Plastic fuel tank paint????

[4runnerman88]

What kind of paint do I need to use to paint the tank on my pig. It is a 5.5? gallon aftermarket tank the fuel cap says CLARKE, the plastic has that nice crappy yellowish tint to it. I would really like to make her a little cleaner looking. Any help ? I would be greatful

?!

[xjz]

I've got no ideas on paint but I plan on trying to dye my tank Red from the nice Honda orange soon with the rit dye I picked up at walmart. I've thought about trying to apply the liquid dye to the outside of my tank with spray gun like you would paint and let it sit for a day before washing off the excess dye rather than the submersion method described in other locations here on TT. I may give it a try on an old fender first to see if it will work before I try the unproven spray method on my tank so I don't make it look funny by not getting an even coat.

I hear a lot of talk that painting a tank will lead to bubbles and lots of scratches so thats why I'm avoiding it.

[road_toad666]

The dye method seems to hold water- er-gas.. Have not tried it personally, but it seems perfectly feasible and has been executed with good results by many others.

[brichter]

Paint won't work, hell, you can't even get stickers to stay on them wthout bubbling...

[martinfan30]

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611365&highlight=tank+dye

[PorterzCustomz]

Paint won't work, hell, you can't even get stickers to stay on them wthout bubbling...?

Besides even if you got it to stay on your legs would wear it off after a ride or two. I would never use spray paint on dirtbike plastics. If anything I would try the dye.

[4runnerman88]

Does rit dye make a white dye or should I go with honda red? Either way it would help it look better .

[Kenzo]

Does rit dye make a white dye or should I go with honda red? Either way it would help it look better .

if your gunna try a dye u need a dark color...there no such thing as a white dye...also u need the hot-dye methiod

i just replaced a yellowed/stained white tank and noticed something that may lend credence to using scotchbrite pads and softscrub whitening...when i removed the tank and petcock the stain/yellowing wus only on the surface...it had not penitrated the plastic...it wus only on the outter surface.

but if u refinnish the surface u will not have a gloss finnish...it will be a flat finnish.

gud luck

[4runnerman88]

O.k. Thanks for all the input. I am gonna try this on my wife's XR100 first, it's tank looks the same as my 650L

Once again thank you ?? :p

[Gassyphil]

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611365&highlight=tank+dye

Wow! That was a nice write up.

[Cocky Rooster]

I did my tank with good results. The water has to be boiling hot so just spraying it on wont work. My tank was so big (IMS 6g) that I had to turn it over to get the very top. I removed the tank, reboiled the water, and resubmerged the tank. I did not use more dye and it did not color as well as the first time around, in fact, it even washed out what was already done by a little bit. In the end it looks good enough though, and unless your looking for blemishes you wouldn't necessarily find them.

[Kenzo]

I did my tank with good results. The water has to be boiling hot so just spraying it on wont work. My tank was so big (IMS 6g) that I had to turn it over to get the very top. I removed the tank, reboiled the water, and resubmerged the tank. I did not use more dye and it did not color as well as the first time around, in fact, it even washed out what was already done by a little bit. In the end it looks good enough though, and unless your looking for blemishes you wouldn't necessarily find them.

so did u dye an older yellowed white tank a different color?

...if so wut color?

do tell...

[Cocky Rooster]

The tank was white and I dyed it black. It was a big awkward sucker. I found a container at OSH that held it, but barely and not enough to get the last 2" of the neck submerged. No sweat I thought, I'll just flip the thing and double dye it. Suuuuure. I'll try to break a few things down for ya all-

A tight lid seemed to be a great asset. It kept the heat in, and also helped the container keep it's shape. With the hot water the container just bowled out like cellophane. I put the lid on and used tie downs with bungy cords wrapped all the way around the bottom and across the top to help support the walls. You also have to put weight on the lid as the tank will float up.

Do put plastic down on the floor in a wide perimeter to catch the stain. When you lift the lid off, the condensation falls on the garage floor, tennis shoes, and the jacket your wife gave you for Christmas. Just a warning.

