Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > Painting Mirrors

[Rob748]

Does anybody have the definitive answer as how to go about this? I have a 2000 model red 748 with standard grey bare plastic mirrors, I'm fancying getting them painted up to match the rest of the bike and give it the look of sps bikes etc. I've considered buying some but they seem to go for silly money. So assuming I take them somewhere for a professional job what exactly needs to be done for the best finish and how do you get the mirror lenses out without breaking them! How many coats of paint, coats of laquer and does anybody have the correct paint code to hand? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[WeeJohnyB]

Do a search, this has been covered before. I gave my grey ones to Casoli and £75 and they exchanged them for a beautiful red set. Think they still do this trade.

WeeJohnyB

[Duke2BSteve]

speak to rob748b he might beable to help you?

[Ray]

Whats the new price at a dealer? less DSC discount of course.

Then flog yer originals on Ebay??

Got any friends in the car painting trade??

WJB's idea is a good that might work out the cheapest option for you.

Does seem a bit steep though for getting two little mirrors prepped & painted. Opening here for someone especially if a batch can be painted up?

Ray

[Rob748]

I've done a search but not turned up anything of use but then again I am a technophobe. As Ray says there must be someone on this site that is in the trade and could do a job lot.....

[aka.eric]

Remove glass by slackening screw reached via small hole in mirror body,thats the easy bit!.Paint codes are very misleading,theres various shades of red used by Ducati,the only way to get a good match is to have a panel matched by a good paint factor.The painters that did the bike in pic are based in Cheshire,excellent job for resonable price.Would expect a pair of mirrors to cost £40-50,good quality paint is expensive stuff.

[748rosso]

I done the mirrors on my 748s myself.
Popped into Halfords with the paint code,he made up an aerosol spray can.bought some plasticote(I think?) primer and also some clear laquer.
rubbed down the mirrors to get rid of the plastic seam.applied the primer and rubbed it down,repeated that a few times,sprayed them red,bit more rubbing down,repeat that,and then finished off with a clear coat or two of the laquer.pleased with my effort and cost about twenty quid.
paint code is 473.101

[900SL Pete]

I want to do the same with my mirrors as it happens, the Halfords option sounds good to me. But where can I find the paint code on my 2001 748??

[Harv748]

Mate...you probably can't find it because it was covered on the old board.

I did a big thread about it, I'm no expert, but did a good job myself so relayed the info onto others.

As described above to remove the glass, then go to halfrauds and get some of the various wet and dry paper from about 400 grit, down to 1200 i think it is. Also some of the grey primer, and some of the Ford Radient Red spray cans.

Rub down the plastic body as described above also, taking care to get rid of the seams on the plastic. Take your time doing this, any imperfections not removed at this stage will show up big time when painted.

After doing the worst with the 400 paper, then go down to the medium then finest, removing any remaining marks.

Then spray the body with a couple of fine coats of primer, letting it dry properly between them, as instructed on the tin, and then rub down again with some fine wet and dry.

When completely dry, then build up the layers of red. You are better off with fine layers of little paint rather than a couple of heavy handed attempts. The hardest bit is to avoid runs in both the primer, the red or the laquer.

Again, do a couple of coats, and then rub back with fine paper.

It'll probably take 4-6 coats to get it totally covered.

Finish with a final rub down of the red with the finest wet and dry you have.

Then the same with the laquer...probably 2 or 3 coats to get that deep finish.

You can rub down between the laquer coats if you want, and it will look **** to start with, but when you apply another coat ontop, the sheen returns.

Basically, the whole thing if done well will take three days. One for the prep of the mirror and the primer...bake in the airing cupboard overnight, and then the red coats, before leaving overnight once more, and then the laquer.

Do not rush it, and do not put too much paint on with each layer or you WILL get runs and it WILL look pants.

But go fot it...its a good feeling knowing you did it yourself.

[Edited on 12-4-2006 by Harv748]

[monstermob 998]

i fancy having a go at this myself-- but my mirrors(600SS) have some deep lacerations (scratches) would a normal car body filler fill these scratches or would i have to purchase a specific plastic filler?and is the glass on these type of mirrors removable?-- havent really investigated the idea fully as yet!!