Typically great Ducati build quality but I can see a couple of little chips around some of the machined edges on the engine and the alternator cover. I'm wondering if anyone has used a suitable paint which is a good match to OEM so I can touch them up to prevent water ingress in the rain??
Took some pics to explain where I mean. Both on left side, alternator cover and front cylinder so I'm after the black and silver. Clearly it'd need to be high temp paint!
Ducati will replace the engine cases under Warranty usually (some times takes a bit of effort to persuade them......friendly/helpful Dealer helps). Looks like there's corrosion under the paint where the head mates to the cylinder block - don't think you'll get that changed under Warranty ivo the cost! Winter riding..........ACF50!!!!!!
The original Ducati paint is only water based which is what causes the problems. You can get touchup paint from RS paints. RS Motorbike Paint Colours - Motorcycle paint, bike paint, Kawasaki Honda Yamaha
Thanks both, ducati said it's not covered under warranty or at least it would be a very difficult one to swindle. Plus it's so insignificant I'm happy just to prep and touch up myself. Looks like the RS paint is only available in the main red rather than engine paints. I've got loads of ACF50 and corrosion block grease which it will be smothered in for winter but these little niggles were on the bike when I bought it so just need to get them right first. Also getting a touratech engine guard to help keep crap off the engine
If you pick a different model or give them a ring they should be able to help you, I would imagine the silver is the same as 748-9*9's engine colour.
There is some Ducati Engine paint touch up listed on Ebay, I've seen silver at least but not sure about the black
I don't trust most things on eBay and high temperature paint is certainly one of them. I'll give the boys at RS a shout or otherwise pick up some VHT paint as I'm looking at v small touch ups anyway
RS Paints are water based whereas eBay touchup paints are highly likely to be solvent based. I used a silver touch up paint and it wasn't that good in as much as it evaporated quite quickly and started to dry out long before I got near using much of it up and it didn't apply very evenly. Never had that problem with any RS paint so far. For me I thought it was not good value for money.
VHT paint.........care, check the small print, I doubt engine cases or even the cylinder barrels will get hot enough to cure it ;-) Prior to their replacement I touched up the engine cases with a bog standard 'craft' black enamel.....don't know how long that would have lasted though - back to the problem with the OE paint finish, no suitable aluminium primer applied so 'adhesion' will never be as good as it should be. i think another aspect of the issues with the OE paint finish is that it's so bloody thin!
If you go the VHT route you can use a hot air gun to cure the paint, it needs to be a decent one and not a hair dryer! I have a Seeley which has five temperature settings and two fan speeds and that is the sort of gun that would work as it is mostly meant for plastic welding. It also has reducers that allow very fine patterning of the air so you can localise very small areas.
Show off! I've got a hot air gun. I'll dab on etch primer before I put the paint on, I've been using upol #8 and rustoleum stove paint to spray some parts on the bike black and they've come up beautifully
Hot air gun..........good idea but I would be VERY careful - I very much doubt that the OE paint is VHT so it would be easy to damage it with too much heat ;-)
Yep, will post them up soon but I want to fettle the stock screen first into something more pikes peak esque after conquest carbon's screen disappointed me
Was that a screen actually made by Conquest or another brand?........in my experience their stuff has been top quality. What was the issue? Feedback to Steve ;-)
