I finally got around to putting some paint on my trunk. Rather than haul it to a body shop and lay out a pile of dough, I just busted down to a local home improvement store, bought some spray cans of paint, and did it myself. For just about $20 and a lot of sweat, I’ve got a paint job on my trunk that looks absolutely …… uhhh …. well ….
It looks like a $20 paint job.
Call this an experiment. The red color on my bike is Honda’s R223 Red Sedona Pearl. I found that Valspar’s Royal Garnet is almost an exact match of tone and hue. Unfortunately, I could only find it in a satin finish. I figured/hoped that a top coat of clear would produce the gloss finish I needed. It didn’t.
I haven’t given up on the idea of a cheap do-it-yourself paint job. The cream section is beautiful. It was Valspar’s Ivory Almond in a gloss finish. I’m happy with it. But the satin finish on the red left an unacceptable result.
Additionally, I didn’t properly wet sand between coats, leaving a rough finish. I know this is doable because of the way the cream section turned out. I’m going to try and find the Royal Garnet in a gloss finish and try again. I’ll also be sure to have some 300 grit sandpaper. I may also see if I can get the clear coat with some pearl in it.
You can check out my efforts in the photo gallery below..

click thumbnail for larger image in a new window.

－ Guy Wheatley