I was told by a local painter that Harley uses single stage paints, not base coat clear coat. He said it was paint technology from the seventies and no one but Harley used it anymore.

......Just repeating what I was told by the guy that does all the body work for my local dealer.

 

HD has used base/clear finishes for years, probably late 80s or early 90s.

 

Pigpipes, if you paint you know how little clear they have on them. Now primer is a different story!

 

Among quality paints, black has variations just like any other color.

The formula for a quart of HD vivid black;
895 grams of Black tint
25 grams of Blue tint
20 grams of White tint

Jet Black on a BMW Z3 has 5 alternates (variations from the standard) for that single paint code. The standard formula for a quart is just 920 grams of black tint. The variants all add some amount of either yellow, white, red or blue, or some combination of them. One variant uses 7 tints, including 2 different whites and 2 different yellows.

"Black is Black"? I can't believe you've been painting for 40 years and have never looked up a formula to match a black paint code. I don't believe Jon from HOK or anyone else in the paint industry would tell you "Black is Black", especially given all the variations of black we in the paint business mix and sell each day.

 

Only use Harley Davidson paint if you want to gain horsepower and speed. The other makes will do neither!!!LMAO

 

I painted my detachable fairing (that I built) for my RK with duplicolor spary cans of standard gloss black, wet sanded it. Applied 4 coats of duplicolor clear, also wetsanded it down to 2000 grit, and finished with a nice buffing. It turned out beautiful.

HOWEVER, there are different colors of black, and in the sunlight it doesnt quite match.

So yes. Black is NOT Black.

 

Bringing back this thread......

What primer would be ideal for this paint and clear coat combo?

 

Agreed... there are at least fifty shades of black... and gray. You're in luck because I just went through this. I painted some fender filler panels to match my vivid black fender and bags.

I used DupliColor Perfect Match Universal Black. The part number is BUN0100 and it says "replaces DS100/T100". I topped it with their universal clear. It lays down pretty nice and doesn't have a tendency to run. Also dries quick and hard. Not soft like some paints.

It wasn't really necessary but I wet sanded and buffed the panels. It actually looks too good now because the factory paint has some orange peel. It is a PERFECT match for vivid black. An 8oz. can was about $7.00 at the local auto parts store.

 

Edit - Damn, just realized this is a necro post. WTF -Why do you drag up a five y/o post to ask a question about primer? You can use DupliColor primer too. And maybe the info about the match for vivid black will help someone.