I posted in a different thread about my issues with having a fender painted gloss black. To make a long story short, the body shop is not able to produce a decent paint job on it. Their second try was much better then the first but there are still runs in the clear in a couple spots. I've given up on them and will be going a different direction.

With that being said, I was bored and decided to paint an extra gloss black front fender that I had to see if I would like it and I'll be honest it came out better then expected. There was a pretty decent scratch in the clear so I scuffed it up really good and hit it with a high build primer. Wet sanded and primed again and then wet sanded until it was nice and smooth. Then I put four coats of matte black automotive spray paint that I bought from the parts store.

I'm so sick of the gloss black that I'm thinking of doing this to my tank and back fender also. I know that spray paint won't hold up long term and I'm not looking for that, it just needs to last about a year until I move back to the states at which point I'll have the bike professionally painted.

So thoughts...am I opening up a can of worms with this?

 

Why not go the plasti-dip route. It will give you the matte finish and you can peel it off if you don't like it.

 

I was actually thinking about that. The problem is that in the UK I haven't been able to find it in any stores like they have it in the States. I have found it online to order but it's about $27 a can.

 

I say go for it! What did you err do about your rear fender problems?

 

Honestly I just gave up. They did a great job with the body work but couldn't get the paint right. I really got tired of dealing with them. So I guess I ate the cost of the paint but I'm happy with the body work. I'm going to use the shaved full fender if I go through with this instead of the chopped one.

 

Here are a couple installed pics of the front fender. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I like the color a lot and also like that it's a wide glide fender. My gloss black fender was for mid glides so I was using spacers to make it fit and I think this looks like a cleaner install.

I've decided to go ahead with this. I've started working on the back fender. Since it's an extra fender I won't have much downtime. I'm going to work one piece at a time throughout the next couple weeks and I'll do the tank last.

 

I really like the contrast between your gloss black fork legs and the flat black fender. Good work.