I am going to paint my fork tubes black this weekend, and was wondering what kind of paint and what gloss did you use to get as close to the harley black on the frame.
How well has the paint held up to rock chips and scrapes,I know powder coat is the way to go but I do not want the bike to be down that long, so for now paint will have to due.

 

I used epoxy appliance paint and a clear lacquer. a little hard to deal with, but it has held up well over the last few years. It has a few small blemishes now, but nothing major.

 

I used a regular black spraycan from an autoshop, i don´t see any difference. Get three different cans of black and try on a piece of metal. Main problem is of course durability, but its ok, and an easy fix. And, as always, it´s better with a couple of coats of primer first.

 

Umm....are you painting the tubes or the lowers (where the axle/wheel/fender is attached to)?

Painting the tubes is probably not a good idea. The paint will probably make the tube's diameter larger than will be able to fit in the fork seal, fork lowers. You'll have a really expensive set of paper weights.

 

I am painting the lowers, guess i will got to the store and look and see what i can find the appliance expoxy sounds like best idea to me.

 

Jrk posted a how-to. Better read that before you do anything. It'll give you a list of what's necessary.

 

I just painted mine and used the appliance epoxy. I also pulled the fork tubes off the bike which makes it much easier to paint. I used a heavy hook through the axle hole and hung them upside down to paint.
Popped off the chrome caps and masked off where the cap fits. Bought a can of aircraft stripper to remove the O.E. clear coat, the clear comes right off without much effort. I wet sanded the bare aluminum with 350 and dried them off and then wiped them down with alcohol. Re-masked where the cap fits and the tubes with plastic. Laid one coat to cover and another coat after 1/2 hr, anything after a 1/2 hr and you have to wait a week or it will wrinkle. I would let these cure for 1 week before reinstalling them or riding it! Put some blue or green masking tape on the inside of the lowers so you don't booger it up when installing the wheel.
CB

 

Once you have finished painting you might consider a clear vinyl overlay. I installed a 4" strip over my stock lowers and it does a pretty good job of keeping hiway debris from chiping and wearing away the painted surface. If installed correctly you almost can't even see the stuff. If you look closely all you can see if the leading edge but you have to look for it.

 

once finished you may try going to one of those shops that apply a clear film over autos to prevent rock/bug problems. Maybe they will give you two strips that are scrap? Paint is relatively soft in comparison to chrome or powder coating. Make sure you plug the holes, good luck. Look at the post above as I just noticed it as he has the right idea.

 

You might want to try duplicolor's shadow paint.....makes it look like black chrome......and you can go only as dark as you like....