New Member

[thisislouis]

Hi.
New to BMW bikes, not new to German vehicles. Lucky to have found my 85, stoked to start taking it apart for somewhat of a planned restoration project.
I will likely paint it sooner or later, original paint color if I can get a match. It's the Red, code 575. Any tips, has anyone repainted their bikes?
I called a dealer in Ohio regarding getting the original factory paint, they discussed a 3 stage process - over $700 for the paint and kit alone - a bit much for my budget.

The tank color and condition is pretty solid - it's been covered for years.

Reading all the resources has been amazing, thank you to everyone in the community for building such a extensive library.

Thanks!

[jakgieger]

Welcome .  There is discussion here on the red paint and stability thereof...When you know the gold exists, you don't mind the digging so much :clap:

[johnny]

greetings thisislouis...

good to see somebody buy that thing... it may look kinda whack butts i think its solid mechanically...

the for sale thread... click here...

j o

[Chaos]

Mine was that color when new and within a couple years was fading to various shades of orange and white.  It did look marvelous when new, though.  I think the color was called "lava red" and had some metallic.  I'd find a close matching auto paint and use that rather than going back to the original.

[TrueAce]

Best source I have used for code-specific BMW  motorcycle paints is Route 66 Auto Color in Joplin, Mo.

[Martin]

Welcome to the asylum from the land of OZ.
Regards Martin.

[Dennis de Vries]

Welcome... I'd leave it like that, why a facelift when she shows her age with grace and is otherwise fit? Get out there and enjoy her...

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G920F met Tapatalk

[thisislouis]

Welcome... I'd leave it like that, why a facelift when she shows her age with grace and is otherwise fit? Get out there and enjoy her...

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G920F met Tapatalk

Very valid point, I'll definitely consider leaving as is but I also like the idea of a "restoration".

[thisislouis]

Best source I have used for code-specific BMW  motorcycle paints is Route 66 Auto Color in Joplin, Mo.

Thanks for the tip, I'll look into a local shop today and see what I can find.
I have access to a sprayer so finding it locally may be a less expensive option - just depends if I can find someone to match.

I just checked Route 66, looks like the 575 Rot color for BMW is about $50 for 2 spray cans, one of the base and one the pearl/candy color. Definitely a great resource. I may end of trying this out, maybe get 1 order and see how far it goes on just the fenders. This seem like the easiest/cheapest way to match the tri-color of the original. Thanks a lot for the tip!!

[thisislouis]

greetings thisislouis...

good to see somebody buy that thing... it may look kinda whack butts i think its solid mechanically...

the for sale thread... click here...

j o

Thanks for the share; I didn't realize it was listed way back then. I'd just set out to sell my 95' Yamaha XV750 and buy whatever the Craigslist god's brought my way. Truthfully, when I bought the Yamaha, I wanted a BMW. I had sold a newer Honda Shadow for a little Buell for the Wife and the Yamaha for me. Yamaha was a nice shaft driven bike that I put a bit of time into cleaning up. Truthfully, I've wanted a BMW since seeing "Long Way Round" - which I'm sure, has led many folks to BMW bikes.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Welcome!  I would get the closest match I can get in something like Chroma base/clear system.  Screw that tri-coat stuff. 

I have used the Mystic Red from these guys: http://www.cyclecolor.com/index.htm

The web site is a mess to navigate, but the paint they sell matched perfectly and doesn;t need to be done as a tri-coat.  Contact them and see if they have your color code. 

As far as painting, I do the basecoat myself using a cheap Badger 250 airbrush.  It;s not as fast as a good gun, more like using a rattle can, but if you aren;t in a hurry you can do a pretty good job with it.  Basecoat is pretty hard to screw up.  After I do the base, I take the parts to a local collision shop to have them do the clear coat.  It makes sense because the clear is what makes the job look good, and they can do it for about half the cost of doing both coats.