Anyone repaired a scratch?

[Sparky10]

I have a scratch on my gas tank (about 1-2 inches long), as well as down my rear left plastic piece. Just noticed it a couple of weeks ago. Looks like somebody was carrying something out of the garage, and it scratched my bike. It is down to the primer, but not through the primer. It makes me sick every time I see it, as I just bought the bike brand new with 0 miles this past February.

I was thinking of getting these pens to repair it:

1254 Base - ColorRite
Yamaha 0996 Dark Purplish Blue Metallic U (DPBMU) - ColorRite

But a friend told be a story of a guy he knew that repaired a scratch on black bike with a pen (he did not know the brand used). Basically, it looked great at first, but then the touched up paint changed color, I assume due to not having the factory clear coat over it. He ended up with a very noticeable brown line in the black paint of his bike. He said that it looked much better just with the scratch.

So have any of you guys touched up a scratch on your bike? If so, how did the repair hold up, and what products did you use?

Thanks

 

[bertmoog]

It may be better to leave it alone. But if you just can't stand it, you can use the touch-up that colorite has and it could look good enough to where it no longer draws your attention to that spot. Only apply the base and color to the scratched portion. You will have to clear-coat it though. First of all, I would recommend you use color-rite's clear coat. I have used their system so I know it works. Second, you will need to mask off everything except the area within 3/4 of an inch of the scratch (I.E. if your scratch is 2 inches long, mask off a 1.5" x 3.5" rectangle, while rounding the corners). Allow to dry for several days.

Now comes the hard part, after following the directions, precisely, on the can, you will have to blend the area into the surrounding, existing clear coat. This can be accomplished by using 500 grit (lightly, and primarily on the new clear), 1000 grit, and finishing with 2000 grit sandpaper... all of this should be WET-sanding. After you are satisfied with the blend, the area can be finished with a fine polishing compound and then a high-quality wax to end.

Maybe this will help, if you have any other questions I would be glad to answer them. I know how disheartening a scratch can be but if you can live with it, it would save you a lot of time and effort, and your bike will still be just as fast! :thumbup:

 

[mabberley]

I purchased the same bike as yours that had been dropped with some damage to the tank and other areas. I purchased the small jars from colorite the base, the color and the clearcoat.
My process is rather similar to bertmoogs above.
I cleaned off the area immediately around the scratch with rubbing alcohol. used a very fine paint brush that was pointed and narrower than the scratch.
did a couple of coats of the base, then a couple of the color allowing to dry in between.(I very carefully used a heat gun at some distance from the tank to help cure the paint) Kind of trying to fill in the scratch by dabbing rather than stroking. Then coats of clear coat to be slightly proud of the existing paint. Once it was really dry I very carefull sanded using progessively finer grit from 1000 up to 12,000 without going through the existing or new clearcoat. The new will be much softer than the old. Then finished off with a polishing cream and wax. The sandpaper and polishing cream is from a plexiglas polishing kit I have. Takes time and patience.
If you want to give it a try I would be willing to loan you the jars of paint and the polishing kit if you agree to send it back and pay postage both ways. Probably can include a suitable paint brush as the wife is an artist.
BTW I also have a jar of paint for the frame color.
PM me if you are interested. It will all fit in a USPS small priority mail package so postage would be about $5 each way.

 

[Sparky10]

If I decide to repair it, I may take you up on that. Just a few questions:

How long ago did you do the repair?

Can you tell a difference between the repaired area and the rest of the paint?

Has the color change at all over time?

 

[mabberley]

Did the repair about 5 months ago. color was and is very close to the original and that has been my experience with a number of bikes and colors using colorite.
No sign of it fading but its not a very long time. Modern paints don't seem to fade especially with the clearcoat.
You have to look for it to find where I repaired it.

 

[discgolfdude]

how do you fix scratches on the plastic parts like the fairing?

 

[mabberley]

how do you fix scratches on the plastic parts like the fairing?


I would use the same method I described above for a scratch on metal or plastic if it's painted. It depends a lot on how deep and wide the scratch is. It's tough to fix gravel rash for instance as it's usually deep and wide and I would not call it a scratch. In that case I would have it professionally repaired and painted or buy one used from all the guys that go naked.