Looking for bike paint

westendgirlie

Hi,

the b/f has left me to source paint for a 91 Kawasaki Zephyr ZR550 that he is doing up. I've found the original colours and he has chosen the candy cardinal red.

Now, i've tried a couple of shops and they can't find it on list. Anyone have any ideas where I should try?

Thanks,

Nu x

cantdecide

I know a lot of bike paint is dealer only. That is to say that a painter would have to go to a main bike distributor. I know this was the case when I had a couple of Suzukis painted.

If he is doing it DIY, he might have to approach someone in the bike trade to source the paint.

Run_to_da_hills

A good auto paint suppliers should be able to match any manufacturers colour codes irrespective of year.

The problem in this day is not the colour matching but in the paint itself. EU regulations specify that automotive paint must be water based which in turn will require specialized air drying equipment unlike former 2K acrylic paint.

Unless you are experienced forget spraying water based automotive paints.

FiSe

The car garages might not have the bike colour charts or software covering the car manufacturers only.
The best bet is to go over to some motorfactors and try to get the paint through them. They should be able to deal directly with distributor of whichever paint manufacturer.

Oryx

Ive never been able to get paint (apart from touch up pens from Honda) or paint codes from bike distributors, and the car lists dont cover bikes. The only way weve been able to do it was to get an auto paint retailer or sprayer to match it with the original colour.

westendgirlie

Thanks guys,

I rang Kawasaki who put me through to their one and only company who do their colours. Very expensive. As his doesn't have a flake of the old colour himself is gonna pick something similar and get that mixed up

Owen

I've a load of Kawasaki mixes in my software, but none for Cardinal Candy Red. The code for CCR is difficult too, as there's so many different codes used according to Google, 665C, L1, L11, U2, H2 ... it's hard to know what's what. The Spies Hecker system throws up 17 different reds, but all called 'red' with different codes.

Antiquo

Some motor factors are using the Holts custom mix system and not water based either so DIY/shed friendly (as long as you leave a window open).
I know you are looking for a respray so aerosol cans won't be ideal. Plus only cars they can't dial in bike colours but bring a sample with you and choose from the colour cards.