It is a year later, and I am still impressed with the finish.

I got this deal because I helped the owner push his truck off of a busy road one day. Never met the guy before then, even though his shop is 2 doors down from mine. He also does not speak a word of English. When I went to have it painted, I went to my mechanic (one door down from my shop), and he translated my request to the guy I helped. I had forgotten about pushing his truck, but he had not.

Moral of the story: Be nice to other people. You get the hook up on paint jobs!