Really? There's nothing different about the factory base & clear. I've never seen a repainted tank that doesn't hold up to gas.

 

Yeah Really. Never seen one?!?!!?, I'll show YA the current bike sitting in my garage. My girlfriends Sporty has a fatbob tank kit on it. It was painted Ford Windvail blue. This is the THIRD attempt by the bike painter. First paint job bubbled up within one week of having the tank on it. He tells me it's the ethanol in the new gas they're using. When I ask him why then don't my factory tanks do this he doesn't have an answer for me. Paint job number two he tells me he added more "hardener" so it it won't blister. Two weeks later I have a huge bubble around the gas opening. Paint job number three (this picture) he tells me I need to buy "Paint savers" for around the gas tank. And as you can see they are on there. AND you can also see the nice bubble forming again.

I have been riding bikes (and dealing with painters and their lies) for about 40 years now. I can bore you with pages and pages of failed paint job stories but I still stand by what I said, Nothing beats factory paint.



Just after responding to your post I looked out my kitchen window and had to laugh. Here's a picture of my Jeep quarter panel that got repainted a few years ago by one of those auto body "Professsionals", Lol. Yeah, the paint just happened to fall off.

 

Painting is an art form. I've seen good paint last forever---seen other paint jobs that sucked before drying.

 

The "around the filler hole" failure is common...but it has nothing to do with ethanol or the paint...your painter just doesn't know how to paint bikes...period.

To the OP, if your bike still has a non savage title and it had minor damage that was properly repaired...there is really no difference in the value of the bike

 

That's the problem with painters... the more experience they have, the less they know. Adding more hardener is not going to do anything other than slow down the drying process.

I can tell you this; The paint the paint manufacturers sell to the auto and bike manufacturers is the same paint they sell to everyone else. They don't make something different for OEM applications. Hell, the 6 different lines of paint they sell are insignificantly different in most respects.

The biggest difference in an OEM pain job vs one done later is the primer. In many cases, the parts or most of the vehicle go through a bath, rather than it being sprayed on. After that, it's pretty much all the same.

Your Jeep got a **** paint job by a painter who didn't know what he was doing.

The issue around a bike tank filler neck is all dependent on how the painter handles that area - and yes, it's a challenge. The problem there is not the paint - it's that there's *not* paint. You have an edge and gas fumes can get under that edge. There are different ways people try to deal with that, but I have found clear nail polish works great at sealing that edge. I've painted a number of custom tanks and never had an issue.

 

I'll admit, If I had better results than what I've experienced over the years my opinion would be different. However it's been 40 years of frustration in my dealings with aftermarket paint jobs and painters. It's not like I went out and tried to find the cheapest paint shop I could. Some of my bike paint jobs were pretty costly.

 

Thanks for your opinion. Permit me to challenge you thinking to understand your position as the insurance company wlll likely take the same stance.

If 2 bikes sat side-by-side, identicalexcept for accident history, if properly repaired you would be OK with buying the repaired bike. I understand that. But, I would expect you would be in a better negotiating position and demand a lower price for the Accident Bike. Otherwise, why take the risk there was hidden damage or the seller was being completely truthful about the extent of the repaired damage?

if the prices were equal, I think most would prefer the unwrecked bike unless we could get a better price for the Accident Bike. By definition, the accident history had dimished the Accident Bile's value. The question is by how much?

In your opinion it may not be much, but is it really $0?

 

That's the point... Costly paint jobs most often involve an painter with years of experience, which means he know better what to use and how to mix things than the manufacturer of the product. The worst Frankenstein mixes I've ever seen were done by "experienced" painters. Worst of all, the decide whatever they used 20 years ago is "The Best" and they don't want to mess with any of that "New Crap" (i.e., the stuff that works and looks a million times better than they stuff they used 20 years ago).

 

My bike was in a low speed accident before I bought it. It was fixed properly, however, and a friend of mine was there when the accident occured. He let me know it was no big deal. I ended up paying $9300 for it a few months ago (05 FXDLI). I didn't use it as a bargaining point, but I'm not much of a haggler. I thought the price was fair at $10k, and when he dropped the price for cash (and the battery was shot) I was even happier.

Ok, I forgot my entire point telling the story about buying my scoot. Point is, as long as you price the bike fair, and someone wants it, I think you'll get the fair price.

 

I wouldn't knowingly buy a bike that even fell over gently while stopped, unless it was ridiculously cheap, like 50% or less. And I would NEVER buy any vehicle that had a salvage title, no matter how perfect the repair. I would always wonder if the frame was tweaked,even so slightly as to not be noticeable. But that's just me & my silly OCD hangup.