Car paint question

roadkillcafe, Aug 9, 2:09am
Excuse my ignorance, but is "2 pack polyurethane" a kind of car/motorcycle paint! Or is it some other kind of coating!-if indeed it is automotive paint, is high quality/a good choice for a roadgoing motorcycle that youre gonna keep forever and want to do a great paint job on!Cheers in advance!

rob_man, Aug 9, 2:28am
It's fine in a solid colour but for metallics and pearls you need a basecoat/clearcoat system. The clearcoat is a 2pack but it's an acrylic/urethane.
Polyurethane paints are known for their resistance to chemicals and hard wearing surface properties ideally suited for trucks and industrial applications, also ideal in marine environments but will be perfectly serviceable on a motorcycle as long as you're happy with the colour limitations.

roadkillcafe, Aug 9, 3:05am
thanks so much for such a great answer!-you're obviously quite knowledgeable (unlike myself.)I'm just after a solid colour (black)I guess the resistance to chemicals is important as its a (steel) tank and inevitiably-despite being careful-over time there will be some petrol spillage onto the paint. I've only recently bought it and i'm actually forced into repainting it as unfortunately i dislike the current colour (i say unfortunately because i'd much prefer the older surface as although the bike is in really good,original condition, it's 26 years old and shiny new paint will look a little out of place compared to it's surrounding components)(kinda like a new tooth), (if only new OLD paint was available.) so i guess i'll be forgoing any clear coat so as to keep the amount of sheen down!

grangies, Aug 9, 5:21am
Most 2k poly/acrylic urethane paint systems have a flatting agent available.

If you want an older looking black, ask the paint supply shop for 1 liter of their straight 2k black consisting of 900mls of the colour and 100ml of the flatting base/agent.

That will take the sheen of it a wee bit.

They may even have a colour sample chart for the flatting agent to show you the ratios for the desired effect, to help you choose.

trogedon, Aug 9, 6:05am
You'll probably only need 500mls though. Hopefully you'll find a supply place that will do that little.

grangies, Aug 9, 7:08am
All supply places will do right down to 250ml. But the retail price wont be 1/4 of a 1 liter price. Same as 1/2 for 500ml.

Also when buying small amounts of 2k colour, the amount of hardener required can be an issue.

Hardeners/catalysts generically come in 1 litre containers.

So if you buy 2 litres of 2:1 ratio 2K colour, then a 1 litre container of hardener will be exact amount needed.

If the colour is 4:1 ratio then 1 litres if hardener is twice the amount needed.

roadkillcafe, Aug 9, 9:40am
Excellent info guys! Thanks a lot, yeah it's tricky getting the paint just how i want it (i.e somewhere between brand new looking and quite weathered) having NEW paint is always kinda impractical in my view-given that unless you never use it, its sooner or later gonna get its very first scratch or other blemish-which is then gonna stand out (in my opinion there's nothing better than good paint that's seen a few seasons and maybe even has a couple of light battle scars, but thats basically impossible to replicate so i guess all i can do is to do my best to arrive at something that at least doesnt look GLARINGLY new/recent.