Everything went well with just a little patience. Boiled the water in the biggest pasta pans that I could find and that was plenty fast to be effective, carryed them into the garage one by one. Then I stirred the dye in and then slowly pushed the tank in letting it fill up with water as I pushed it down (with rubber gloves) into position. Put the lid on with the tie down/bungy cord set-up and then went to the girlfriends for a few days (This helps understand why the wife was so upset about the jacket.)

Came back and the part of the tank that was under water looked fantastic. Super dealeo - so I slowly pulled the tank out (don't do this while wearing the jacket the girlfriend just gave you) and set it aside, and then scooped the water out into the pans and re-heated the dyed water.

Here's is where the adventure starts, so if your done here - perfect. One of the problems with this method is that it is impossible to wipe the pan completely clean before I went tracking my way across the carpet to the kitchen. Fun times soon to be had. So while not noticing that because I was preoccupied with the trouble caused by the steaming pot of dyed water evaporating and settling all around the kitchen and house. I was to busy trying to wipe up the mess. No - the evaporating water does not leave the dye in the pot if that's what you were wondering. Cranked the microwave vent on and that seemed to help with that problem. I was too far along, but worse, the top of my tank was still white and looked funky so no stopping now. Beg for forgiveness later.

So I continued on swapping out the pots of water, flipped the tank, blah, blah, and came back two days later and it did dye the white part, but it actually faded the submerged part of the already dyed tank. The dye was diluted too much, and the boiling water opened up the plastic enough for the color to adjust itself to the new water.

The container was roughly 12-15 gallons, and I used 15 packs of dye. That seemed to be pretty thin and recommend splurging for a few extra packs.

Be prepared to have to visit many stores or wait. It is a rare store that stocks 20 packs of the same color.

So the lesson of the story? Make sure that your wife and girlfriend buy you identical jackets. After you pull that off, the tank dye is a piece of cake.

Good luck!

-Rooster

[Kenzo]

cool..

i have the equipment to actually submerse the tank AND keep the water boiling if desired ?

did u start with a new tank or and older yellowed one?

did u find that over time the color wud wear away for instance where u grip it with ur legs like sum have reported?

this might make an interesting project for my old tank

P.S. i may just try "cooking" my old one tomorrow(w/o dye) to see if it will whiten it!

[Research Rat]

I'm curious as to how one keeps the tank shape intact when submersing in boiling water?

Granted these tanks sit on top of a 300 degree engine for hours+, but I would think that with full submersion the tanks would have some deformation.

-Scott

[Kenzo]

I'm curious as to how one keeps the tank shape intact when submersing in boiling water?

Granted these tanks sit on top of a 300 degree engine for hours+, but I would think that with full submersion the tanks would have some deformation.

-Scott

there will be water/dye both on the inside & outside of the tank and thermoformed plastics tend to hold their shape...we're only talk'n ~210F max and it's well below where the plastic wud begin to melt (i think it's +300F)

[Cocky Rooster]

It was an old and used opaque white tank that was pretty thrashed. It's still pretty thrashed but at least it looks cooler:thumbsup: It doesn't show up the gouges and dirt so much any more.

I did not notice any tank deformation.

On a side note: I had some stock red crf fork guards that I tossed in on the second boiling to see what would happen. They just turned a slight pink, but they seem to be of a different type of plastic than the tank material.

For sale - custom pink CRF fork guards. J/K.

[4runnerman88]

Wow I am impressed at the responses I've gotten back from everyone. Just out of pure curiosity could ya'll post some pics? Maybe some before and afters??

[xjz]

Here is my failed attempt at the quick and easy method of dyeing some plastic by just spraying the dye on and hoping for the best. I will have to go with the tried and true submersion in boiling water when I do my gas tank.

I heated half the old broken fender with a hair dryer then sprayed it with the dye in my paint gun. I let it dry/soak in for 3 days then washed off the "extra" dye and it all came off. The only part that has even a hit of pink was the cracks and heavily worn areas of the fender, otherwise it was still white as you can see in the pic.

[Cocky Rooster]

I doubt that the fender will accept any color at all as it is a very dense type of plastic like the fork guard, but I look forward to your results.