Getting my chin painted red....

[Yamma~Tiger]

So I bought a fiberglass belly pan with mounting hardware for $80. Thats the DR403 belly pan. It should be here sometime next week. Now The pan comes unpainted, and I have no experience in painting, but My uncle does, he has his own equipment and I trues him, He is the kind of person who takes a lot of pride in his work, and will re-do something 100 times if he has to to get it right. So I asked him and he said yes. But I decide to contact some local body shops and check their prices.... here is the results....

Shop one:

ME:"I was wondering if you would be able to paint a belly pan for a sport bike. Its a 2007 Yamaha FZ6. I just ordered the pan. Its gel coated fiber glass. I have also included a picture of the bike. The Yamaha color code is 0918..... but you may want to double check that. I just want the pan to match the tank and front faring. How much would it cost? how long would it take? also where are you located?"

Reply: "Hi Andre,

What an interesting situation we have.... so it's a little more
expensive than it would normally be.

The local bodywork and paint places don't carry or mix the paint you need,
because from the factory it's water based paints which requires a whole lot of
setup to even spray.

The only place to get paint for your bike is online, and it's $124 /pint
Your paint is a tri-coat color, which means it has a base color, and what
they call a mid coat color. Usually the base is the main color, and the mid coat is
the pearl.
This means you need 2 pints of paint - 1 pint base, and 1 pint mid coat ($250) plus the $15 shipping

I would be supplying the clearcoat and reducer as part of my price.

Sooo.. for this job, I would do it for $375
I would need $265 up front to pay for the paint however,
and then the remaining balance upon satisfactory completion.

Let me know if I can be of service
Thanks!

Shop #2:

I asked the same question as I did shop 1.

Shop 2 Reply:
"Hello, and thanks for writing! By the way, our new website is now up, and I'll be posting pics on it tonight or tomorrow, so please go check it out in the next few days! (www. rvautoclassics .com[no spaces], or our newly joined partner's site, www. warriorbiz .info[no spaces].Now, as far as your part is concerned, I would charge about $150 TOTAL..that's paint, primer, and labor, which means; I can spot any imperfections in the fiberglass forming process, which often produces waves (ever seen an older Corvette fender?), divots, and sometimes pits. The price is the same EVEN if it is perfect..It is our experience and attention to detail that the price is based on...no matter how WE get it, it will be PERFECT when YOU get it. Hope this helps you, give us a call if we meet your standards! Hope to hear from you..."

I don't know how many of you guys have been in this situation... but does this seem.... reasonable? Just thought I'd share, and would love to hear your thoughts. thanks.

 

[Davey]

I say go with your uncle! Why pay all that money - even 150 dollars - when you can save yourself a bit and maybe learn how to do it yourself for the next time? There's some threads on here about painting properly. Do a search and you'll find some really good info.

The belly pan wasn't so expensive, so why spend so much on just the paint?! It'll probably only get chipped once on the bike anyway. Also, colour matching the paint might be cheaper than buying genuine Yamaha paint. It might not be dead on but probably so close you wouldn't notice a difference.

Post up some pics when it's done, whatever you choose! :thumbup:

 

[mrtrees]

colorite.com does a terrific job in sending the proper paint match. Check out their site. I've used them on a couple occasions and haven't been disappointed yet.

 

[YamahaMAXdRPMs]

yeah I would just try to color match. Since we don't have full plastics there belly pan won't be right next to anything else that is painted making it near impossible to notice a slight difference in paint color.

Swyped on my DROID X using TapaTalk.

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

It'll probably only get chipped once on the bike anyway.

^ This.

I've got the Yamaha bellypan on my '06 and I have to pull it a couple of times a year to change the oil. It's AMAZING what that thing goes through (and even more amazing that it still looks as good as it does!) It's got a ton of pitting from getting blasted constantly by road debris, yet the color remains perfect and the thing is still going strong. In fact, you can't even see the pitting while it's on the bike...you have to actually take it off and clean it to see it.

If it were me (and I'm a cheap bastard...always looking to save a buck), I'd have your uncle do it. If he's that meticulous about getting it right, then you'll definitely be satisfied in the end.

I also don't think it'll take that much paint to do it. I literally know nothing about painting pieces like this, though, so take that with a grain of salt. I've always heard Colorite does a really good job of matching stock paint colors, so I'd definitely try them and see what the cost would be.

 

[Yamma~Tiger]

Thanks guys. I'm definitely gonna try and get my Uncle to help me do it. Maybe I could even do it, with him guiding me of course.... I'll post pics.